All right, let's turn to the
book of Mark, Mark chapter 2. Our subject this morning is a
gracious calling. The Apostle Paul said, when it
pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by his grace. God calls not just his apostles
and his preachers, but he calls his elect. And he calls them with an effectual
calling. And that calling is a gracious
calling. Now let's just take these verses
as they come and I'll make some comments as we go through them.
Having healed the palsied man and left that multitude amazed
and glorifying God, in verse 13 it says, and he went forth
again by the seaside. I believe many a sermon could
be preached on the first four words of this verse And he went
forth. Nothing's gonna happen if he
don't. Everything in time and eternity
rests on his going forth. He's been going forth since all
eternity. If he had not gone forth, there'd
be no world to live in. There'd be no people in it. There'd
be no... There'd be no fall, there'd be
no salvation, there'd be nothing. But he went forth. Not anything that was made was
made without him. He is the creator, he's the sustainer. And I think it's important as
we go through these verses that we realize we just read over
these things because we really think we know what to mean. But
when you stop and consider what it's saying, he went forth. This one who was God and man
in one person had now appeared on the earth and he went forth
and the people saw a man going forth. He was a special man.
Even the Pharisees would agree to that. He was special. He did
things that they saw no other human being do. He called the dead back to life. He healed Lepers, he did things
that they couldn't deny. And they were willing. He stumped
them. They're smartest men. He stumped
them. He left them speechless. Never
a man spake like this man. He went forth. And I love that
word, again. Again. Isn't that what we hope
for? That's my hope this morning,
he'll go forth again. And again, and again. He went forth again. He was in
the beginning with God and he was God. He's the seed of woman
and the seed of Abraham and the seed of David. He's the righteous
branch. He's the coming redeemer. He
went forth. He went forth. Why did he go
forth? Why? We need to ask ourselves
these things. Why? Why did he do it? Religion,
the whole time I went to church, nobody ever dealt with who is
this man and why did he come? Isn't that the first thing a
sinner wants to know when he begins to read about the Lord
Jesus Christ? He wants to know who He is and
why He came. And the more you read about it,
then you want to know, what did He do? What did He do? And so I ask that question, why
did He go forth? Well, it says in the volume of
the book it's written of me, I come to do thy will, O God. You may question my motive. You
may question why I do what I do. You can't question his. In the
volume of the book it's written of him, he said, I come to do
thy will, O God. I come to do thy will. And then it says this, look at
this in verse 13 again. He went forth again by the seaside,
And all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. Now what I want you to see here
is that in our Lord's accomplishing of the redemptive will of God
is the everyday teaching of the gospel. This is a portion of
that redemptive will of God that God's word and God's will be
declared to the people. Listen to these scriptures. James
chapter one and verse 18. Of his own will. Now, who's he talking about there?
Well, if you back up a verse or two, you'll see that he's
talking about every good and perfect gift that cometh down
from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom
is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He's talking about
the gifts of God. And he said, of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind
of first fruits of his creatures. And then James says in verse
19, wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear
and slow to speak and slow to wrath. This multitude didn't
sit jibber jabbering back and forth or debating with the Lord.
The Lord stood before them. And the Spirit of God worked
in the hearts of that multitude, and they closed their mouths
and listened to Him. And He taught them as never a
man ever taught. He taught them. And the Scripture tells us that
the ascended Christ gave to His church apostles and prophets,
evangelists and pastor-teachers. And he gave them Ephesians 4.12
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
and for the edifying of the body of Christ until we all come in
the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ. And so he went forth in a multitude
followed him. Isn't it amazing when God calls
a man that all God's providence is enacted around this man? All God's redemptive providence,
let me put it that way. He said no man can come unto
me except my Father draw him. And there's a drawing of the
spirit as a man hears, but there's a drawing of the spirit in providence. God shuts him up to the gospel. I can't explain that. It's different,
and everybody in here's got a different experience that they can talk
about how they first came to hear the gospel. They all heard
it, but things leading up to that hearing, what took place? Well, God's providence took place,
and that's exactly what was going on here. God's providence was
taking place. The multitude resorted unto him
and he taught them. I don't know, I didn't look up
that word resorted, but I know that we have places around the
country and different sites on the internet you can go to and
you find these vacation homes on the beach and they're in resorts,
in resorts. And when I hear the word resort,
the first thing that comes to my mind is going somewhere very
pleasurable to be. Escaping the mundane things of
life and the troubles and the worries and all those things,
you go to the resort. And when you get to the resort,
You're not gonna get on the internet, start checking your bills, how
much do I owe? No, you're gonna get there and
you're gonna relax, and you're gonna do all these things that
this resort offers so you can benefit by them. And when I see
this word that they all resorted unto him, and I know that word
has other meanings, but it's a pleasurable thing for a believer
to hear the Lord, isn't it? Oh, my soul. That's what I pray
for, that's why, what I hope for in this congregation, that
when they come, they'll come with an appetite, they'll come,
it's a pleasurable thing to hear from Him. And it's not a bothersome
thing, it's a pleasurable thing. We rejoice in Him. We rejoice
in Him. And the multitude resorted unto
Him and He taught them. All right, now look at verse
14. And as he passed by, he saw Levi,
the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of custom. And
he said unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed him. This is the story of every saved
sinner. God calls him by his grace. Now
he told those Pharisees, they said, if thou be the Christ,
tell us plainly. He said, I told you. But you
believe not, because you're not of my sheep. As I said unto you,
my sheep hear my voice. And I call them, and them what? What happens next? They follow
me. I call them, and they follow
me. Isn't that how it is? That's
the story of, I'm telling you, it's the story of every believer.
