I may mention that next Sunday,
as you see in your bulletin, we will officially end these
two groups. Even though it's fine today,
if both groups come to both services, but the Lord willing next week
for sure. We probably should continue to
wear a mask and would encourage you to practice social distancing,
as they say. I notice after our services,
we get closer and closer to each other, which is good and only
natural, but I just thank the Lord. He has
kept us, our church, safe from this virus. If you will now, let's open our
Bibles to Mark chapter two. Mark chapter 2, and let us read
verses 13 through 17. And they went forth again by
the seaside, and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught
them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi,
the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of custom, and
said unto him, follow me. and he arose and followed him.
And it came to pass that, as Jesus said at meet in his house,
many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and
his disciples. For there were many, and they
followed him. 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? When Jesus heard, he saith unto
them, 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. We're continuing this morning
to look at the narrative of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ
as it is given to us in the gospel according to Mark. My purpose,
my purpose is not just to bring various events in the life of
Christ to our attention, but my prayer is that we might see
Christ. as we study through this gospel,
that we may see him, that God the Holy Spirit will bless us,
enabling us to see Christ and not just particular events in
his life, that we might see him so as to trust him, love him,
and follow him. It's not just enough to know
about him. Many people know about him. But our prayer must be like the
Apostle Paul, as he wrote in Philippians, that I may know
him. Didn't you know him, Paul? Why,
sure. He revealed himself to me on
the road to Damascus. But my prayer, even after these
years, is that I might know him. And that's my prayer as we look
at the life of Christ, that we might know him so as to be changed
into his image. I have three thoughts for us
today from these few verses that I want to bring to our attention. First, the God of creation. Notice our first verse, verse
13, the word again. And he went forth again by the
seaside. As he left the house in Capernaum,
he went by the Sea of Galilee again where he had called those
four disciples previously. And I cannot help but think about
the fact that here is the God of creation, the God of creation
who is walking in His creation. Now, realize that it is as the
eternal Word, John chapter 1, in the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. But then verse
3 tells us, and without all things were made by him and without
him was not anything that was made. What must have been his
thoughts? What must have been the thoughts
of the creator of all things as he now in his creation by
his incarnation as a man walked? from place to place, observing
as he did the things in creation. Now we know, we don't have any
doubt about this, we know what his thoughts were in the week
of creation as recorded in Genesis chapter one. We know that on
each of those six days, He looked upon that which he had created,
which he had made, and he said, it's good. You know, you may learn a lot
about God by his creation. Creation tells us a lot about
him. It tells us that he is a God
of order. It tells us that he's a God of
power. It tells us that he's a God of
wisdom. And it also tells us that he
is a good God, the goodness God. When you read that first chapter
of Genesis about God creating, speaking all things into existence. Now he's in this world, but the
world is no longer as he had made it. The world that he pronounced
good in that first week is now under a curse. under a curse. If he had come
into this world in that first week as a man, he would have
walked and the world would have been much different than it is
now when he comes. No doubt. There would have been
no thorns, no briars. Everything would have been pristine
and beautiful. And I know if you're like me,
I see things in God's creation today that are overwhelming.
that are beautiful. We watched the sun rise a couple
of days just recently over the Gulf of Mexico and how beautiful
it is to see that big red ball come up out of nowhere and just
little by little show itself. And to know that that is the
sun that he made. And then at night, the moon that
he made, and don't you love the way it's written there in Genesis
chapter one, verse 16, and he made the stars all. He made all
things, all of the galaxies, all of the stars, all of the
animals. We visited a museum several years
ago, and would you believe how many different kinds of beetles
there are? I want to say, and I may be wrong,
I know there were many. I want to say there were more
than a hundred different kinds of beetles. He made all of this. How beautiful it is even today,
a curse. But what must have been his thoughts
as he walked in his creation and saw what sin had done. What
sin had brought, the sorrow, the death, and all of the evil
that is in this world. Man's disobedience unto God. A very easy command. Eat of every
tree. The fruit of every tree is yours,
Adam. Eat of all of it. But one tree,
don't eat. And Adam knew the repercussions,
what would take place when he ate that fruit and yet he did
it anyway. No doubt in unbelief and rebellion
and so sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death
passed upon all men and that all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Those of us this morning who
know Christ, those of us who know Him today, our Lord and
Savior, we look forward to a day the Scriptures speak of as the
day of the Lord. Let's read about it over in 2
Peter, just a moment. 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter
3. In verse 10, the apostle wrote, but the day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. And that's the
way the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is most often described
in the word of God. He's going to come like a thief
comes. A thief doesn't announce that
he's going to come to your house at a certain time. No, in fact,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he said it's going to be like it was
in the days of Noah. Men were eating and drinking
and being married and everything. Life was just going on and everyone
was having a big time, a great time until God called Noah. into the ark, and God shut the
door. His coming, the day of the Lord,
is going to be like a thief coming in the night. Suddenly, unexpectedly, we look forward to this day.
