Why Levi?

We'll give them just a minute to get out. Alright. Amen. And, Sophia, don't forget yours. Alright?

Later. Alright? Luke chapter five. I don't think any of the rest of you are young enough to claim one of these. Luke chapter five.

We're going to read verses 27 through 32. Five twenty seven through 32. And after these things, he, that is Jesus, went forth and saw a publican, that is a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom. And he said unto him, follow me. And he left all and rose up and followed him.

And Levi made him a great feast in his own house, and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with him. But their scribes and pharisees murmured against his disciples saying, why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Jesus answering said unto them, they that are whole need not a physician but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Let's pray once more.

Lord, thank you for your word today. Thank you, Lord, for the privilege to know you, serve you, to minister in your behalf to these that have come today. We pray, Lord, that you would take your word and use it mightily in our hearts, and that if there be one who's yet to receive Christ as savior, that today indeed would be their day of salvation. In Jesus' name, we do pray. Amen.

Why do people act the way they do? Why does a mother kill her own children? Why does a madman walk into a school or a supermarket and just randomly kill people? Why does a young man attempt to kill the president knowing he will likely be killed as a result? Why do people do what they do?

On the other hand, why does a stranger jump into a raging river to rescue a drowning person knowing that they may end up drowning themselves? Why does someone jump in front of a gunman to take the bullet for another? Why does a prostitute or a thief or a witch who once defended their way of life suddenly turn to living a turn from it to living a moral and godly life, warning people against the lifestyle they once championed and preaching the gospel. Why? Well, many of the above, I'm not sure about.

But about the last one, need not guess. The answer is a person, and his name is Jesus Christ. We have one such person's story brought before us this morning in the person of Levi, also called Matthew a traitor to his own people, a thief, and yet one of Christ's handpicked 12 disciples. How does all this come about? Why do we read this today?

Why did he do what he did? Why did Jesus do what he did and and call Levi? Now, let's take a few minutes to look at that. It begins with God's authority, power, wisdom, and grace. It begins with who?

It begins with God. It begins with Jesus Christ. He told Levi to come. And what did Levi do? He came.

He left. Right there. He was in the middle of taking taxes. He probably had a line of people in front of him. And Jesus spoke his name and said, Levi, come.

And he just left. Not not a good way to, you know, keep your job, particularly with the Roman Empire. He just left. God looks, Why Levi and not? Why Levi and not a a faithful practicing religious Jew, which Levi was not?

Or a religious leader like a Pharisee or scribe? Why a tax collector? When the Bible says God looks on the what? He looks on the heart. He said that regarding his pick of David to be king of Israel.

He knew something about David that others didn't know. He made him. He knew something about his heart. And he also knew something about Levi that others did not, And so Jesus called him. The Bible says God is not a respecter of persons.

He doesn't see people often as we see people. We make judgments about people that are oftentimes erroneous and sometimes quite prideful and selfish, but God sees people differently than we do. We're told that in James two, many other passages. Are you a respecter of persons? Do you write off certain people as hopeless?

In this day of media immersion, I have noticed lately the testimonies of many once thought beyond hope who have quite sincerely been converted and transformed by the power of the gospel and willing and eager to give their testimony of salvation in Jesus Christ. Oh, we of little, what, faith to believe that God can't reach people, that that we certainly can't, but God can. People that we've written off, but God hasn't. People that we've judged based upon the little we know, God knows it all. And the God who looks on the heart, saw, a tax collector, a traitor to his own people, a thief from his own people.

And he called. He called Levi. God readily forgives what we consider to be the most terrible sins and calls people into his service whom we would happily condemn. Remember a man named Saul? We most of you know him, talk about him as Paul, but when we first meet him, he's called Saul.

He actually had a Hebrew name and a a Greek name, so he probably had both names from birth. But but he was called Saul as we meet him first in scripture. What is his occupation? Well, his occupation is arresting believers, arresting Christians, hauling them off to jail, condoning their executions. He is a blasphemer of Jesus Christ.

And yet, he became the greatest of missionaries for Christ. And in some way, we may be sitting here today because of the ministry of the apostle Paul who took the gospel to several places in Europe who brought the gospel to these shores. We wouldn't have chosen Saul. We would have thrown him in prison and slammed the door shut. But not God.

