Luke The Orderly Account of Truth - The Sick Need a Doctor - Luke 5:27-32

God, we thank you for today this moment to open your word and to

study from it and learn what you would have us do as your children.

And so God, I pray that you give us hearts that are wide open

to receive from your word today. God, that our ears are not plugged,

that we do not callous our heart to the conviction of the Holy Spirit

today, but we are open to being challenged, corrected, encouraged by your

word today. So God, we thank you for this moment and pray that

it is bringing you glory as we are learning and growing in what it means

to be more christ Like. And Jesus name, everybody said, Amn,

Okay. We've been in a series called Luke The Orderly Account of Truth.

Luke did an investigated and investigated account of everything that Jesus did and taught,

and he gave it to the off Loss so he would have certainty about the

exact truth about what he had been taught or about the things that had been

fulfilled among them. And the cool thing is is we get that same blessing

and benefit of knowing the exact truth because we're reading Luke's gospel count, which

is amazing. And last week we saw some men carry their paralyzed friend to

Jesus to be healed. They literally carried him on a mat. They were

willing to do whatever it took, which included carrying him up on top of

a roof, digging through the roof, like literally tearing apart someone's roof,

which wasn't theirs. By the way, I realized that it's like literally going

on somebody else's house and just tearing a hole in their roof. Wonder how

the owners felt about that. Anyway, they were willing to do whatever it

took to get their friend to Jesus. They had faith that Jesus could heal

him, and they said, this might be our only shot. This might

be the one shot we get. So we're going to take our friend to

Jesus. And when Jesus saw their faith, he forgave the man. He

said, friend, your sins are forgiven, which what that did was showed

that Jesus has God in the flesh and he has the authority to forgive sins.

He has the authority on earth to forgive sins. So's Jesus claiming to

be God, which is amazing. And then just put the cherry on top.

He healed the man to say, see, I wasn't lying. I

told you I was so on the truth. I am he he is me,

I said I think last week, which is weird. Jesus is God

in the flesh. He healed the man to show that what he was saying

was the truth. He performed that miracle to validate the message he was teaching.

We also talked about not being like the crowd, right, the crowd

that was huddled up looking at Jesus boxing out the paralyzed man. Right as

we get in this Christian holy huddle, which we love the fellowship, sometimes

we turn our back on the people who need to see Jesus the most.

So we were talking about not being like the crowd. We should be like

the men who carried their friend to Jesus to do the hard work of bringing

people to Jesus to tell them the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Which I kind of wanted to take a pause here. I call it

a little side note. The main way that the Lord saves peoples through us

telling them the good news about Jesus. Right, we are, therefore Christ

ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. That's what Tewo

Corinthians five says, as God sent us to make his appeal through us,

that's what we're called to do. So we should absolutely definitely go out and

tell people the good news of Jesus, but we should also invite them to

the fellowship. We should invite them to church because we're always going to be

like we're in the Bible. We're literally in the Gospel of Luke. We're

gonna be talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ every single time we open the

Bible. So this is also a way to help them get exposure to the

gospel messages. Inviting them to come with you to church, and then you

sit with them. And then when there's seats open in the front row,

because I made the whole second row come to the front row, pull them

up to the second row. Why not, you guys can sit closer.

I don't think I spit all. These guys will let you know after service.

They're like the news, not the weather. I thank you for that

pity laugh. That was terrible. I don't even know where I'm at in

the message. So we are we should be in telling people about Jesus and

inviting the church because we're going to talk about the gospel here. We have

no clue where they're out on their journey, right, we don't know if

God has been drawing them to already to himself, and they're like, I

don't know, I feel like I need to come to church, and they

just have never been invited, right, So God could already be moving in

their heart. Maybe they heard the gospel message that seed planted in the past

and they're just waiting to be invited. And you could be that person that

God uses in their journey or in their part of their walk of becoming a

Christian. So preach the gospel and invite people to church. We do both,

not neglecting one or the other. But before we read the text for

this week, I have a simple question. Who's ever had like a major

injury, something that's like a big injury that it's like, right after it

happened, you're trying to stand up and everyone's like sit down, and you're

like, why is everyone telling me to sit down? You're trying to stand

up, and they're like, you don't realize how bad the injury is yet.

