You turn in your Bible to Luke,
the book of Luke. This is a very familiar story
of the call of a sinner to salvation. That's who I am. I'm a sinner
called to the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it rejoices
my heart to know that salvation is of the Lord and that salvation
is for Sinners. If I can find a sinner, I've
got good news for him. They're kind of hard to find.
As one old songwriter said, the sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so. Most folks say they used to be
sinners. But not any longer. Well, I'm
a sinner. I'm a sinner saved by the sovereign,
free grace of God. Now, in the story of the call
of Matthew, in Luke chapter 5, verse 27, I'm entitling the message,
The Effectual Call of the Gospel. the effectual call of the gospel. Now this is not a altar call,
this is not an invitation to march down front and make a decision
for Jesus. This, what we see in this story,
is how God calls his people with the irresistible effectual call
of the gospel. And that's the title of the message.
The effectual call of the gospel. Of course, we're talking about
the gospel of Christ, that is, the power of God unto salvation,
of which the apostle said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth. And again, later on, when Paul
was arrested and put in prison, about to be executed for the
gospel, he had the same testimony. He said, I know whom I have believed
and I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that He's able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. Paul, I've committed all the
the daring and dying of his salvation to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
be sure you understand this in this story. of the calling and
conversion of this man he named here Levi. He is a publican by
trade. A publican was a Jewish man,
Jewish heritage, but who worked for the Romans. You remember
Jerusalem at this time was under the thumb of the Roman government. who exacted heavy taxes from
the Jewish people to fuel their army and to fuel their economy,
and Levi, or Matthew, was one of these tax collectors. He was
the IRS agent of his day. Needless to say, the Jewish people
did not like him. But be sure you understand in
this story of the calling and conversion of Matthew who is
called here Levi. He's also called the son of Alphaeus. We know that Matthew was made
an object of the Lord's mercy from all eternity. Where it says
here in verse 27 of Luke 5, and after these things the Lord Jesus
Christ went forth and saw a publican. You know that wasn't the first
time he saw him. Preacher, what do you mean? He
saw him in that eternal covenant of grace when the Father chose
him and gave him to the Lord Jesus Christ and God had loved
his people with an everlasting love. Matthew was made an object
of the Lord's mercy, an object of the Lord's love from eternity.
He was redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, called
by God the Holy Spirit, raised up to serve the Lord Jesus Christ
as an apostle of the Lord. Matthew, like John and Peter,
was an apostle, one who was specially called, and specially chosen,
and specially gifted. Now we have The book of his writing,
the gospel according to Matthew, the Lord used this poor sinner
as a ready scribe to publish abroad the wonders of his grace
and the salvation. of the Lord's people. Matthew
writes in Matthew chapter 1, Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Matthew tells
us like Mark, Luke and John that salvation is of the Lord. It is the Lord's doing. Now we
have in the teaching of Scripture five essential facts of doctrinal
truth. Some call this truth the five
points of Calvinism, you're familiar with that term, or others refer
to them as the doctrines of grace, or by the letters in the word
T-U-L-I-P. There is a tract out front on
the table there that you might want to pick up and acquaint
yourself with those words, with that one word and those letters,
T-U-L-I-P, which stand for the five blessed truths of the gospel. I prefer to call them the doctrine
of Christ, singular doctrine of Christ. We read in 2 John
chapter 1, He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both
the Father and the Son. He that abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ does not know God, does not know the Son. Now I
put on the back of the bulletin, don't look right now, but I put
on the back of the bulletin, you can take it later and look
at it, I put an article there that I'd written, oh, 10-15 years
ago, maybe longer than that, But I put it on the back of the
bulletin so you would have a reference to it. To the T-U-L-I-P. What does that stand for? Those
five blessed essential truths of the gospel. And we see all
of them involved in this story. The T stands for total depravity. Total depravity. What do we mean
by that? Man by nature is a total sinner
before God. He has no spark of goodness in
him. His will is perverted by his
nature, which is sinful. And Adam all died. And we see
in that T, total depravity, what happened in the garden. And Adam
all sinned. And Adam all died. The second
letter we use to describe the gospel is U and that stands for
unconditional election. This is what happened in eternity.
God from eternity chose a people unto salvation. We are bound
to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen a people unto salvation. The L in that tulip stands for
limited atonement, and we talk about the atonement, we talk
about what happened at the cross. What happened in the garden?