He had a special purpose for him. God knows what he's doing. God knows what he's doing and commands the power and grace to do it. It is not our place to question his grace. It is our joyous place to receive it for ourselves and then share it with others.

First of all, I want us to see this morning Levi as a traitor who recognized the authority and power of God. The Bible says, and a long list of terrible description of humanity in Romans three ends with this verse. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Why do people do the things they do? Well, often because there is no fear of God before.

They feared God. If they feared the judgment, if they feared the one who made them, then maybe they'd think twice about doing some of those things that that they do, that that we did, that we have done ourselves. No fear of God before their eyes. Unlike others, Levi did fear God. It would seem like if you looked at his life and thought, well, man, he's he he's chosen to to to take advantage of his own people for his own wealth and gain, and and he can't go to the temple anymore.

He's an outcast there. He can't approach God and worship at the temple and well, he would be the last person you would think would fear God, but you know, once again, Jesus knew something about Levi that other people didn't know. And that deep down in his heart, Levi did fear the did fear the Lord. And when Jesus said, leave, he left. He was a traitor.

He was hated. He was rich, a thief, an outcast from his religious system and culture and let Levi responded because he recognized the authority of the one who called. Not only his authority to call, but his power to redeem that which was unredeemable. In the eyes of society, Levi was unredeemable. But I think somewhat in the eyes of Levi, Levi was unredeemable until he met who?

Until he met Jesus. Until he heard the message of Jesus Christ. I dare say this isn't the first contact that Levi had in some way with Jesus. He had heard about Jesus. Likely, had heard Jesus preach.

He had seen him do miracles, and now Jesus came personally to him and called his name. And Levi knew that he was the one to follow. He was the one who could redeem the unredeemable. He was the one who is Lord and that he must submit to. An authority greater than that of Rome who hired him and Judaism which had rejected him.

The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. The fear of the Lord is the what? The beginning of wisdom. When you realize that the one who created you, the one who you will give an account to one day has made a way for your sins to be washed away and forgiven, your slate to be wiped clean so that you do not have to be condemned. He calls out to you as he called out to Levi.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and trust in the Lord. Faith in the Lord is the way to righteousness and eternal life. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him.

He shall direct thy paths. Or another translation, he shall make thy paths, what? Straight. All twisted and contorted and a mess. You can't fix them.

We can't fix who we are, but there is one who can. His name is Jesus. And if you'll trust in him, he will take that which is twisted and corrupted, and he will make something beautiful from it. Levi responded to Christ because he believed him to be the Christ, the Messiah, the savior, the redeemer of mankind. Therefore, he responded in faith and repentance, acknowledging as Peter did earlier that Jesus Christ alone is worthy of our worship, though we be unworthy to give it.

I mentioned Peter there. In Luke five, we we looked this passage a few weeks ago When Peter Simon Peter saw it, that is when he when he saw the great catch of fish that he got, after he had fished all night and caught nothing, and yet Jesus said, put the net over here. And they got so much fish, it took two ships to load it in and take it to shore. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me for I am a sinful man. Knew Jesus was worthy of worship and he knew he was unworthy to give it.

We are unworthy indeed, but he is worthy indeed. And he can take what is unworthy and unredeemable and make it priceless in his service, in his family. We see a traitor who recognized the authority and the power of God. We see a rich man who recognized the riches of heaven. The Roman government would not reward what he was about to do.

The money and lifestyle were very nice, but Jesus Christ won the heart of Levi over power and riches. In Matthew 16, it says, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall, what? Shall find it. In Matthew chapter six, it reads, lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through or steal.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Levi realized that the treasure that he had did not compare to the treasure that he could have. And that what Christ had to give was of much greater value. Unlike the rich young ruler who went away sad because he was a slave to his wealth, Levi gave everything to follow Christ. What would you do if you had to choose?

Now, it's it's not so hard for many of us who don't have that much to lose, but for one who spent their whole life amassing riches and power and wealth, it's a different story. And yet the choice is clear. Heaven, riches cannot buy. Joy, riches cannot buy. Peace, riches, cannot buy.