Right. Luckily, I've never been injured that bad before because I always

know, and I'm like, I need to sit down for a minute,

So give me a second. I'll be with you. So this major injury

that knocks you down and maybe you're getting up and everyone's like, you need

to just sit down for a second. Brother, like calm down, or

maybe it isn't your or maybe it's like somebody you know, but I've ever

seen someone who is clearly injured but swore up and down that they were fine,

there's nothing wrong. They're like, we're all looking at them, and

you're clearly injured, Like, no, I'm good. You know there's someone's

walking like this, I'm fine, and like everyone around you is looking.

You're not fine. There is something clearly wrong. You can't even stand up

and you can't even walk straight. You're walking funny. They're oblivious to the

fact that they're walking funny. Maybe they'll say this is how I always walk,

this is how I always live my life. Or maybe they're just too

stubborn to admit that something is wrong. We all know people have done that.

Maybe it's been us refusing to go to the doctor for one reason or

the other, but either way, it's obvious to everyone but the person that

they need it. It's obvious to everyone else who's looking at this person except

for them, that they need to go see a doctor. And I think,

in a roundabout way, that's exactly how Jesus was describing the Pharisees in

our text today, that Jesus looking at the Pharisees and saying, something is

clearly wrong with you, and you need a doctor. But they're like,

there's nothing wrong with me. I'm just fine. Jesus continues to go against

the grain of what the religious elite thought was right. They did the opposite,

or he would do things that they would consider unclean or unright or wrong

in their eyes. And in the process, Jesus helps us understand who he

actually came to reach. He makes it clear that it isn't those who think

that they're good. It's those who know there is something wrong with them.

That's who Jesus came to reach. And so today's message is simply titled the

Sick Need a Doctor. The Sick Need a Doctor. Are my boys taking

notes? Did you write down the sermon title? He's like, no,

not yet. There's going to be a test. You're supposed to test me

after here. Okay, the sick need a doctor. We're gonna read through

our text today. It's in Luke chapter five. We're gonna be verses twenty

seven through thirty two, which is only six verses, so we'll be through

it in no time. Right, Yes, if you don't have a bible,

please grab one from the back table. We have one sitting there,

and we have a bunch more available. So Luke chapter five, verses twenty

seven through thirty two. I saw the hand go up. I knew what

the question was. Okay, you guys, turn there. If you got

your bibles, all right, let's go ahead and read the text for today.

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name

of Levi sitting at his tax booth. Follow me, Jesus said to him,

and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held

a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax

collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of

the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, why do you

eat and drink with tear collectors and sinners? Jesus answered them, it is

not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not

come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And I might be

reading into this a little bit, but it seems like Jesus might have given

a little bit a snark in his last answer there. But we'll talk about

that a little bit later. But at this point in the story, Jesus

had already called Peter or Simon sometimes you'll see him refer to as Simon,

Peter, James, and John to follow him. They had left their profession

of being fishermen to follow Jesus and become fishers of people. And now we

see Jesus calls next disciple Levi. So go back to verse twenty seven for

me. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the

name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. Follow me, Jesus said to

him, Okay, so after this, after what well, what just happened

right before in the story, after Jesus had healed the paralyzed man on the

mat, this is what happened. So it's after he did that, and

we get to know. Now we get to know who this Levi guy is

that he's calling next as one of his disciples to follow him. Who is

this Levi guy. Well, he was a tax collector and tax collectors which

have already been referenced in Luke. But I'm excited for us to get to

talk about him because we're gonna understand some really big heart issues later on in

