Come back to Mark chapter 2,
title of the message, distinguishing grace, distinguishing grace. Salvation does not happen by
chance. It does not happen by chance.
Salvation is not God. giving me a chance to get saved. Salvation comes by the sovereign
will, purpose, and power of God. That's how it comes. It's not God throwing it out
here and saying, who's going to accept it? Who's going to
take the offer? It's not an offer anyway. I told
you this a few weeks ago, it's a command. It's a command, follow
me. You know, so often we think of
a command as something that's, you know, strong and boisterous.
Our Lord just looked at him and said, follow me. You know, my
mother never raised her, James can tell you, she never raised
her voice growing up, never. But she said, do something, you
do it. I mean, you're going to do it or you're going to... But she never shouted
at us. She never shouted commands at
all. She just said, mow the yard, or do this or do that. That's
a command. You know, a command can be spoken
softly. Come unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and
I'll give you rest. Now that sounds like an invitation,
doesn't it? But it's not. It's a command. It's a command
to a certain type of people. It's not a command to everybody.
It's not a command to everyone. It's a command to those who are
laboring and heavy laden. You know, you have to fit the
description in order to come. If you're not laboring and heavy
laden, he's not talking to you. He's talking to those who are
laboring, heavy laden, those who need a position. That's who
he's talking to. We must always be clear on this. Salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. You know, Levi
wasn't looking for him, was he? He was counting his money, how
much of it he was going to slip under the table and keep. Don't
you think he didn't have that figured out? Tax collector, and
he's going to take his cut before he ever gave it to the wrong
government. He wasn't looking for Christ. I am found of them
which sought me not. That's grace. That is distinguishing
grace, what that is. Salvation is not a cooperative,
cooperative, cooperative. I can't even speak this morning.
It's not a cooperative. effort on my part with God. Salvation is not me and God cooperating
here. No, it's God saving me, period. Was it said God does the saving,
I do the sinning? Someone said that. Salvation
is God saving me from my sins. It's God saving me from myself.
It's God saving me from Him. It's His law, isn't it? The law that curses me is God's
law, and salvation is God saving me from Him Himself. Now, in
verse 13, we have the call of Levi, or Matthew. Our Lord is
walking by the seaside, and He's going after one of His lost sheep,
which happens to be sitting at the receipt of custom. He's going
after a particular person. His heart is set. It is absolutely
set on a particular person, Levi. And he's going to give Levi a
particular call. He's going to look at Levi and
speak to Levi and say to Levi, follow me. It's like when he
said, Lazarus, come forth. Someone said if he hadn't said
Lazarus, if he'd just said come forth, they all would have said
come forth. But he said Lazarus, come forth. He's after a particular
person, and he's going to give him a particular call, and that
person, that sinner, is going to follow Christ. He's going
to. He can't help it. He can't help
it. Now Matthew here, Levi, was a
tax collector. He was a publican. A Jew who
collected taxes for the Roman government. So you know how people
felt about him. They despised him. These tax
collectors were notorious for extortion. They were hated by
all the people except their own kind. Birds of a feather always
flock together. Now, if you were a politician,
you'd not choose the most hated person in town, would you, to
follow you? No, if you're going to get a
following, If you're going to get a following, you don't go
pick the most hated and notorious people in town and have them
to follow you. Somebody needs to learn how to
get a following here. Somebody needs to take a lesson. He's not trying to get a following,
he's saving sinners. He's after his sheep. He's calling
his sheep. This is not a popularity contest. Nobody's voting on him. We vote
on our president, we don't vote on our Lord. He's on the throne,
there's no votes there. He rules and reigns by theocracy.
We are under his reign and his rule. So if you're a politician,
you don't go get the most hated person in town, you go get the
upper crust first. Deal with the upper crust first.
Then you act like you care about the rest. That's the way you
do it. But our Lord was not a politician.
He's the Savior of sinners. He's the Great Physician. He's
the Great Physician. Jehovah-Rophi, the Lord that
healeth thee. That's who He is. And He calls
Levi and He says to him, follow Me. And He did. He did. He followed Him. You think people are ever going
to get it? that His will is done, that His purpose will always
be accomplished, and those whom He calls to Himself, effectually
they will come. When He calls effectually, sinners
come to Him and they follow Him. All we need to do is preach Him.