Forgiveness, riches, cannot buy. But all of those things, you can receive as a gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ who died to pay for your sins on Calvary's Cross. And yet there are many in this world who even after being introduced to Christ in the Bible cannot bring themselves to trust Jesus over their riches and power. So they sadly decline, choosing the temporary riches of earth over the eternal riches of heaven. Do not be a fool, Jesus cries out.

God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided? In Ecclesiastes, Solomon moaned over the fact that all of the wealthy had amassed, all of the great buildings he had built, all that he had done in his name was just gonna pass on to somebody else who was gonna waste it, who was gonna ruin it. You see, it's nice to have wealth. It has its uses, and a little bit of it is kinda necessary, but living for it is foolish.

And rejecting Christ for is even more foolish. When we have an offer of eternal wealth in heaven, we have an offer of eternal life in Christ, We have an offer of forgiveness. Make the right choice. And then we see the religious outcast who recognized his need for healing, cleansing, and redemption and that of his peers also. Look in verse 29, if you would.

And Levi made a great feast in his own house, and there was a great company of publicans and others that sat down with him. There were other tax collectors. There were harlots, prostitutes. There there were drunkards. They were the outcasts of society.

They they despite the fact that they may have not had everything in common, they had one thing in common, is that they were rejected by their own people because of their chosen lifestyle. And so they they had something common and Levi, when he left to follow Christ, he he he called out to them and invited them to a banquet, a meal, a feast. With who? With Jesus. That's right.

But it says in verse 30, their scribes and pharisees murmured against his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? The scribes of the religious people, the the people that didn't see themselves as sinners in need of saving. The people thought they had it all together. The people that that live by the rules who were acceptable. Those people looked at Jesus and his disciples and they said, have you gone mad?

What are you doing? Why are you eating? Defiling yourselves with this riffraff, this ravel, these sinners? They asked. It seemed perfectly reasonable to them, question to ask.

But was it reasonable? The answer is no. Because both the Pharisees and the scribes and the publicans and the prostitutes were all what? They were all sinners in need of a savior. But the Pharisees and the scribes didn't didn't think so.

They they thought, hey, I'm okay. They're I'm I'm great, you know? And so they thought a reasonable question to ask. Following along in the passage, Jesus answering said unto them, they that are whole need not a physician but they that are sick. Jesus' response was, why am I eating with publicans and sinners?

Why am I here talking to them? Because people who are well don't need a doctor. They don't call for the doctor, but people who are what? Sick. Yeah.

I came not to call the righteous, but what? Sinners. Sinners to repentance, to repent their sins, to turn to the savior, to be forgiven. You see, Jesus wasn't saying that the Pharisees were righteous. He was saying they were righteous in their eyes and therefore, they didn't need a savior because they were okay.

They were going to glide right into the kingdom. No problem. Jesus said, I have come to call sinners to repent. So, those who realize they need a savior, to those that have fallen, to those who have failed, to those who recognize their sins, those are the ones that I have come to call. Beginning here with Levi.

And that's the why I'm talking because they need me and they know it and you don't think you do. Remember, God's not a respecter of persons. He loves the publican as much as he loves the Pharisee. He died for the publican as much as he died for the Pharisee. Indeed, he died for all, but only those who know they're sinners seek a savior.

Those who think they're okay without him, they they don't tend to do that. Many times as the Pharisees did, they just looked down the nose at those who they think are not worthy. So Levi held a feast, invited his friends, no doubt to hear and meet the savior, Jesus, and many came. Levi knew he had been a traitor to God. Levi knew his wealth was not making him happy.

Levi knew there was something very important he was missing. Levi knew he was a sinner in desperate needs of forgiveness, and so he came to Jesus. The Pharisees, of course, did not and accused Christ of a great lack of discernment in sitting with the dirty, filthy people. Sinners, they called them. And Jesus responded to the Pharisees in a manner which indicate his reason for being there and the reason Levi had the feast because sinners need a savior, and he was there to save them.

Levi had discovered something which the Pharisees could not offer, salvation from sin, deliverance, forgiveness, and redemption. John three seventeen says, for God sent not his son into the world, condemned the world, but that the world through him might be, what? Saved. Jesus didn't come to condemn us. We were already condemned.

Jesus came to what? To pull us out of the fire. He came to rescue us from sin and hell. He came to do for us that which we could not do for ourselves. He came to cleanse the sinner, forgive his sins, set him free from the bondage of sin and Satan.

