This morning I am reading from
the Gospel of Luke, chapter 5. Luke, chapter 5, I am reading
beginning with verse 27. It reads, After these things
he, or that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, went forth and saw a
publican named Levi sitting at the receipt of customs And he
said unto him, follow me, a publican named Levi or Matthew. This publican, a publican was
a rotten, no good fellow. He was an extortioner, a person
who got money from his own people, was getting rich off of his own
people. Nobody liked publicans back then,
much like nobody likes lawyers or preachers or used car salesmen
today. Well, publicans. This fellow
was a publican. And verse 28 and 29 reads this
way. And he left all, that is, Matthew
left everything, rose up, left his money and his everything,
rose up and followed Christ. And Levi, that is, Matthew, made
Christ a great feast in his own house. And there was a great
company of publicans and of others. that sat down with them. So this
Matthew made Christ a huge feast, or had a party in other words.
And so there was a great company of publicans, a whole bunch of
publicans. And later on it says sinners,
just sinners the scripture said. Now this was some crap. This
must have been some kind of party. And yet Jesus Christ sat right
in the middle of them eating and drinking. Jesus Christ, the
holy, righteous, sinless Son of God, sat right in the middle
of this crowd of people eating what they were eating and drinking
what they were drinking. And this is where you would always
find the Lord Jesus Christ, with this kind of people. You see,
people, listen to me carefully. Holiness, true Christianity,
true religion is something other than what most people think it
is. It's something other than what
most preachers are telling you it is. In Mark chapter 7, listen
to these words of the Lord Jesus Christ. manifest in the flesh. Listen to what God says. In Mark
7, verse 14, when he called all the people unto him, he said
unto them, Hearken unto me, every one of you, and understand. Listen
to me and understand. Verse 15, there is nothing from
without a man that entering into him can defile him. But the things which come out
of him, those are they that defile the man." Well, down in verse
18 it says the disciples didn't understand what he was saying.
And he said, Are you without understanding also? Do you not
perceive that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the
man, it cannot defile him? Because it entereth not into
his heart, but into his belly, and goes out in the draft, purging
it. And he said, That which cometh
out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out
of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts. adulteries, fornication,
murder, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness,
an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil things
come from within and defile the man. So Christ said, don't you
understand? Nothing you put in your body
defiles you. But it's what's in there already,
what's in the heart that defiles you. Well, now listen. Back in our text in Luke chapter
5, the Scripture says, "...the common people heard Him gladly."
Common people. Construction workers, blacksmiths,
fishermen, longshoremen, sinners. Common everyday people heard
Jesus Christ preach gladly. They love to come hear him preach.
This preacher, Jesus Christ, must be saying something different
than what the average preacher is saying. While when he preached,
religious people got mad and irreligious people were glad.
And here Christ sat in the midst of this crowd of low-life people. And I'm still reading from Luke
5. It says in verse 30 that their scribes, or that is, the scribes
of the publicans and others, their scribes and Pharisees.
In other words, where they went to church, so to speak, their
scribes, their preachers, their priests, their rabbis, their
rectors, their reverends, they murmured against his disciples,
saying, Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Why? Why do you eat and drink
with publicans and sinners?" Well, the Lord Jesus Christ answered
these self-righteous, religious, church-going people, and he said
to them, and I hope you're listening this morning. I hope there's
someone in here listening this morning that's sick and tired
of the self-righteous religion that you're hearing today. Listen
to me. Listen to what the Lord Jesus
Christ says in verses 31 and 32 of Luke 5. He says, Jesus
answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. In other words, only sick people
need a doctor, not people who are well. In verse 32 he says,
I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. I didn't come to call the moral,
the upright, the righteous, but I came to this earth, he says,
to call, to seek, to save sinners, to bring them to repentance.