God calls him by his grace. He calls him with an effectual
calling. And when God calls, the difference
is that general call and that effectual call, when God calls
you with an effectual call, you follow him. You follow him. Well, what about this? There
are no whatabouts. You follow him. God calls him by His grace, He
calls him through His ambassador, He calls him through the gospel,
He calls him with an effectual calling, and He calls him to
reveal His Son in him. And no salvation apart from the
revelation of Christ in the heart. God doesn't save men because
He feels sorry for men, He saves men and women for the glory of
His own name. And there's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved but Christ the
Lord. That's the name. Now Levi, or Matthew as he's
called in the scriptures, was a tax collector. Was he a cheat? More than likely. More than likely. Did he funnel
a little money off for himself? More than likely. We won't say
this man was an apostle, so he probably lived a pretty clean
life. That's not how God sees sinners. God sees sinners as
sinners, don't he? Sure he does. And this man was not seeking
the Lord when the Lord passed by. He was collecting taxes.
He was providing for his future. He was trying to make a living
for his family. And he was doing it the way everybody else in
the world does it, any way he can. He was a tax collector and
the Lord came by and he saw him. How did he see him? He see him
exactly as he is. A sinner. A sinner. He wasn't found seeking the Lord.
He was not found at an altar of prayer. He was not found reading
the scriptures. He was found sitting at the receipt
of custom. That's where the Lord's seen
him. Now there's a place and time
for the will of man and for his seeking the Lord, but it's not
at the beginning. There's none that seeketh after
God. That's what the scripture says.
They'll seek him in the day of his power. They'd be willing
in the day of his power. And they'll seek him. And they'll
seek him with all their hearts. But they don't seek him and then
the Lord comes by and talks to, that's not what brought the Lord
there. This man Matthew had no intention
that day of receiving eternal life or believing or of entering
into the ministry. But the Lord saw him. How'd he
see him? He seen him in that covenant
of grace. that God his father had made
on his behalf before the foundation of the world in which Christ
was assured. He was one of his sheep, and
that's how he saw it. He saw him not as everyone else
saw him, but with eyes of love and grace and eyes able to see
him as the son of God and a just heir, a fellow heir. And the Lord said to this man,
he said, follow me, follow me. I'm gonna tell you something
about the faith of God's elect. It obeys the Lord. That's right. The faith of God's elect obeys
the Lord. It doesn't see the Lord and then
go about business as usual. He doesn't see the Lord and then
see His commandments and things and pick which ones they want
to do. It obeys the Lord. Do you think that was an easy
thing for Abraham to get out of Ur of the Chaldees? That's
all he'd ever known. Everybody in his family was there.
His daddy was there. His nephew under hard times was
there. All of these things were there.
The people depended on him. He had a job. He had workers. He wasn't a poor man. He ran
a business. He had a lot of men under him,
a lot of servants. The Lord said, get out of there.
What did Abraham do? He got out of there. Where am I going, Lord? I'll
tell you later. Get out of there. Okay? Okay. The faith of God's elect obeys
God. It obeys the Lord. Paul tells
us in Romans 6, verse 16, that when God found us, we were the
servants of sin. We lived for it, we lived in
it, and we loved it. Romans 6, 17. But God be thanked. You were the servants of sin,
but you have obeyed. Really? You have obeyed from
the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being
then made free from sin, you become the servants of righteousness.
That's the faith of God's elect. It obeys the Lord. When Christ
called Levi, Levi got up from his seat and followed the Lord.
Well, who's going to collect the taxes? He left them in line. There's a big line of people
standing there waiting to pay their taxes. Levi got up and
walked away. He left. In Luke's account, Luke chapter
5 verse 28, it says, and he left all, rose up, and followed Christ. And then it says this, 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 him. Levi
was not a poor man. He had a big home. He had a big
house. He was laying up treasures for
himself in this world. He had this huge house and servants
that worked for him in the house. He was a public official. He was known by people all over
the place. When it said he left all, that's
what he's talking about. He left his reputation. He left
his job. He left his security. He left
everything. But he didn't just go off and
hide in a corner somewhere. He prepared. He took what money
he had and prepared a great feast for the Lord and for those that
was following the Lord. He wanted everybody to meet the
Savior and see this man who was the Christ. And so he went all
out. He went all out. He prepared
a great feast. He spared no expense. He wasn't
picky who invited. There was Pharisees there. There
was scribes there. There was publicans there. And
there was a mixed company of sinners. And then it says in verse 15,
Mark chapter two, it came to pass that as Jesus sat at meat
in his house, Many publicans and sinners sat also together
with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they
followed him. Now get the picture. Everybody's
sitting around this big house. We've been to some fellowships
at believers' houses who were well off, and they had big houses. Rooms here and rooms there. But
this was a great multitude, too, and they came into this house.