He is our deliverer. Levi wanted that and he wanted his friends to hear about it. Whereas the Pharisees just offered hypocrisy and condemnation, they were no different from Levi inside and he knew it. But Christ was different, which Levi saw and found hope in. Ironically and yet providentially, Matthew or Levi, two names, one man, the religious outcast, the traitor to his people, and thief thus redeemed became the one who wrote the book all about the Jewish Messiah.

We have in our Bible entitled simply Matthew. He's the one who wrote his people and told them and showed them, explained to them from the scriptures how that the Messiah they were waiting for was Jesus Christ, and they needed to accept him as Matthew, as Levi had done. The Pharisees whose names we will never know showed up as uninvited guests, though socially distant, socially distanced. Does that sound familiar? Socially distanced.

Takes me back about five years to COVID times. They showed up as uninvited guests and as judges, their favorite pastime. It should not be the pastime of Christians. We're not here to judge others. We're here to what?

Help them, minister to them. Point them to who? Point them to Jesus. So the world often sets itself up today as judges of the gospel and God by setting themselves up by setting themselves up as judges to God. They insulate themselves from the message.

Therefore, they listen as critics rather than recipients of the truth and sadly missed the opportunity for salvation from sin unlike Levi. Despite Christ's gracious response, they closed their ears, it would seem to his message of hope and repentance and grace. They refused to see their need and chose not to come to the savior for salvation and forgiveness. They're they're not filthy sinners, and yet God's word makes it clear. And deep down we know it's true.

For all have what? Sinned and come short of the glory of God. They did not recognize God's authority over them or his power to save and redeem that which is broken. They did not perceive the riches which Christ has to offer superior to their wealth and power and prestige on earth, so they rejected it. But Levi did see his need.

He did recognize God's authority and power to save, and he did perceive the riches of Christ to be greater than the prestige of earth. What decision will you make? That is why Levi called him. That is why that is why Christ called Levi, and that is why Levi came to Jesus. How about you?

Jesus once said, for what shall a profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul. I plead with you today. Do not lose your soul when Jesus can save it, offers to save it, invites you to come to be forgiven, to be made new, to be redeemed. I can't do that. You can't do that.

The Baptist Church can't do that, but Jesus can do that. But you must come to him by faith to receive what only he can offer because only he died for your sins on the cross. Only he is risen again from the dead. Only he is seated at the right hand of the father inviting you today to be saved. If you are here today, I want you to know Jesus loves you, died for you, paid your penalty to save you from hell, to give you eternal life.

Jesus who rose again from the dead invites you to be saved when? Now you don't you don't have to clean up your act first. Did he wait for Levi to clean up his act? No. He came to Levi while he was still ripping off his fellow Jews and taking advantage of them.

And he said, Levi, is is this what you wanna continue doing? Is this the life you want or do you want something better? Follow me. And and Levi left. Jesus invited and Jesus accepted and Jesus redeemed and he saved his soul.

The Bible says Romans ten nine and thirteen that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou too shall be what? Saved. For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved, and that's you, and that's every one of us. That was me when I was nine years old. I wasn't perfect then.

I'm still not perfect now, but I have a perfect savior who paid the price for all my sins on the cross and has a place in heaven awaiting me, promise to come back and get me someday and take me to that place, not because I'm better than anybody else, but because I have a better savior, and he can be your savior too. And Christian, do you spend too much of your time judging others when you really ought to be reaching out to the lost around you to win them to Christ as Levi did? Introducing them to the savior. Maybe we need to have a little talk with Jesus about that as well. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, we thank you Lord for your word. We thank you Lord for the invitation we find therein. We thank you for this beautiful story of a man named Levi who you invited when nobody else certainly would have, who you redeemed when others thought him to be unredeemable, when you forgave whom you forgave all his sins. And Lord, you will do the same for us. For all who come to you in faith and receive your gift of grace, Lord, today, We pray as we give this hymn of invitation that if there be one here that is yet to accept Christ as savior today, that they would come, that we would have the opportunity to share with them the good news of the gospel that they might leave this place on their way to heaven, to the riches that are in Christ Jesus, to joy and peace and hope, happiness and freedom that the world cannot offer.

We pray they would come today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.