That's all I need to do. I'm not in a begging service
here. I'm in a preaching service. Preaching
Christ. I'm not begging anybody to follow
Him. He commands sinners to follow Him through the preaching of
the Gospel. He sends that power out with His Word into the heart
of a sinner. That sinner is going to follow.
When He gives life, it's going to respond to life. It's going
to respond to Him. I believe the reason And I have
no doubt about this. The reason that religion puts
the pressure on the preacher standing in the pulpit, puts
pressure on people to do something, come forward, first of all, to
help keep his job. Makes him look successful. And
it's a way of trying to build up the congregation. We're not
trying to build up a congregation here. We're trying to glorify
Christ. God will add to the church such
as should be saved. He'll add such as should be saved.
And then after he called Levi, Levi does the same thing that
Peter did. He opened his home to the Lord.
He opened his home to the Lord and invited many publicans and
sinners and they cooked a big meal and they feasted and they
sat there and they listened to the Lord as he taught them. He
taught them the gospel. It's like that woman at the well. After he revealed to her himself
who he is. She was, you know, she came out
there in the afternoon. She's ashamed. This woman's ashamed. But after she found out who this
man is, she went back to town and told everybody. She said, come see a man who
told me, revealed to me, everything I've ever done. And the whole
city went out. The whole city. Vicki and I were
talking yesterday. She was telling me about this
one person that had gotten something started. She'd watched this on
television. and how this organization grew out of this. And I said,
it's amazing what one person can do. One person. This one person, this woman,
goes back to town and the whole city comes out and a multitude
of people are saved. They said, we don't believe it.
We believe not because we heard you or what you said. We believe
Him because we've heard Him. We've heard Him. She was ashamed
of herself, just as you and I are ashamed of ourselves, but we're
not ashamed of Him. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's
the power of God unto salvation. Where is the best place for a
physician to be? Where the sick are. The best
place for a physician to be is with his patients. Those who
need him. As many as needed healing, it
says he healed. But those scribes and those Pharisees
didn't need it, did they? They didn't need it. Look over
here, it says here in verse 16. When the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they saw, they were
looking at a distance. They weren't going to get close
to that crowd. They were not going to get close to that crowd.
They didn't want to touch those publicans and sinners. They said
to his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans
and sinners? Who are these scribes and Pharisees?
Look over in Matthew chapter 23. Let's look at what our Lord
exposes here in Matthew 23. Matthew 23, Then spake Jesus
to the multitude and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they
bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not ye after their
works, for they say and do not." That's who they are. Hypocrites. They came across as the best
people in town, as the most moral, most outstanding, most law-abiding
citizens in towns, and the Lord's going to expose these people
for who they are. They find heavy burdens and grievance
to be borne and lay them on men's shoulders But they themselves
will not move them with one of their fingers. They wouldn't
dare do what they tell you to do. Don't even feel close to
them. But all their works they do for
to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries
and enlarge the borders of their garments and love the uppermost
rooms at feast and the chief seats in the synagogues and greetings
in the markets and to be called of men Rabbi, teacher. They walk in the room, there's
a teacher. They just strut right in. I'm the teacher. Look in
verse 13. But our Lord says here in verse
13, But woe to you, scribes, and Pharisees, and hypocrites! You shut up the kingdom of heaven
against men, for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer
you them that are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes, and
Pharisees, and hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses,
and for pretense make long prayers, and therefore you shall receive
the greater damnation. Woe to you, scribes, Pharisees,
and hypocrites! These men were the self-righteous
in town. These were the meanest people
in town. They'd bind men with heavy burdens and they wouldn't
touch. They wouldn't touch with their
finger what they had people doing. Wouldn't touch it. They're the
hypocrites. They're the ones who say to the
disciples over here, and they say this in Matthew 9, 11, Why
eateth your master? Why, Edith, you're a master with
publicans and sinners. They wouldn't own him as their
master at all. They would rather die and go
to hell than submit to him as their master. But you know what? The publicans and the sinners
heard him gladly. Gladly. Did you hear Frank this
morning gladly? Did your heart rejoice this morning
in that message? Did it gladden your heart? There's
some evidence there of a work of grace. Those Pharisees and
scribes did not hear him gladly. Every time he opened his mouth,
he made them mad, upset them. And here's our Lord's reply in
verse 17. They that are whole have no need
of the physician. Wisdom is so simple. Truth is
so simple, isn't it? If it's complicated, you can
pretty well Be sure it's not the truth. You can just pretty
much write it off. 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. Here is a simple
truth. People who are not sick don't
go to the doctor. You don't need a doctor, do you?