Depravity, total depravity. What happened in eternity? God
elected a people. What happened at Calvary? The
Lord Jesus Christ gave His life a ransom for sin for a particular
people, for His sheep. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. The atonement is limited to God's
elect. He died for His people. The I
stands for irresistible grace, or the invincible call of God
the Holy Spirit, or we could put it this way, what happens
in regeneration. And that's what we see in our
story today. Matthew is regenerated. He is
irresistibly called to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the P in TULIP
stands for the perseverance of the saints. Matthew persevered
in faith and Matthew died in faith. He persevered because
he is preserved by the power of God. What happens in our life? We are kept by the power of God.
We read in Jeremiah 31, he said, I will be their God and they
shall be my people. I will, God said, and they shall.
That's perseverance and that's preservation. Now listen carefully
here. If you choose to compromise or
change any of these essential blessed truths, you change the
gospel of Christ altogether. Altogether. And if you change
the gospel of Christ, what Paul calls in Galatians chapter 1,
He calls it another gospel. And those who embrace another
gospel or choose to compromise a gospel or change a gospel of
God, the Apostle Paul said, those who embrace another message,
another gospel, another spirit, another savior, he said, let
them be damned. Now, you say, well, that's awful
narrow. No, it's being truthful. It's time somebody start telling
the truth. A man who preaches a universal
atonement is a false preacher, pure and simple. He is a false
preacher. Those who preach that God is
trying to save sinners and can't, or He wants to and they won't
let Him, He is a false preacher. Those who say that salvation
is a cooperation between God and the sinner, that God has
done His part, now you must do His part, that man is a false
preacher. God's gospel will not and cannot
be compromised and it will not be by this preacher. God is my
helper. This is a message that has been
preached here from day one. When Pastor Mahan came here in
the spring of 1986 and stood in this very pulpit, I was here
that night and I heard him preach the gospel from Romans chapter
1. And that message has been declared
here ever since these last 30 years, that salvation is by the
free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we say
so without apology, without compromise. I'm thankful for the gospel of
God's grace. Now we see today in this story
the conversion of Matthew. We see all of these precious
truths of the gospel plainly declared, but especially that
effectual, irresistible call of God through Christ, our Mediator. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
on the trail of his sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ coming
to seek and to save one of those lost sheep. And that's what we
see in our story today. Verse 27, Luke chapter 5. After these things, he went forth.
He went forth on a mission of mercy, seeking one of those that
were given to him in that eternal covenant of grace. And he saw
one of his elect, one of his chosen, and he knows him by name. And He calls him by name, Matthew,
follow me. Follow me. The Lord our God is
not trying or attempting to call sinners to Himself. He is calling
them out of darkness into His marvelous light, translating
them out of the kingdom of darkness into His marvelous light, commanding
the light of God to shine in their heart. And when He turns
on the light switch of revelation, What do we see? When God commands
the light to shine in our hearts, we see the beauty and glory and
necessity of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, He calls us out of darkness
into His marvelous light. And that's what we see in the
calling and conversion of a notable sinner named Matthew. We see
in this story how God saved sinners. Matthew was not seeking the Lord. Now, I'm not saying that we should
not seek the Lord. I would tell any sinner interested
in salvation to seek the Lord, but Matthew here in our story,
not at first, he was not seeking the Lord, but the Lord was seeking
him. We see how God saves sinners. We read in Scripture, No man
can come to Me except the Father which sent Me. Draw him. Notice,
the Lord went forth and found Matthew. Here we see the good
and great Shepherd seeking out one of His lost sheep. You see,
He came to seek and to save the lost. He's going to save. Now listen to me, He's going
to save every lost man. Say, all men are lost. That's
true in our theology, but that's not true in their experience.
You see, before God saves you, He's going to make you lost.