the Pharisees. But the tax collectors were some of the most despised people by

the Jews. The reason they were so despised because they were viewed as traders

to their own people, by their own people, because they were the Jews

who collected the taxes from the Jews for Rome. So Rome would say,

Okay, you owe taxes. We need someone to be a representative to collect

those taxes. Right here come the Jewish tax collectors. They would sit at

the tax booths and they would collect taxes. However, what they would also

do is if they were required to like collect this much in taxes, what

the Roman government said is anything above that that you collect, you can keep,

that's your pay. So what did they do the wickedness of their heart,

they would collect a lot more than that and they would get to keep

all that as their own pay for their position. And if you remember back

in Luke three verses twelve and thirteen. It's not going to be on the

verse or on the screen. But John called Mount and said, don't collect

more than you were required to. When the tax collectors came to get baptized,

they're like, well, what should we do, and He's like,

don't collect more taxes than you are required to. That was one thing he

said to them. But they were extremely wealthy at the expense of the Jews,

so they were considered some of the worst sinners around. They hated the

tax collectors. And that is the job that leave I had. He is

the tax collector. And it's funny because when you think about the types of

people that God calls like you look at the tax collectors or just read basically

any of the Bible and who Jesus called. Are you really that surprised that

he called you? You're not nearly as bad as some of the peu what

he called. Not that it's a comparison game, but you shouldn't be surprised

that he called you out of your place to follow him as well, because

of all the other types of people that he called. So speaking of Levi

and his name, we see Levi here, but just like Peter, he's

known by another name as well. Okay, Levi had a second name.

His other name was Matthew, the same Matthew who wrote the Book of Matthew

or the Gospel of Matthew. If you read through this story in the Book

of Mark, he's also references Luke. But if we turned at Matthew chapter

nine, we'll see Levi with his other name. So let's read through here

and starting in verse nine of chapter nine. As Jesus went on from there,

he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. Follow

me, he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While

Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and

ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked

the disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners. On

hearing this, Jesus said, it's not the healthy who needed doctor, but

the sick. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy,

not sacrifice, for I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.

Does that sound a little familiar. It's almost exactly like our text for today.

Right. So we see here that Levi and Matthew are the same guy.

It's just his other name. So just like Simon Peter had two names,

Matthew and Levi are the same name. Okay, you're tracking making sense,

sweet, Let's get back to our text. Let's go back to verse

twenty seven. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by

the name of Levi or Matthew sitting at his tax booth. Follow me,

Jesus said to him. So, Jesus comes across Levi when he's at his

tax booth. He's sitting in the booth that he would be sitting in every

day when he's collecting taxes, just doing his job by the Sea of Galilee,

which means he probably was taxing all the fishermen too, which would have

made the fact that he was called and Peter, James and John had already

been called called some interesting interpersonal relationship issues there. If this is the guy

who's been over taxing us and our family because we're fishermen, I just wonder

what the conversations were like, you know. So calls out to Levi and

says follow me, and Levi would have heard about who Jesus is and what

he'd been doing already. Why, because Jesus been doing miracles in the area,

and literally everyone was talking about it so much that crowds so big were

gathering that no one could get to them, get to him, excuse me,

so they would He would have known and heard about who Jesus was.

So it wasn't like some stranger walked up to him and said, hey,

follow me. It was more like a local celebrity walking up. He's like,

wait a minute, I've heard of this Jesus guy and what he does,

not just some random person coming up to him and for him. I

like, as I was sitting here thinking about it, I was like,

maybe it felt like winning the lottery a little bit to Levi because think about

it, Levi or Levi, because he was a tax collector, was hated

by the Jews and the Pharisees, and Jesus, who's been doing what only

God can do, right, He's been going around doing the miracles and forgiving

only the things that only God can do, came right up to Levi and

said, follow me, like accepted him. Everyone else doesn't accept the tax

collectors. The Jews and the Pharisees reject the tax collectors. Yet the one

who's doing what only God can do came and accepted him. That would seem

pretty awesome. I'm sure he was extremely shocked, just like everybody else is

shocked. Why would Jesus come to a tax collector, But that he accepted

him, and he responded by answering the call. Look at the next verse,

follow me, Jesus said to him, and LEVI got up, left

everything and followed him. He got up, he left everything and followed him.

And we need to talk about this for a second, the fact that

he left everything. He didn't first say, let me pack up everything.

No, he got up and left it all and followed Jesus. He left

his job, which is might not seem like a big deal, but it

was a really big deal to leave a tax collecting job which made him extremely

wealthy. It's a very hard job to get. Nobody leaves that job,

which means if he gets up and walks out of his tax booth, somebody

else is gonna come and sit down, and he no longer has a job

to come back to. So it's a big deal that he would leave this

particular job that he has no way to get back. Once he leaves the

position, he is literally leaving everything behind. He decided in that moment to

leave it all behind to follow this man, Jesus, and he may not

have known it yet, but this is the greatest decision he ever could have

made in his entire life, the greatest decision. And that is our first

main point for today. Following Jesus is worth leaving everything behind. Following Jesus

is worth leaving everything behind. There's nothing that we could hold on to in

this life, life that is better than a life that is following after Jesus.