That's so simple. Those who say they see don't
need to have someone give them their sight. The self-righteous
do not need the righteousness of Christ, for they have enough
of their own, so they think. He's talking about sinners are
the ones he came to save. Christ died to save sinners.
Christ died to save sinners, but they didn't think they were
sinners. Look over in John chapter 8. In John chapter 8, They said in verse 30, our Lord
says in verse 32, and you shall know the truth and the truth
shall make you free. They answered him, we'd be Abraham's
seed. We were never in bondage. That's the same as saying we're
not sinners. That's what they're saying. We're not sinners. We
were never in bondage to any man. Are you kidding me? I guess if you're going to be
allowed to write your own history, you can write it however you
want, but that's not the truth. You can write your own history however
you want. I guess, you know, you go over to Europe and they
have a different, probably, opinion and history than what we have.
Well, he's a different slant on it. We were never in bondage. They were always in bondage.
Read the Old Testament. They went from bondage to bondage
to bondage. They'd be free a little while
and they'd go back into bondage. Babylon, Egypt, Satan. They didn't think they were sinners.
They didn't think it at all. Look over here in, I think it
was in verse 41. Let me find it. See if that's
verse 41 I'm looking at. Yeah. He says here, you do the
deeds of your father. And he's talking about the devil.
Then said they to him, we be not born of fornication. We have one father, even God.
But we be not born of fornication. We're not. There's no sin. David
said, I was born in sin and shaped in iniquity. I don't care if
your mom and dad were the two top saints ever walked on this
earth. When they beget you, they beget
a rebel. I was born in sin and shaped
in iniquity. I don't care if both my parents
were just outstanding believers. It doesn't make me outstanding.
It doesn't make me outstanding. I know parents who believe the
gospel, Children have not been outstanding at all. Rebel. Rebel. Our Lord tells us here
why He came. He said He came to call sinners
to repentance. That's why I came. To call sinners
from darkness to light. To set at liberty them that are
bound. We were never in bondage. Well,
I'm not talking to you. If you've never been in bondage,
if this has really never been a problem, I'm not talking to
you. He came to call those who are
in bondage. He came to set at liberty them that are bound.
He came to heal the brokenhearted. My heart's not broken. Heart's
not broken over sin? Well, this morning especially. If it's not broken over sin,
I'm not talking to you. If you ever break your heart, it'll
be good news. The only person in the world that can rejoice
And being pardoned is the one locked behind bars. That's the
only one that'll enjoy it. If I said to you this morning,
some of you, a few of you in here have had cancer. If I said
to you this morning, they have found an absolute cure for cancer. Well, I think we'd all be happy,
but there'd be some people in here that'd just be absolutely
elated. And they would get up on the
edge of their seat. The rest of us would just sit
back and listen. that they would be up on the edge of their seat.
Tell me about it. Tell me about it. Only sinners
want to be told about it. It's only good news to those
who have bad news. If you don't have any bad news,
if this really doesn't prick your heart like it did to those
in the Acts, in the book of Acts, well then, you don't need it. It's not for you. You need it,
but you just don't know it. But the gospel is only good news
to the guilty, isn't it? Christ is only loved by those
who know what sin is, what guilt is. And when they've heard the
condemnation of the law, when they've heard it, and it's pricked
their hearts and they realize, if God sends me to hell, I deserve
it. I tell you what, you'd be hard
pressed to find somebody like that. It takes God, now listen,
it takes God to make a sinner. It takes God to make a sinner.