He's going to make you know you're lost. He's going to make you
know you're guilty. And He's going to save everyone
that He makes to know that they're lost and guilty before God. Before He saves us, He strips
us. Before He lifts us up, He puts us in the dust. This is
what the Lord does in saving His people. Matthew, like you
and I, were born in sin. Having no interest in God, Matthew
was one of those totally depraved sinners. Having no interest in
God or the gospel of God, living and going his merry way on the
road to condemnation, but the Lord stopped him. The Lord arrested
him. The Lord called him and said
to him, Follow me. Had the Lord not come
to us in saving mercy, we never would have loved Him. Had the
Lord not loved us in that eternal covenant of grace, He never would
have drawn us to Himself. Had the Lord not loved us first,
we never would have loved Him. We only love Him because He first
loved us. Had the Lord not called us, we
never would have called upon Him. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Had the Lord not called
upon us, we never would have called upon Him. Had the Lord
not turned us, we never would have been turned. Lamentation
said, Turn us, Lord, and we shall be turned. Had the Lord not raised
us from the dead, we never would have been raised up, would we? Had the Lord not granted us faith
and repentance, we never would have believed or turned to our
God. The Scripture says this in Psalm
80, Turn us, O God, and caused thy face to shine upon us, and
we shall be saved." God must turn us. God must call us out
of darkness into His marvelous light. Let me show you that in
the Scripture, if you'll find Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians
chapter 2. You see, at one time we were
without God, without hope, and without Christ. In Ephesians
chapter 2 verse 1, And you, hath he quickened who were dead in
trespasses and sins? Wherein time passed, you walked
according to the course of this world. Ephesians 2. According
to the proofs of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in time past, in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling
desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children
of wrath, even as others. But God, who was rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace. Are you saved? Now, who does
the calling? Who does the quickening? It's
all of God. It's all of grace. And what I'm saying is this,
in this doctrine of what we call the effectual, irresistible call
of God, had He not called us and granted us faith and made
us new creatures in Christ, we never would have savingly come
to the Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith. This call of God to Matthew
was an irresistible, effectual call of grace. Notice verse 27,
he says, Follow me." This is not a suggestion. This is the commandment of the
king. You see, the gospel is not a
mere invitation. The gospel is the command of
a king to follow him. Notice something about this call.
This call was a personal call. Matthew, follow me. The Lord
Jesus Christ one day went before the tomb of a dead man named
Lazarus, and the Lord called him by name, Lazarus, come forth,
and he that was dead came forth. You see, this call of God to
His sheep is a personal call. We read in John 10, the sheep
hear His voice, and He calls them out. He knows His sheep
by name. He's personally acquainted with
His sheep. In Luke chapter 19, you remember
the story of Zacchaeus, who was another publican, who climbed
up the sycamore tree, and the Lord walked under that tree and
said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down. There was a personal
call. It was an irresistible and effectual
call of God. And Matthew followed the Lord,
and Zacchaeus came down, and Lazarus He came forth from the
tomb, had been dead four days. And he that was dead came forth.
You see, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal,
the Lord knoweth them that are His. It was a personal call. It was an effectual, irresistible
call. It was a high call of God. Wherefore,
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, Paul said,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ. And certainly it was a powerful
call, a personal call, a holy call, a high call. It's God who
saved us and called us with a holy calling, calling of God with
the gospel hand of the Holy Spirit, which is irresistible. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of His power." Now, what was the
results of the call of God that day? There's a call of God. God our Savior. Matthew, follow
me. What if He said no? Could He
say no? No, He couldn't. The Lord Jesus
Christ made Himself irresistible. Look what it says in verse 28.
He left all, rose up, and followed Him. He did this immediately. Matthew left all and followed
the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember our Lord said in John
10, My sheep hear My voice, I know them, I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall follow Me. Hold your place here in Luke
5 and turn to Luke 9. Luke 9 verse 23. And He said
to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me." What is denying
himself? Well, not trusting yourself for
anything in salvation. What is taking up the cross?
It's taking a stand for the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ and him crucified, and then following the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what a disciple does.