There's nothing we could hold on to. There's nothing better than being face

to face with him, and in the future eternal eternity, face to face

with him. Everything else will pale in comparison. And Pastor Duncan and I

were talking earlier this week and he reminded me of a particular passage in Philippians,

which, by the way, is a great It's great to have friends

who love God's Word as well, because it's a big book and you forget

a lot of stuff, and sometimes they'll point great truths out to you.

So I'm very grateful that he pointed this out. But let's look at Philippians

chapter three, verses seven through nine. But whatever we're gains to me,

I now consider this is Paul speaking to the church in Philippi. But whatever

we're gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of

knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, or whose sake I have lost all things.

I consider them garbage that I might gain Christ and be found in Him,

not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that

which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the

basis of faith. The worth of knowing Jesus surpasses the worth of anything you

could think or imagine. Anything you could think or imagine. Knowing Christ far

surpasses that in worth. There's nothing more valuable the knowing Jesus, Christ our

Lord. Just stop and think about it for a second. Is there anything

that you can think of that is more valuable than being forgiven of all your

sin to get to live in peace, face to face with the Creator for

eternity in perfect paradise, When he creates all things new. I can't think

of anything. I can think of nothing that is better than that. Nothing

on this earth is he. Everything fades, erodes, it disintegrates, moths

cheue holes in it. It's never going to last. We have to take

our eyes off of the temporal or the temporary, and we have to put

our eyes on the eternal. To set our minds on things above is the

way the Bible puts it. Not unearthly things. Know what holds true and

everlasting value. Everything else fades. So following Jesus is worth leaving everything behind.

And later on in Luke chapter fourteen, I'm going to reference a little

bit further in Luke a couple times, but I'm not going to go there

too much to because I don't we want to preach it when we get there.

But later on in Luke fourteen, Jesus gives the large crowd that's following

him a big warning. He tells him to count the costs before following him,

to count the costs that before they become disciples of his, that they

will need to know that it will cost them everything, that they must give

up everything to be his disciples. And it's the exact same for us today.

It's the same for us. We must be ready to leave everything behind

to follow Jesus. Does he ask everyone to sell all their possessions and give

everything to have to the poor? No, but he does ask some.

He does ask some. And that means this. The disciples of Jesus must

be ready to let everything else go. The disciples of Jesus must be ready

to let everything else go. We have to be open handed about everything else

but Jesus. And what I mean by that is like the harder we hold

on to something, the more I mean, this is kind of cheesy,

but the more it has a hold of our heart. We need to be

willing to open our hand and have an open handed about what an open handed

view about whatever it is being willing to let everything go for the sake of

following Jesus, who is our lord. Plus it's all his anyway, it's

not even ours, it's all his. And I want to look at what

Elisha did when Elijah called out to him, and that's in First King's chapter

nineteen. I think it's a beautiful example of what we're talking about. The

Lord said to him, go back the way you came, and go to

the desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.

Also anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, king over Israel. And anoint

Elisha, son of Shafat from Abel to succeed you. As prophet has been

so well for a while. There Jay who will put to death any who

escaped the sword of Haziel, And Elishah will put to death any who escaped

the sword of Jehu. Yet a reserved seven thousand in Israel. All whose

knees have not bowed to the bail, and excuse me, down to bail,

and whose mouths have not kissed him? Pause right here, those are

Elijah's instructions from the Lord. Okay, we tracking go and anoint and appoint

all these people. That's the crux verse nineteen. So Elijah went from there

and found Elishah, son of Shaffat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of

oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to

him and threw his cloak around him. Elijah then left the oxen and ran

after Elijah. Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, he said,

And then I will come with you. Go back. Elijah replied, what

have I done to you? Might not make much sense. He's basically saying,

like, do whatever you want man matter to me. That's a way

of saying that. He's like, do you what do you think I actually

did? Right, Elishah understood what Elijah had just done, So Elishah left

him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them.

He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people

and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.

This is all an Old Testament view of kind of what we're talking about.