The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the
which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise. There's
that big bang, my friends. that unbelievers have been talking
about. The only problem is they've got
it at the wrong point. They've got it at the beginning
of creation. God has it at the day of the
Lord. The heavens shall pass away with
a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned
up Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what
manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and
godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of
God? Now notice this, wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat, Nevertheless, we, according to his promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherein dwelleth righteousness. In the new heaven, new earth,
there's not going to be anything but righteousness. The Lord who
is our righteousness shall be there, and all of those who have
been made righteous by the imputed righteousness of Christ, that
is His righteousness charged unto them that believe. It's
only going to be righteousness in the new heaven and the new
earth. That which is evil, that which is sinful, shall have passed
away, shall have been plunged or sent into everlasting destruction. Now look back at our text. We
look for that day, the day of the Lord. Oh, that it might come
soon. It might even come today. The
Lord Jesus Christ coming again. We see that at this point in
our Lord's life, there were multitudes that followed him. Notice the
verse, verse 13 of chapter two. And he went forth again by the
seaside, And all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught
them. We saw last time what it was
that he taught them, what it was that he preached. He preached
the written word of God. Let me read you a prophecy. I'll
read it to you. It's found in Ezekiel chapter
34, verses 23 and 24. And God is prophesying of what
we read about here in our text today in Mark chapter 2. The scripture says, and I will
set up one shepherd over them, over the people of God, one shepherd,
and he shall feed them, even my servant David. fall into that era of those who
teach that David, actually the man David who was a king, that
he's going to be raised up sometime in the future and this is speaking
about him. This is speaking about David's
greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who is the shepherd
of all the sheep of God. I will set up one shepherd over
them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David, he shall
feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will
be their God, and my servant David a prince among them, I
the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant
of peace and will cause the evil beast to cease out of the land.
And they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the
woods. Here's a fulfillment of this
prophecy. The Lord telling of a time when
he would raise up to his people, the shepherd, not a shepherd,
but the shepherd. the shepherd, the Lord our shepherd. When we read this verse of scripture
here in our text, and he went forth again by the seaside, and
all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. Richard
Baxter, one of the Puritans, he said this, and I quote, he
taught the people and preached the gospel Now listen, in field
meetings, house meetings, mountain meetings, synagogue meetings,
and temple meetings. In other words, he exercised
his office as the prophet, as an example to all men who he
puts into the ministry. What is our work? Preach the
word. Be instant, in season and out
of season. It's always the right season
to preach the word of God. So I wanted us to think about
the God of creation. What must his thoughts have been
as he walked in his creation at this time? The second thing
I want us to think about this morning from this passage is
a gracious call, verse 14. And as he passed by, he saw Levi,
the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of custom and
said unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed him. Mark adds this, Mark just adds
this, that somewhere from Capernaum to the seaside or at that time,
He passed by this toll booth, if you please, and he called
Levi. He saw Levi, the publican, sitting
there, and he said, follow me. Now, you and I in this building
here this morning, we know that salvation is of the Lord. We
know that. If you're saved today, it is
because God saved you. If you're ever going to be saved,
it will be because God has purposed it. We sometimes speak of this
salvation is of the Lord. That's what the scripture says.
As God, the father planned it, God, the son purchased it and
God, the Holy spirit applies it. Men have called this gracious
call. That's what it is, this gracious
call. As he passed by and saw Levi
sitting there, he said, follow me. This is a gracious call. And men sometimes have referred
to this as irresistible grace. And it certainly is grace, and
it is irresistible when he calls. And men have referred to this
as an effectual call. And it is an effectual call. And I like the definition of
effectual. It gets the job done. It gets
the job done. When he calls, it gets the job
done. I want you to notice these things
about him calling Levi. This gracious call, things that
are recorded here. I call this a gracious call because
notice the Lord Jesus saw him. Notice that in verse 14, and
as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus. We don't
read that Levi saw Jesus because the Lord Jesus Christ is always
first. is always first in beginning
the work of grace in the hearts of His chosen people. We read
in the Gospels that many with physical infirmities, lepers,
paralytics, blind, we read of many who had physical infirmities
who sought out the Lord Jesus Christ. They heard of His power,
They heard examples of his healing and they came. They came. They
came to him. But Levi had a disease much greater
than any of these called sin. And you don't read that Levi
saw him, but Christ saw Levi. Levi, like all men, had a spiritual
disease, which is called sin. And you may hear people today,
they may say, well, I found the Lord. Let me tell you something.