He follows the Lord. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake,
the same shall save it. God's people are following the
shepherd. He's the good shepherd of the
sheep. As soon as the Lord called, Matthew,
he forsook all, willingly left behind everything, his trade,
his money, his family, and went wholeheartedly after the Lord. This man one time was absorbed
with making money, now his interests are totally changed. Now he's
absorbed and consumed with Christ and was used of the Lord to the
benefit and blessing of countless numbers of sinners. When the Lord calls us by his
grace, we follow him because he is our shepherd, he is our
life. This should teach us in the example
of God calling out this sinner to himself that we should never
despair of any sinner's salvation. There are none too sinful. There
are none too guilty. There are none too wicked. There
are none too ungodly. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
died for, we read a moment ago, this is a faithful saying and
worthy of all the acceptation, that the Lord Jesus Christ died
for sinners. When we were yet without strength,
the Lord Jesus Christ in due time died for the ungodly. There are none too sinful. for the Lord Jesus Christ in
saving mercy. However, there are some that
are too good for salvation. None too bad. But there are some
that are too good, going about to establish the righteousness
of their own doing, and that man will never seek salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, he's able to save to
the uttermost all that come to God by him. What was the result
of this call? Matthew, follow me, he left all,
forsook all, And he rose up and he followed the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's another result of this
call. Look at verse 29. Luke 5, 29. And Levi, or Matthew
as he's known, made him a great feast in his own house. And there
was a great company of publicans. He invited all his sinful friends. to go home and have a feast,
and many other sinners that came and sat down with them." Another result, this man was
a happy man. He went home and it says there,
he made a great feast. He was rejoicing in the Lord. Levi made a great feast in his
own house. He invited all of his tax collector
friends to meet his new master, the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew
was truly rejoicing in the Lord, in the salvation of his soul.
He was rejoicing in the fact that his sins were forgiven.
That's what happens when God calls us to Himself. He calls
us out of darkness into His marvelous light. He calls us to the Lord
Jesus Christ in saving faith. And He causes us to rejoice in
Him, to worship God, and to have no confidence in the flesh. The
salvation of sinners is the cause for joy and thanksgiving when
we're brought from death to life. How can we not rejoice in Christ? When the prisoner is set free
from his sins, we rejoice in the Lord's redemption. When the
sinner is made righteous in Christ, we rejoice in the Lord our righteousness. Turn to Romans chapter 4. Let's
read that one more time. Romans chapter 4. Who is that
blessed man? That blessed man is that man
whose sins are forgiven. Look what it says in Romans chapter
4 verse 5. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness, even as David also described the blessedness,
the happiness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness.
God imputeth reckoned to account righteousness without works.
Sanct, blessed, happy are they whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin." That's a blessed man. That's a happy
man. That's a man rejoicing in the
Lord. That's a man who's been called
out of darkness into God's marvelous light. Now look back to the story. Matthew was happy. because he
received Christ who was all of his salvation. But you know,
there were some folks here that followed Matthew home that were
angry and upset. Look at verse 30. The scribes,
they were the self-righteous scribes, and the Pharisees, the
Sadducees, they murmured, Matthew's rejoicing, the Lord's rejoicing,
he's found one of his sheep, but here's these Works mongers,
those who were going about to establish a righteousness by
the deeds of the law, they murmured, how can this man go to the house
of a sinner? They murmured against the Lord
and against His disciples saying, why does your master eat with
publicans and sinners? Why does he do that? He came
to save sinners. Now listen carefully to the words.
of our Lord Jesus Christ. There were some that day that
did not rejoice in the Lord, but rather bitterly complained
against the Lord. These scribes and these Pharisees,
they were always seeking to condemn the ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Turn back, if you will, first
of all to Matthew 11. They're always going about to
trap Him and to deride Him and to destroy his ministry, to pick
up stones to stone him or to throw him over a cliff. Matthew
chapter 11, look at verse 18, for John came neither eating
nor drinking and they say he had the devil, John the Baptist
they're talking about, the prophet of God, the son of man came eating
and drinking and they say behold, a man gluttonous, a wine-bibber,
a friend of publicans and sinners. Oh, but wisdom's justified of
her children. They said this man's a friend
of sinners. Thank God he is. Turn over to
the book of Luke. Look at Luke chapter 15. Luke
chapter 15. You see these scribes and Pharisees
were always going about to justify themselves and to condemn others. In Luke chapter 15, look at verse
1. Then drew near unto him all publicans
and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes
murmured, saying, Now get a hold of this statement. This man receiveth
sinners. He receiveth sinners. Does that
include you if you are a sinner? This man receiveth sinners, and
he eats with them. Now turn one page, Luke 16. The Pharisees who were covetous,
They derided him, verse 14, Luke 16, now verse 15. Luke 16, 15. Yea, they would justify yourselves
before men, but God knows your heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. You see, these
Pharisees justified themselves and were condemned. You remember
the story of the other publican that the Lord saved? Turn to
Luke 18. You remember the Pharisee bragged
on himself and was condemned. The publican in Luke 18 verse
13, the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much
his eyes to heaven but smote upon his breast saying, God be
merciful to me, thee sinner. I tell you this man went down
to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone
that exalted himself shall be abased, but he that is humbled
shall be exalted." You see, the Pharisee bragged on himself,
justified himself and was condemned. The publican condemned himself
and was justified before God. You see, it's no different today
than it was then. Those who go about to establish
a righteousness of their own will always condemn the way of
free and sovereign grace. Mark it down. I'm not a novice. I've been at this for more than
30 years. And if you confront a self-righteous
religious man with his religious doing and say that salvation
depends totally upon Christ, His grace, His mercy, His love,
your work, your deed, your faith has nothing to do with your salvation. You'll have a fight on your hands.