Now, let me illustrate this. If I announced this morning that
there is a physician who can cure leprosy or tuberculosis
or smallpox, how many do you think would be interested? How many do you think would be
interested in a cure for leprosy or tuberculosis? Well, not many
because not many people have that. It's all but eradicated,
especially in our society. But now, if I announce that there
is a physician, there is a doctor who cures cancer, all form of
cancer or AIDS, why, people would be clamoring to hear from him,
to get to him. And if they were cured, why,
they would Love that doctor and sing his praises forever. Well,
people, the fact is, every one of us have these diseases. Cancer. AIDS. But I'm not talking
about physical cancer or physical AIDS. I'm talking about spiritual
cancer. It's called sin. It's called
sin. But it's not sin like the average
preacher is telling you. Average preacher is talking about
sins or the result of what's on the inside. Average preacher
is preaching against things, things that are in bottles and
boxes. That's not the disease that I'm
talking about. That's the symptoms. That's not
the disease itself. I'm talking about lust, envy,
jealousy, hatred, bitterness, covetousness, self-righteousness,
which religious are full of, the worst type of sin. And like
cancer and AIDS, though, many don't know they have it, and
they are interested in the only physician that can cure it. Over
in Revelation chapter 3, verse 17, The Lord warned a people, saying,
You are rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. And you don't know, you know
not, that thou art wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Rich and increased with goods,
He said. And many, if not most, are rich
today and increased with goods, goods of two sorts, two kinds
of goods. Material goods, yes. This generation
is the most affluent of any in history. There are few today
who are not rich and increased with goods, who do not live better
than kings lived in days of old. Why, who has time for God today?
There's too much to see and do. Rich and increased with goods.
Never been a people more rich in material goods, yet poorer
toward God. And then there are those, if
not many, if not most, who are rich in moral goods. This is
the chief thing that men are rich in and have need of nothing.
Moral good, morality, personal goodness, self-righteousness.
Why, there's never been a more religious generation than this
one. Never been more people talking
about God, talking about Jesus, but they're going about to establish
their own righteousness. And no, not. They do not know
that they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Well, our Lord said only the
sick need a physician. Only the sick go to a doctor. Well, the gospel, you see, is
for serious sinners. People with serious problems. Now, I'm not talking about people
with a problem concerning tobacco or alcohol or marital problems. That's the least of your problems,
of my problems. That's the least. Our Lord said,
I'm reading again in verse 32, I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Now, sinners, are sinners of
the religious sort and the irreligious sort. I'm talking about sinners
as described in Romans chapter 7. The Apostle Paul, who I dare
say never smoked a cigarette or drank a beer per se in his
life. Yet he said, I don't know how
to do that which is good, a sinner of the worst sort. Verse 14 of
Romans 7, Paul says, I'm carnal, sold unto sin. That which I don't
allow, that's what I do. What I do, I hate. He said, in
my flesh dwells no good thing. How to perform that which is
good, I don't know. Verse 19, the good I would, I
do not. The evil I would not, that's
what I do. Verse 21, he says, I find a law
that when I would do good, evil is present with me. I'm talking
about a Roman 7 sinner. Christ said He didn't come to
call the righteous, that is, the self-righteous. Paul was
self-righteous before He met the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's
when he wrote Romans 7, the book of Romans. See, a man can be
self-righteous sitting on a barstool or sitting in a church. See,
God looks on every human being as no good, sinful, and he doesn't
need anyone. Salvation is when God makes someone
realize that God doesn't need them, that they're not worth
saving, but they sure need Him. The gospel talks about mercy.
Mercy is for guilty. The gospel talks about grace.
Grace is only for the helpless, the no-can-doers, the no-good-doers. The gospel talks about peace. Peace. Peace for those who are
enmity against God. Repentance. Now, repentance is
not just what you do. Repentance is being Sorry for
what you are, and that includes self-righteousness. Yes, Christ
said, I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repent. I hope you'll go and learn and
ask Him what this means and come to Him. Until next Sunday, may
the Lord make it so with you and with me.