You would never have heard Levi say, I found the Lord. Not once
in all his life. What you would have heard him
say is, he found me. He saw me sitting at the receipt
of custom. The truth is the Lord Jesus Christ
had had his eye on Levi from before the foundation of the
world. He's had his eye upon his people
from old eternity. when they were first given unto
Him by the Father in that covenant of grace. And when we come into
this world, when His people come into this world, He has His eye
upon them. And there is what we call prevenient
grace, and that's grace before grace. Many of us can look back,
if not all of us who are saved here today, can look back in
our lives and see how that if it had not been for God's keeping
hand, His gracious hand upon us, we would have perished before
we ever came to know Christ. We would have died in our sins
had it not been for His prevenient grace. But He had His eyes. and His eye on all of His people,
watching over them, even before we called Him our Savior. Before we knew Him, He knew us. Before we loved Him, He loved
us. Jesus saw Levi. That's a gracious
call. And then second, I call this
a gracious call because Levi was a publican. a publican. This means that he was a tax
collector for the hated Roman rulers. He was a tax collector. And he probably practiced extortion. The publicans were so known for
robbery or extortion or defrauding people, taking advantage of people,
that they actually built a statue in Rome at this period or soon
after that to one publican who they said was an honest man.
Out of all the publicans that Rome had all over the world that
they controlled at this time to collect taxes, they thought
there'd been one who'd been an honest man. Levi was a publican. You know what's interesting to
me about this? You see, he was the son of Alphaeus,
the scripture says. Now, Alphaeus is also called
Cleopas in the scripture. He was married to the sister
of Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Alphaeus and
his wife, they had a large family and they had three other sons
who would later become apostles of Christ. They had one named
James, the less, Simon, and Jude, and they would all become apostles
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it would appear that Matthew,
see, he comes from a family of people who were who were interested
in the hope of Israel, that is the Savior coming into this world. But Matthew, it appears, lived
apart from this family. Surely when he stooped so low
to become a publican, to become a publican, he was ostracized
even by his family. He probably was what we call
today the black sheep of the family. He lived alone. Why? Because he was so wicked
in taking this work and doing this work as the work of a publican,
robbing and stealing from people. Even the Lord Jesus Christ, I
know of one place when he associated the publicans with the harlots.
He said, even the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom
of God before you. So a publican was the lowest
of the low in the eyes of the Jews and those of our Lord's
day, a publican. You know, Saul of Tarsus was
a Pharisee. And as far as he was concerned,
he was a moral. And everyone who looked at him
would have known he was a moral person. Matthew was at the other
end of the spectrum. He was a publican. But you see,
God's grace doesn't save and doesn't come to anyone because
of merit on the part of those that God saves. It's all grace. It's not mostly of grace. It's
not partly of grace, it's all of grace. For by grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. In the eyes of the world you
could not have had two men so far different, Saul of Tarsus
and Levi the Publican. And yet they were both alike
in the sense they were both fallen men who had sinned against God. They were alike in that. As far as outward conduct, they
were miles apart in the opinion of men, but they were both alike
in that they were fallen sinners, just like you and just like me. Have you taken your place? Have
you? Have you taken your place? I
mean, lock, stock, and barrel. as a sinner, knowing that if
you are ever going to be saved, it's going to be by grace. It's
not going to be because of who you are or what you know or where
you live or anything like that. It's going to be by the pure,
sovereign grace of God. If He gives us what we deserve,
I don't care who you are. Even the Virgin Mary, the woman
that God chose, the scripture says she found favor, she found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. And she needed grace, just like
every other sinner needs God's grace. This was a gracious God. The third thing, I call this
a gracious call because it was a personal call. Already made
the point. There were multitudes around
the Lord Jesus Christ that day, but He didn't speak to any of
them as far as we know, but He spoke to Levi. Levi wasn't looking
to be saved. He wasn't looking at Christ. He was interested in the things
of this world. The things of this world, that's
what captivated him. It wasn't spiritual things, eternal
things, his relationship with God. That wasn't important. What was important was money.
The things of this world, things I can put my hands on, things
I can see, things I can hold on to. And those things are all
temporary. spiritual things, eternal things,
or spiritual things. But the Lord Jesus Christ passed
by this day and he said to Levi, follow me. Well, you know, he left everything.
He left his money, left his job. He had an ideal job at that time
as far as being able to make money and get wealthy in this
world. He just said, adios. That's it. Oh, this call is effectual, isn't
it? Our Lord said, the hour cometh
and now is when the dead Matthew was one of them. Levi was one
of them. When the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. He arose and followed Christ.