You see, human nature has not changed. The self-righteous man
always hates the way of grace because of carnal minded enmity
against God. Now, back to our story, Luke
chapter 5 verse 31. The Lord Jesus Christ, answering
those who would condemn his ministry, said this, They that are whole,
verse 31, don't need a doctor. They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. I cannot to call the righteous. but sinners to repentance." Now
listen carefully to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here
is the wise and almighty physician, the doctor of sinners, the doctor
of souls, describing his ministry. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sick sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous. Those who think themselves to
be whole, to be well. Those who are not guilty, those
who are not sick with sin, who have no guilt, who have no transgression
against the law, no iniquity to be purged, they do not need
a Savior, do they? If righteousness comes by the
law, then Christ is dead and vain. They do not need, our Lord
said, those who are whole, they don't need a doctor. You go to
the doctor when you're sick, don't you? When you have a real
problem, now I'm bad to put off problems, health problems, I'll
put it off, put it off, and put it off, but when I'm really sick,
I remember one day I was standing here preaching the gospel to
you, this is many years ago, and I was so deathly sick, as
soon as I walked out that door, I went immediately to the emergency
room to seek a doctor. Why did I do that? I was in need. And I tell you, when you seek
the Lord in saving mercy is when He shows you your need of Him,
your sickness, your guilt, your sin before God. The Almighty
Lord and Savior of sinners boldly says, I did not come to save
good people. He came to save sinners. Does
that describe you? That describes me. The Lord Jesus
Christ came to call sinners. Now watch it. Look over to the
text. The last verse, verse 32. He
said, I came not to call the righteous. That means He did
come to call sinners to repentance. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
call sinners to repentance. What is repentance? Repentance
is the change of mind, A change of heart, affection, will, and
a change of master. The Lord is our master. A repentant
heart is one who is broken hearted. A repentant heart is one who
knows that he has sinned against God. All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. If the Lord has called you out
of darkness to His light, He has also granted you repentance,
but along with repentance comes faith. Faith and repentance come
together. I'll give you a simple illustration.
Faith and repentance is like a sheet of paper. It has two sides. Where you find
repentance, you find faith. When you find a man that's been
granted repentance that acknowledges the truth of salvation by His
grace, you also find a man that has been given the faith of God
the elect that also acknowledges the truth. And this is talking
about repentance toward God, that is being in total agreement
with God in regard to all of His truth. Someone said repentance
is this, it's taking God's side against yourself. That's what
repentance is. And again, it's not an isolated
act. It's a continual life. I am repentant. It's taking God's
side against me. When he says guilty, who do you
agree with? A repentant heart agrees with
God. When he said, I'm sovereign, almighty, holy, a repentant heart
says, I'm in agreement with him. He is holy. He is sovereign.
He does all things well. Repentance toward God. Taking
God's side against myself. When he said, there is none righteous,
no, not one, that includes me. And faith. in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Where you find a repentant heart,
you find a believing heart. You see, faith and repentance
are both the sovereign gifts of God. For by grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is a gift
of God. Matthew in our story was called
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was granted repentance. He
was granted faith. He was made a new creature in
Christ and he followed the Lord and he died in faith. That is
the story of everyone that is saved by the grace of God. May
God show us our need of Christ. May God teach us that we are
sinners in need of mercy. None but sinners will come to
Christ. None but those who see and know
their need will come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And those who come
to Him by the way of saving faith, He said, I will never cast them
out. What is coming to the Lord Jesus
Christ is believing Him. It's looking to Him. Listen to
Scripture. John 6.37, All that the Father giveth me shall come
to me. And those that come to me, I
will in no wise cast out. No, not ever cast them out.