The Lord Jesus, Seeking and Saving the Lost!

Luke 5:27–32 NKJV

27 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him. 29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. 30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

This morning's message's title: The Lord Jesus, Seeking and Saving the Lost!

Introduction:

This morning we are going to learn that Jesus came for those who needed spiritual healing.

We will learn from the call of Levi, that we were all called by The Lord to come to Him and that’s why we are here today.

We will learn that we need to do what Levi did and that is follow Jesus.

Levi throws a party and gets the religious rulers upset, we will talk about why.

1. The Call of God. The Lord Jesus called Matthew(Levi.) The same call came to you and I and that’s why we are here today.

Luke 5:27 NKJV

27 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.”

John 6:44 NKJV

44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 15:26 NKJV

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

Jesus called Levi while He was at work. Levi Probably went to work, like any other day and didn’t expect anything, however Jesus showed up and said follow me. According Luke 5:27 Levi got up and followed Jesus.

Do you remember when he called you? Some of us grew up in Church but the truth took years to grow up in us. I invite you to take a minute to remember when the Lord Jesus became the Lord over your life?

Do you remember the great works that were done in your life?

Do you remember how you felt the closeness with the Lord? What happened? for many of us, our lives are so different than they would have been that we don’t realize how good He has been to us.

2. What did Levi do? The same thing we all did, he rose and followed The Lord Jesus!

Luke 5:28 NKJV

28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.

Repeat the Verse.

Here are nine words that describe what we are all called to do:

There is a three point sermon in these nine words. Are you ready to hear it? Here we go! Listen quick so I can preach quick.

1-We are called to Leave all,

We are called to leave our sin.

We are called to leave our old Identities and follow Christ into who he created us to be.

2- We are called to “Rise Up.”

We are called to renew our minds.

We are called to press on.

we are called to good works!

3- We are called to follow Jesus.

Yes, we are called to follow Jesus. We are called to find His foot steps and put our feet in the same place His have been.

There are gifts that God has given us to use. Some of the gifts He has given us are to be used in the body to elevate, empower, and encourage the body. Other times God will use us all together to move the mission forward.

3. Levi throws a party to announce his retirement as a tax-collector that gets the scribes and Pharisees fired up.

Luke 5:29–30 NKJV

29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. 30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

Here the Scribes and teachers of the law try to imply that Jesus is some how “unclean by association” (He will deal with them momentary.)

Levi was leaving sin and hosted a dinner to introduce his fellow tax collectors to Jesus as well as Peter, James and John.

Yet the spiritually elite “complain.”

that leads me to ask did their complaint come from concern for Jesus soul or did it come from jealousy? Jealous of what? The fact that Jesus said two words, follow me and the great sinner Levi just “rose up and followed Jesus. The Scribes and Pharisees with all there expressions of holiness did not do.

I have found myself to be like the Scribes and Pharisees all to often. As I mentioned earlier how easy it is for us to forget how good God has been because we forget where we would be by now had He not rescued us when He did. some of us would not be alive right now except we where rescued by Jesus.

Like those “super holy” it might be easy to forget that there are others who need to hear the life changing message of Jesus Christ. Like Levi, we want to use every opportunity to build relationship with the others in the scope our ministry.

Notice how the Pharisees and Scribes use the word sinners while Luke simply says others. Notice the lack of condemnation in Luke’s heart.

That is why our Easter weekend is structured the way it is.

Levi hosted a dinner because that is what you do for friends. Jesus was relational and He still is. This is why we do what we do for the Easter weekend:

Friday(April 18th 7:00) is when Jesus went to the cross so we take Good Friday and preach the physical reality of the crucifixion along with why Jesus needed to do it and what it means for us today. Please invite someone who needs to hear the gospel to come with you to this service.

On Saturday (April 19th 12:00 PM Lunch 1:00 PM The hunts start.) We have an Easter egg hunt for the community because I want the families in the Neighborhood to know that we love Jesus and Jesus loves them.

Finally, on Sunday (April 20th 10:45 AM) We CELEBRATE the RESERECTION of our LORD & SAVIOR JESUS THE CHRIST.

4. Jesus, Answers the complaint of the Scribes and Pharisees.

Luke 5:31 NKJV

31 Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

To follow Jesus we want to tell you that there are no second generation Christians. We may have come from Christian families, but we have to yield to the Holy Spirits drawing.

Conclusion:

We cannot leave today without giving you the same opportunity to come to Jesus.

Please allow me a few minutes to declare the gospel to you and invite you in to relationship with the Lord Jesus. If you are being drawn by The Holy Spirit it and you come to Him today as He is drawing you, the life you live today will pale in comparison to the life that awaits you in Christ.

Romans 3:23 NKJV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

I don’t want us to be like the scribes and Pharisees, I don’t want to get so used to the grace of God that am consumed by a fruitless Christianity that makes me look and act better but never invites anyone to know Him. I was lost like Romans 3:23 states, but I was drawn by Father, Son, The Holy Spirit to leave all, rise up and follow Him. We all came to Christ in our sin. We invite you to Come to Him today.

Romans 6:23 NKJV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The wages of sin is death. This is why we used the word saved to describe being justified in Jesus. Hopefully none of us would claim to be as perfect as Jesus is. Since we are not as perfect as Jesus we are sinners because we have all fallen short (Romans 3:23.)

The penalty for sin is death. However, The Gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are all sinners but Christ paid the penalty for that sin.

Romans 5:12 NKJV

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

How did I end up in sin? I am a son of Adam. The only way out is to be born again.

John 3:5–8 NKJV

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

The Lord Jesus explained the transition from spiritual death to spiritual life “being born again.” being drawn by the Holy Spirit from death to New Life.

Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord.

Romans 10:9–10 NKJV

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

“Our prayer team is ready to pray with you. If the Lord is drawing your heart, please come forward. This could be your moment to experience a new life in Jesus.”