But if did you see how Elisha responded. Did you see how he

responded when God called him through the mouth of the prophet Elijah. He went

back, killed the oxen, burned the plowing equipment, and had a barbecue,

which sounds delicious. Now this is a guy who said, I will

give up everything to follow God. I will give it up, all of

it. I'm getting rid of everything, so I have no reason to go

back. He is literally destroyed. He killed the animals, burned the plowing

equipment, so I have nothing to go back to because I've decided I will

answer the call and I will follow the Lord. That's what he understood.

That's what the call was. That's what he understood, and he understood the

decision he was making. He was willing to let it all go. And

that's how we should view being a disciple of Jesus, willing to get rid

of everything, to leave it all behind for the sake of following Jesus,

Because just like Paul said in Philippians, it's all garbage when you compare it

to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ, our Lord, it's not even

worth it. No matter what it is, it's not even worth it.

Levi was ready to leave it all behind, so he got up and answered

jesus call to follow him. Let's keep moving. In verse twenty nine,

then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large

crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. Okay, so Levi

I got up to follow Jesus and then he threw a party for him at

his house. That's what he did, threw a party for Jesus at his

own house. And do you guys remember when you first met Jesus. Do

you remember that day? Do you remember when or maybe it was like you

experienced him for real, or I like to say, like you actually acknowledged

that it was him working the whole time. But you remember that day?

Do you remember what you felt on the end, that uncontainable joy that like

it's just like spilling out. I gotta tell everybody about who this Jesus guy

is, or more specifically, what he did in my life. Do you

guys remember that day? That's what Levi is doing. He had literally just

met Jesus and he is like, I can't contain how amazing this person is

that I just met, and I have to tell my friends about it.

So he goes and throws a party. He throws a party and invites all

of his friends to tell him about Jesus. And I think that it's the

same thing that we This might be a good challenge for us or something that

we need to consider in our own lives, but we need to remember when

you first met Jesus. Reignite your joy. Go back and remember when you

first met Jesus and let that joy just get reignited in you. It's John

Piper who says that joy isn't fully complete until it's been expressed. And you

know this to be true because we've talked about this before. But if you

went to an awesome and saw an awesome movie that's like now your favorite movie,

or you ate the greatest meal you've ever had in your life, you

had to tell somebody about it, your joy was not complete and you said,

I just had the greatest stake I've ever had in my life. Or

this movie you're never gonna believe it, it's the greatest movie you've ever seen.

Your joy is not complete, it's not made complete until you've expressed that

joy. We need to remember, remember that joy, and let it be

complete in us by expressing it. Go back and remember that moment you first

met Jesus, because it's easy for us to forget. Over time, we

get busy or focused on other things, and it's easy for us to forget

and we lose that excitement to tell others about the most incredible person to ever

have walked this earth, the god man Jesus. It's the one who is

worth leaving everything else behind to follow. Why do you think the Israelites set

up stone like stacked stacks of stones everywhere, and so that every time they

walked by and they're like, oh, this is to remember when God did

this in our lives. It's and then when the k and they even say,

like when the kids would walk by and say, well, what is

this dad, and he's like, son, this is when the Lord followed

through or came through for the children of Visrael, or or did this amazing

thing. It's to remind us. So maybe we need to stack some stones

in our life. That's not even a point I have for today, but

maybe we need to stack some stones in our life to remind us of the

amazing things God's done in our lives, the amazing forgiveness that we receive through

Jesus. We need to go back and remember that that's the greatest thing ever

and let it reignite our joy so that we can share with people this uncontainable

joy. So do what leave I did and tell your friends, throw a

party if you have to. Everyone shows up. When there's gonna be food,

right, Who're literally gonna eat food tonight. It's gonna be amazing.

I'm here, June's ready, Okay, Leave I through a party for Jesus

and his tax collectors. And sinner friends showed up. How do you think

the Pharisees felt about that. Well, the Pharisees and the teachers, the

law who belong and the law who belonged to their sect complained to the disciples,

why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus answered

them, it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

I have not come to call the sinner. Oh excuse me, the

righteous, but sinners to repentance. Why do you eat and drink with tax

collectors and sinners? How dare you hang out with those filthy sinners? That's

what the Pharisees were saying. And the name Pharisee comes from a word that

literally means the separate, separated ones. So they wouldn't be caught dead mixing

with the unclean ones or the sinners, the unholy ones. Yet they see

Jesus just like chilling with sinners. He's just hanging out with him. And

this is what I meant when I said that Jesus would go against the grain

of the religious elite. He would often do this, and it's always for

a specific reason. He would do what they would never think of doing.