And everybody's sitting around this big house, and some were
inside and some were outside. I don't even think the houses
there had windows, at least the pictures I've seen of them didn't
show any windows. They were just openings. And
so some were on the outside in the courtyard, some were in rooms
within the house, And so on, and no doubt the scribes and
Pharisees took the chief seats, no doubt about that. They got
somewhere where they could see everybody, and see the Lord,
and see everybody else, and found a place kind of off to themselves. You ever go into a church where
there's a clique? And my big, It's a little too
rough to say clique. I've been to churches where there's
cliques. And you go in, and this little clique sits over here,
and this little clique sits over here, and they don't mingle,
they don't talk. This little group talks to themselves,
and this little group talks to themselves. That's not the way
of believers, but that's the way it was in this house. There
was cliques inside there. They're sitting all around. And
especially these Pharisees and scribes, they were setting off
all by themselves where they could talk and feel comfortable. And as they looked, there's Jesus
and his disciples. And all around him, eating and
drinking, was this multitude of publicans
and sinners. And in just utter disgust, they
said to our Lord's disciples, verse 16, how is it that he eateth
and drinketh with publicans and sinners? How can he do that? If this is the Christ, if this
is the Son of God, if this is the promised Messiah and King
of Israel, why is he eating and drinking what the worst society
has to offer? I have no doubt there were harlots
and drunkards and thieves and robbers and government officials about every occasion where the
Lord preached. He preached to harlots and thieves
and murderers. All these people around, corrupt
men of all kinds, some who were just, uh, guilty. And too poor to even mention. And I don't think it'd be out
of place to say that I see this also in their questions, why
is he eating and drinking with publicans and sinners and not
with us? Can I add that without doing
any damage to it? Why is he not eating with us
if this is the Christ? Why are they getting all the
Lord's attention and we ain't getting any? Verse 17. When Jesus heard it, he saith
unto them, they that are whole need not thee position, but they that are sick. I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. In Matthew's account, he had
this, Matthew 9 verse 13. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth, I'll have mercy and not sacrifice, for I'm not come
to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. And my whole generation,
as far as professing Christians go, all believe that it's a reformed life of some
kind. that attracts God to the sinner. But here, he said, I didn't come
to call the righteous, not even the righteous wannabes. I didn't come to call the righteous,
I came to call sinners to repentance. Not sinners in
the way religious men describe them, not sinners in the way
the average mind perceives them, but sinners as the living God
defines them in his word. By preachers and by spirit. Depraved men who at their best
states altogether vanity. Fallen men whose very nature
is the nature of a man without God in the world. Corrupt men
who drink iniquity like water. Cursed men who are under the
bondage of sin. and held by chains of darkness. See the sinner as God describes
him, strangers from the womb. Oh, our generation sees nothing
closer to God than a baby. Is that right? Boy, they call
them little angels. Know what they call them? Not what David said. David, under
the inspiration of the Spirit, said they come forth from the
womb speaking lies. They go astray as soon as they
be born. Psalm 51.5, shaping in iniquity
and conceived in sin. Job 14.1, of a few days and full
of troubles. Isaiah 64.6, all as an unclean
thing and all their righteousnesses as filthy rags. See the sinner
as God sees the sinner. Now when a sinner sees himself
as a sinner and sees what God demands from him that he couldn't
possibly, he couldn't possibly provide, then he'll seek the
Lord. Then he'll seek the Lord. He's
got nowhere else to go. God shuts him up to the grace
of God. None righteous, none good, none
that understandeth, and none that's all gone astray. No fear
of God before there are. They that are whole need not
the physician, but they that are sick. They that are sick. And I can tell you this, before
God makes you whole, he gonna make you sick. You gonna learn something about
the sickness of sin before God shows you anything about his
righteousness. So this is what I'm saying to
you this morning. Look what a gracious calling
this was. A dead sinner, one living out
his life after the lust of his flesh, serving Satan and self
at the same time and unaware that he's doing either. But the
Lord passed by and saw him as he was and called him by his
grace and immediately he left all. You know where he left it first? And then he arose, Jesus. He
left all in his mind and heart and then he arose. And he didn't go off weeping
saying, oh, look what I gave up for the Lord. No, no. He took everything he had and
had a feast and celebrated the loss of all them things. and
celebrated the Lord who called him and tried to get as many people
into his presence as he could. He pulled the plug on all his
ungodly hopes and dreams and invested everything in this man,
Jesus of Nazareth. So see what this is saying, he
went forth, the son of God, he went forth, he drew the multitude,
he passed by, he called, he taught, He put the enemy to silence.
Who did all that? Christ did. What looks to me
like what we ought to do then is look to him. Isn't that why God preserved
that story? That's exactly why he did it. So we'll quit looking
to us and quit looking to them and start looking to him. Look to him. All right, thank
you.