Most people, most people would pretty much agree that to some
degree they are sinners. Well, you know, to some degree
they'd agree with that, but when faced With what a sinner is,
by scriptural definition, that's a game changer. Ungodly. Ungodly. Depraved. Does that fit? Depraved human being. Now, most
people would be offended at that. Most people would be offended
at it. I know I'm not perfect, but I'm not depraved. You'd better
hope God doesn't turn you loose on you, because you're going
to find out. Find out how depraved this old human heart is. He turns
it loose. If God would draw back His hand
of constraint. I was telling Jason this, we
were watching something, it was just brutal, brutal. I said,
if God would just draw back His hand, all we are are devils.
We're right there with the fallen angels. Right there on the same
plane with Satan himself. If He just drew back His hand,
and let it go. It takes the power of God to
make a man say what David said this morning, I'm guilty, with
no excuses. No excuses. The Apostle Paul
at one time believed that he kept the law. He was a Pharisee
of the Pharisees. God saves whom He will, doesn't
He? He'll save a publican Levite or He'll save a self-righteous
Pharisee. That's distinguishing grace. He calls whom he will. He went up into a mountain and
he said he called to him whom he would. Now, what does that
kind of preaching do? First of all, it puts us in our
place. It puts us in our place and it recognizes God to be on
the throne, to be the sovereign in our preaching. We must shut
men up to the sovereign will of God, because God will not
be worshipped until He's the sovereign. I don't remember.
I think it was King who said, any other way, we'll bargain
with Him. You'll bargain with Him, but
you don't bargain with the sovereign, do you? You bow. You absolutely
bow to the sovereign. And old Paul, he thought he kept
the law. A righteous man, he was a self-righteous
man. He thought he had the right credentials.
He was a Pharisee, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Pharisee. He was
all those things. They were in Philippians chapter
3. But he was a good man. It's like that young man that
came to our Lord and said, what must I do to inherit eternal
life? The Lord said, well, go, you know, keep the law. And he
said, well, I've done all that. I sound like Paul. But he said,
I've done all that. He said, well, then sell all
you have. Give it to the poor. Don't put it up to bank and just
kind of pull a little bit from it as you need it. But you give
it away. You give it to the poor. You trust me and you follow me.
And that man went away sorrowful. He was very rich. Very rich.
He ain't now. You know, the riches we have
here are about that long. It was that much compared to
eternity. It's not even that much. It's a speck. It's an absolute
speck. True riches are the riches you
can't lose, and those are the riches that we have in Christ.
Paul thought he didn't need a Savior. He thought, you know, they thought
the blood of bulls and goats was good enough for no more of
what they did. I think that's probably their attitude. The
blood of bulls and goats can probably put away with no more
of what I do. No, I don't think so. If we ever see what sin is,
we will know that nothing can put it away As Frank said, but
the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood. That's it. Look over
in Luke chapter 15. I'll wind this down here. This ought to give every sinner
in this room hope. Then drew near unto him all the
publicans and sinners for the hearing. And the Pharisees and
scribes murmured, complained, saying, this man receives sinners
and he eats with them. He fellowships with them. He
receiveth sinners. First, He received them from
the hand of His Father before the world began. He received
them when He came into this world, into His presence. Here is the
King of kings. Here is the Lord of lords. Here
is the God of creation. What kind of company do you think
He's going to keep? You think of the holy angels that surround
Him. And that praise will continue. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.
And when He comes into this world, what kind of people is He going
to receive? Publicans and sinners. They say, why does your Master
eat with them? He could be eating with us. Why
does He do that? Because He's God and He delights
to show mercy. He delights to show mercy. Sinners
are welcome in His presence. They are welcome in His presence.
sinners, Christ died for us. Our sins, our sins is what brings
us to Christ. Self-righteousness kept those
scribes and those Pharisees away from Him. There's nothing that
will keep a person away from Christ like self-righteousness.
It's our sins that bring us to Him through the work of the Holy
Spirit. 1 Timothy 1.15, this is a faithful
saint and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Sinners. Are we clear on this
this morning? I think we ought to be very clear
on this this morning. Christ came to save sinners.
Is there a sinner in the house? I thought sitting up here, there
must be. Well, I know there's some sinners in the house. The
sinners in need of mercy. Here's one. Here's one. I need
His mercy just as much now as I did thirty-some years ago.
And I'll need it if I live to be older. I'll need it just as
much then as now. I have good news. I have good
news. Christ died for sinners and no
one else. No one else. He died to save
sinners.