Remember when he touched the leper. That was a huge no no. A

Pharisee or a religious elite at the time would never do that because it would

make them unclean. Yet Jesus did it. He would do what they would

never dream of doing. And then he immediately tells us why he's doing it,

which is in verse thirty one. Can we go to the verse thirty

one. Jesus answered them, it is not the healthy who need a doctor,

but the sick. It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but

the sick. He says, He's here to help those who are sick.

That's why Jesus is here. Those who know they need help, the ones

who know that something is wrong. And this is why I think Jesus being

a little snow ar to them, maybe because they are like the people that

we were talking about the beginning who had a major injury and thought everything was

just fine. They thought that there was nothing wrong with them. But it's

obvious when you look on the outside. Excuse me, when Jesus from the

outside is looking at the heart, but others looking on the outside, they

know something's obviously wrong with this, and Jesus continually calling it out It's obviously

there's something wrong. It's obvious that they're walking funny, and they have no

clue. And there is no one who is more in need of a doctor

than someone who's fatally sick and doesn't know it. There's no one who needs

a doctor more. The Pharisees looked in the mirror and they say, yep,

nailing it perfect, jew That's what they would look in the mirror and

say. But they had no clue how far off they were. Even though

Jesus would call them out all the time. There was no way they would

ever consider themselves among the sick and someone who needed help. And then Jesus

finishes this whole thing out by verse thirty two. I have not come to

call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The righteous don't need to be

told to repent because they're already righteous. Sinners need to be told to repent

so they can become righteous. So if the Pharisees, in their case,

if they thought they already were righteous, then Jesus effectly saying I'm not here

for you, I'm here for them, which is a big slap in the

face. Say okay, you're good, fine, you think you're good,

then go be good. I'm here for those who know they're not. I

think it's the first. I don't think. I know it's the first.

Part of understanding the Gospel is knowing that there's something wrong and that they're sick.

It's knowing that there's a problem and something needs to be fixed. And

I've said it before, but this big point here, it is loving for

God to show us our sin. It's loving for God to show us our

sin. It's the loving thing that God would tell you you're broken and need

to be fixed, to tell that you're fatally sick or fatally wounded and need

care. You need to see the doctor. That is loving. Think about

it. If you saw somebody walking towards a busy street blindfolded and there's cars

going back and forth, what's the loving thing to do? Tell them to

stop, don't warn them, tell them we're gonna get hit by a car.

The loving thing is to tell them what you're doing is not good.

You need to stop. That's the loving thing to do to warn them.

Somebody's fatally sick and doesn't know it. The most loving thing to do is

say, brother, you have a cancer that you need to be cured of.

And that's what the Lord does. He makes us aware of our brokenness

and shows us our need of a savior or to be saved. Psalm fourteen.

I'm just gonna go through three quick scriptures here that won't be on the

screen. But Psalm fourteen says that God looks down from heaven and sees that

there's no one who seeks him and there's no one who does good. Tells

us that every single one of us was dead in our transgressions and sins and

follow the ways of the world. And Romans three says that every single person

has sin and falls short of God's perfect standard. So what point am I

making by bringing those scriptures? This next point? We were all sick before

we saw the doctor. All of us were sick before we got to see

the doctor. And this fact alone should keep us humble. We should never

become haughty because of this fact alone, which scripture just repeats over and over

and over again. It should help us never become like the Pharisees who looked

down on those who didn't they didn't deem as righteous, which was according to

their own standards, wasn't even God's standards. This should prevent us from becoming

like that. Jesus came to the sick as their doctor. He came to

call sinners to repentance. And a little further in Luke he says it slightly

differently when he meets a different tax collector by the name of Zacchius. And

everyone who knows Whozakius is laughing because I'm the shortest person in this room,

and Zaccius was a short dude. Where my short king's at he was so

short. Jesus comes to town. He climbs a tree because he can't see

above the crowds, so he's looking at Jesus from a tree. And Jesus

comes to the tree and calls him out of the tree and said, I'm

gonna eat at your house tonight. He says some cool stuff after that,

which I'm gonna say for whenever we get to this part in Luke when we

preach it. But the people saw Jesus call him down out of the tree

and say I'm gonna come eat at your house and start wondering why Jesus was

hanging out with sinners again. And this is what Jesus said in Luke nineteen.