A gracious call. It was a personal call. And third,
or fourth rather, I call this a gracious call because it humbles
a person. It humbles a person. Those whom
the Lord saves God the Holy Spirit so works in their hearts that
it humbles them. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Those who are rich in spirit have no need. I can take care
of myself. Whenever I want to, I can make
a decision. I'm okay. You're okay. You've
heard it all, haven't you? But I tell you, those who are
blessed, those who are saved like Levi, it produces a humility
about them. And I see this in Levi's case
in this way. In the synoptic gospels, Matthew,
Mark, and Luke, there is a place in each one of them where the
12 apostles are named. There's a place there in Mark,
there's a place in Luke, and yes, the gospel that Matthew
wrote, there's a place. And did you know that only in
the list that is in Matthew's gospel, the list that Matthew
wrote, it reads like this, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and,
now listen, Matthew the publican, Matthew the publican. You see,
God's grace, someone said one time, let's put amazing back
into grace. Those who are saved, they know
it's amazing grace. Those whom God saves, we know
it's amazing grace, don't we? That God would save a wretch
like me. Matthew recognized that, and
he never I'm sure the other disciples, Mark and Luke, that when they
were writing the list, inspired by the Holy Spirit, understand
that, but they wouldn't put there Matthew the Publican because
that was his old life and that was nothing to be proud of, to
be a publican. Matthew did. He wrote it, Matthew
the Publican. Now the last thought I have for
us today in verses 15 through 17, a truism stated. The truism is in verse 17. They that are whole have no need
of the physician, but they that are sick. That's a true statement
beyond question. There would never be a need for
a doctor If there was a city, a town, where there was no sick
people, I don't think any doctor would ever set up practice in
that town. Why? Because it's only the sick
who need a physician. Matthew, being called by the
Lord, invited the Lord Jesus Christ to dinner in his house,
and along with him came, the scripture says, many publicans
and sinners into Matthew's house. No doubt while they were sitting
there eating and drinking, the scribes and Pharisees, they came
along and they found fault. They found fault with the Lord
Jesus Christ for eating and drinking with publicans and sinners. You see, their religion was all
about the outside. It all had to do with touch not,
taste not, handle not. You've met people like that.
What they're trusting in is they don't do this, they don't do
that, they don't do the other. And yet the Apostle Paul said,
all that trust in those things shall perish with them. Touch
not, taste not, handle not. Those things that men have set
up. And that's what the religion
of so many people is. That's all it is. And it's all
outward. But Christ deals with the heart. The broken, the contrite heart,
person who sees himself as needy. Those that are whole, they need
not a physician, but those who are sick do. And those who are
sinners and know they are sinners, they know that they need a savior.
And that savior, that great physician is the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know, man can clean up the outside. In fact, our Lord told them one
day, He said, this is in Matthew 23, speaking to the Pharisees,
He said, you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter.
You just wash the outside of that cup and put it in the dishwasher. But the inside, the inside is
full of corruption. The problem man has is his heart. Not that which goeth into the
man that defiles the man, but it is rather that which comes
out of the man, out of the heart. Man needs a new heart. That's
a new birth. Be born again, born from above,
born of the Spirit of God, given life in Christ. This disease
that the Lord Jesus Christ treats is the disease of sin and the
medicine For every disease there's a cure, there's a medicine to
take, and listen, the disease of sin, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the doctor, he's the physician, and the cure is his vicarious
sacrifice. His suffering in the stead, in
the place of those whom he saves. The prophet said he was wounded,
and he was. He was wounded, beaten, nailed
to a cross. He was wounded for our transgressions. He had no sin of his own. He
was bruised, beaten with a cat of nine tails. He was bruised
for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace,
that we might have peace with God, it fell upon him. The chastisement
of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. We're healed of that awful, awful
disease of sin. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all His benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases. His cure. It heals completely, doesn't
it? It's not halfway cured. No, when he cures, he cures. When he saves, he saves. Let
me show you another truism in John chapter 3. He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him. That's just as true as what our
Lord said here, that the whole, they that are whole have no need
of a physician, but they that are sick. That's true. And this
is true also. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. You know, I think sometimes we
look at ourselves and we question whether we have life. That's putting this out of order. The first thing we should ask
ourselves, do I believe? Do I believe on the Son of God? He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Do I believe that Jesus is the
Christ? He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. That's true, that's true. For
all of us here today who believe on the Son of God, we have everlasting
life. I pray that the Lord would bless
these thoughts to all of us here today.