Jesus said to him. Today's salvation has come to this house because this

man too is a son of Abraham. For the son of Man came to

seek and to save the lost. The son of Man came to seek and

to save the lost, those who are lost or separated from the flock.

That's who Jesus came. That's who Jesus came for. Excuse me. Luke

also talks about the parable of the lost sheep in Luke fifteen that he says,

if you had one hundred sheep and lost one, wouldn't you leave the

ninety nine to go find the one? Like just practically speaking, you would

leave the ninety nine like, hey, make sure they're good, and then

you go find the one. You would leave the ninety nine to go find

the one. And that there's more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents.

The ninety nine righteous people who don't need to repent, we would leave

the ninety nine to go find the one. This is what Jesus came to

do, seek and save the loss, to be a doctor to the sick,

to call sinners to repentance. Can I have the band come up wherever

you guys are at, please play those tasty jams, right, CARDI,

So as we're kind of I want to bring every thing to a close,

but I want to recap kind of how we can apply all the things that

we've learned from today. Just give him a minute. The first point I

want to make out, or the first application point, is if you are

not a believer and you're in here today, what I mean by not a

believer is someone who you've never believed in your heart that Jesus is God,

that he died on the cross for your sins, that he rose from the

dead, and you've never confessed that belief out loud. That's what I mean

by a non believer. Your application point for today is exactly what Jesus said,

which is repent of your sins and believe in Jesus for salvation. This

is what we're all called to when we're in that dead. In our sins,

in our transgressions and sins is all of what our call is. This

is when it says that all have sin and falls short of the glory of

God or his perfect standard. This is what we all need to do.

Every single believer has done this, repented of our sins and believed in Jesus

for salvation. And to repent simply means to turn the other way or to

change your mind in direction, to turn away from what, to turn away

from sin. Well, sin is doing anything that God commands us not to

do, or not doing anything that God commands us to do. Okay,

So to repent of our sins and then to believe in the name of Jesus

as the only way to receive forgiveness and eternal life. And if you're if

you're like hearing this and you're like, I'm doing that right now, if

you're doing that for the first time today, we absolutely want to talk to

you after service, when we're singing the song, we'll have the elders out

on the sides ready for prayer. We would love to talk to you about

that because we want to walk with you through it. It's the most exciting,

amazing thing that could ever happen in your life. So the Lord reveals

who Jesus is, and you believe that, do you repent and believe?

Maybe it isn't the first time you've heard all this, but suddenly something like

it clicked and now your eyes are open. We want to talk to you

too, So come talk to us, and we would love to talk to

you. And then then there's also people who are already believer, like the

people who sees me, those who are already believers who are sitting in here.

We also can't forget the message of repent and believe. We need to

remember that because our entire Christian walk is one of sinning, getting the conviction

of sin, repenting of that sin, and receiving forgiveness. Like it's this

cyclical thing on our way to perfection, we move from degree to degree of

glory more into the image of Christ. That's what the sanctification journey is.

We fall down, we scrape our knees, thank you Lord for your forgiveness,

repent, and keep moving forward. So we need to remember this message

as well, even as believers. It's a lifelong process of sanctification on our

way to perfection. And as we were repenting and turning to follow Jesus,

we need to remember what Levi did when he answer the call. Let's remember

that it's worth leaving everything behind to follow Jeeseesus. It's worth it. It's

worth leaving everything behind to follow Jesus. To know Jesus as your Lord is

worth more than anything you could ever think or imagine. Nothing else in your

life is eternal. Nothing, there's no one who will never fail you except

for Jesus. Everyone else that you put your trust in, including yourself,

it's gonna let you down at some point. It's only Jesus that can be

taken from you. Everything else could be taken from you but Jesus. So

we should be ready to slaughter our oxen and burn our plow to follow the

Lord, leave it all behind, which makes me want to add a very

important question to this point. So worth leaving everything behind to follow Jesus?

What are you still holding on to? What are you still holding on to?

What are you struggling to let go of or maybe just stubbornly unwilling to

let go of that's real. Is there something in your life that is hindering

your ability to wholeheartedly and one hundred percent follow Jesus. Could be your job

or a career path you've chosen. Not just steal Dunkin's story, but I

like he had a job that had him working on Sundays, and he's like,

I need to be with the Fellowship, with the Believers. So it's

like, let's get a different job. Maybe it's a hobby. It doesn't

mean it's a bad hobby. Could be a good hobby. I think good

things can become bad things when our priorities are out of alignment. Maybe it's

a relationship. Maybe there's a relationship that is hindering your to follow the Lord

one hundred percent. We should be willing to give that up. Maybe it's

a habit. There's absolutely unhealthy and sinful habits that we can pick up that

we should definitely abandon for the sake of following Jesus. Could be a way

of thinking. Maybe it's just selfishness and pride for the surpassing worth of knowing

Jesus, it's worth leaving whatever it is behind. And all of my fans

of movie Frozen say, let it go. Come on, kids, you

know the song, right, let it go. And the last point or

question really that I want us to consider today is this, who do I

view like the Pharisees viewed the tax collectors? Who do I view like the

Pharisees viewed the tax collectors? They hated the tax collectors. Now, we

might not outright say that we hate anybody, because come on, we're Christians.

Christians don't hate anybody. We would never say that, but maybe our

actions are speaking it loud and clear. The things that we do might be

saying it a lot louder than our own voice. Are there people that you

actively avoid interacting with? Are there people that you feel are beneath you or

that you're better than. Are there people that you lack compassion for, or

maybe you willingly withhold compassion from. Are there people that you just will not

forgive, or people you refuse to show mercy to. These are hard questions

to ask, but even harder questions to answer if we're honest, and we

need to be honest, and as we consider kind of all those questions I

just asked, I want us to look at what Jesus said about this in

Matthew eighteen. Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many

times shall I forgive my brother a sister who sins against me? Up to

seven times, which I'm sure he thought was very generous. Jesus answered,

I tell you not seven times, but seventy seven times, illustration being like

all the times you always forgive. Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is like

a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the

settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold, which is

just an absurd amount of gold, was brought to him. Since he was

not able to pay, the master ordered that he his wife and his children

in all all that he had be sold to repay the debt. At this,

the servant fell on his knees before him. Be patient with me,

he begged, and I will pay back everything the servants. Master took pity

on him, canceled the debt and let him go. Now that's amazing.

But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who

owed him one hundred silver coins change comparatively. He grabbed him and began to

choke him. Pay back what you owe me, he demanded. His fellow

servants fell on his knees and begged him. Be patient with me, and

I will pay it back. That's exactly what he said, but he refused.

Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he

could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what happened, they were

outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master

called the servant in you, wicked servant, He said, I canceled all

that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy

on your fellow servant just as I had on you? In anger, his

master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back

all that he owed. And here's the crux. This is how my heavenly

Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother a sister from your

heart. The Bible encourages us a lot, but the Bible also cuts and

it challenges, and when we read stuff like this, we can't soften the

blow. I don't think the Lord wanted us to soften the blow. He

wants us to sit with the very uncomfortable tension. We just read that it

would challenge and it would cut us. So, like I said, these

are hard questions to ask and to answer, But I think there's an even

bigger challenge that God wants us to feel. Today. We might claim that

we don't hate anyone, like the Pharisees hated the tax collectors. But if

there is only one way for people to meet Jesus and come to a saving

faith to receive forgiveness and be saved from God's wrath on their sin for eternity.

And that weighs through us telling the good news about Jesus. If that's

the case, If that is true, then how much should we hate them

by not telling them? Wasn't it like Penn from Pen and Teller? Yeah,

And he was like, if you really believe this and you don't tell

people about it, how much do you hate them? And that's an atheist

saying that he's not a believer as far as I know now, I don't

know. Maybe the Lord saved him, that'd be awesome, But how much

do you have to hate someone not to know the truth and not tell them.

Do we have enough compassion in our hearts for the loss to tell him

the gospel? Or we just find with them going to hell? We need

to get out of the holy huddle and do what Jesus said. He went

to the sick, and he called sinners to repentance. Somebody stepped out of

the holy huddle to tell you. Someone stepped out of their comfort zone to

reach out and tell you the good news of who Jesus is and what he

did for you. They made room in their schedule to tell you. They

let their life get impacted to tell you the good news about Jesus. So

we need to do the exact same thing for others. He You guys,

stand on your feet, please,