Is that working? I had it on mute. It was my fault. So we're going to be looking at Luke chapter 5. This morning, if you have your Bibles, I want you to turn there with me. Verses 27 to 32. Let's read together. This is the word of the Lord. I'll be reading from the New American Standard. Luke 5, starting with verse 27. After that, he went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax base. And he said to him, follow me. And he left everything behind and got up and began to follow him. And Levi gave a big reception for him and his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus answered and said to them, it's not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick have not come to call the righteous but sinners. Would you pray with me this morning? Father, we come to your word. We come to your word this morning. We need you. We long that you would take your word and apply it deeply, sexually to our hearts. We invite your Holy Spirit to come and do that. We need you, Lord. And I pray also, Lord, that you would decrease me, increase Jesus. I don't know about you guys, but when I go to the dentist, it's never something I necessarily enjoy. That's not to offend, you know, if you're a dentist, don't be offended or anything like that. It's not your fault. The problem is with me because I don't enjoy going there because, you know, I know I should be brushing today. You know, I know I should be flossing at least twice a day or whatever it is. But the reality is I don't, right? And so I dread going because I know I failed and I know I should be doing better. So for some of us this morning, you know, as Pastor Aaron gets up and, you know, you hear those words, missions, we're going to be hearing from missionary about missions, you know, like that's the most exciting thing in the world to you, for some of you guys, you know, that's like what you live for. You love to hear missionary reports. You love to hear about missions. You love to study missions. You look forward to hearing messages about missions. But for others of us, it's kind of more like that feeling when you have to go to the dentist. Because we know we've failed. And we know we haven't been living in mission as we should be, as God calls us to. And I think the reason we tend to respond this way is that we've actually disconnected missions from the gospel. And what we've done is we've made missions into another work that we have to do in order for God to be pleased with us, or to continue to be pleased with us. But that's not true, and that's not what missions is. And so really the first thing you need to know this morning as we approach this topic is that if you belong to Jesus, God already is pleased with you, and He already does delight in you, and there's nothing that can change that. So I just long for your hearts to really be encouraged this morning as we look at this text together. So three points, the first here is who is Jesus seeking? Who is the man that the story focuses on? What kind of person is Levi? And we're gonna go through a few different things here, but I think in many ways, the first thing we could say is that in many ways, Levi was the kind of person that had it all. You know, throughout the Gospels and even here in Luke, you know, you find Jesus interacting with those who are poor, those who are sick and needy. Even here in chapters, you know, four and five in Luke, chapter four, you see Jesus casting out demons. Again, in chapter four, you see Jesus healing the sick. Chapter five, you see him cleansing a leper. And then right before this text, we find Jesus healing the paralytic. But Levi isn't this kind of person at all. Levi isn't sick. It seems he's quite healthy. And Levi isn't poor. tax collectors actually had a lot of money. And we know that about Levi, not just because of, you know, assumptions or speculations, but even later here in this passage, you know, if you go down to verse 29, it says, Levi gave a big reception for Jesus, a big reception in his house, right? And there was a great crowd of people there. So imagine what kind of house Levi had to have to be able to do that. So Levi isn't sick, he isn't poor. In fact, in many ways, you could think about it that Levi is somebody that has it all. But what Levi realized was that he had a heart that was desperately sick. and that he was a broken man, a sinful man before, holy God. And all his money and his big house had never actually brought him the wholeness that he had been seeking all of his life. Levi wasn't sick and he wasn't poor, but he realized that actually that's exactly what he was. He had everything, but he had nothing. Levi's also a tax collector and that's, you know, that's what we know him as. And I think nowadays, you know, when we hear this term tax collector, we know we're not supposed to like it, but we kind of do. It kind of has a pleasant ring to our ears because we know that throughout the gospels, you know, these were the people that really embraced Jesus. You know, the tax collectors, you know, we know they weren't so good, but these were the people that were embracing Jesus, whereas the Pharisees were the ones that rejected him. But we forget how radical all this really was, because the Pharisees were the Bible men. They were the Bible men. They were the men who loved and cherished and stood for the Bible, at least outwardly. And the tax collectors were really an awful, corrupt people. They were the people who oppressed other people, not the people being oppressed. They weren't the victims, they were the oppressors. One writer calls them the scum of Jewish society, and they had that kind of reputation for a reason. So here's how it worked with tax collectors. The system was that the Romans taxed every district under their power, and so they would assess each district under their power, and then what they would do is they would assign a certain amount of tax money that needed to be taken from that district. And then what they would do is they would actually sell the right to collect those taxes to the highest bidder. So these tax collectors, how did they get their position? They would pay a massive amount of money to Rome in order to be tax collectors. And in turn, they were given the right to collect all the taxes. At the end of the year, they had to hand over to Rome the set amount that Rome had assigned to their district, and they could keep the rest. So that's how it worked. And so the tax collectors, what did they do? They charged extra, and oftentimes a lot extra, right? An exorbitant amount extra. There was lots of different kinds of taxes, but it was especially with the duties and tolls where they made most of their money. One writer said, a tax collector could stop anyone on the road, make him unpack his bundles, and charge just about anything his heart desired. So Levi represents the worst of the worst. He's what's wrong with society, what's wrong with the world. He's the enemy of Christian morality and decency, which is why Jesus himself would say things like, if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same, right? You know, another thing about Levi that I think is important is that, and most of the tax collectors, is that the tax collectors were Jewish. They were Jewish. These guys were not Gentiles. They were not pagan Gentiles. They were Jewish. You know, even the name Levi, it's a Jewish name. It's a Hebrew name. And it's a Jewish name that goes back to the heritage of the Old Testament scriptures, right, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and his son, one of his sons, Levi, the son of Jacob. So it's a biblical name because Levi's heritage had been a biblical heritage. And yet, he had gone astray, which tells us, among other things, that Levi should have known better. He wasn't somebody that had never heard about God, right? The God of the scriptures. He's somebody really that should have known better. Praise God that you can never be too lost for Jesus, even when you should have known better. Not only is Levi a tax collector, but the moment, if you notice in our passage, the moment that Jesus sees him, he's sitting at his tax fees. You know, and I think one way you could think about that is, well, he's just doing his work, right? And that's true. But as you think about what it means to be a tax collector, I think another way that you can think about that is it's almost like this is Levi exposed. This is Jesus seeing Levi for who he really is. This isn't Levi who dresses up, puts on nice clothes to go out to a dinner party, you know, present himself with his best face, you know, nice and polite. And everyone says, hey, did you meet that guy, Levi? Seems like a really nice guy. Now this isn't cleaned up Levi. This is Levi. This is the real Levi. This is Levi at his worst. And this is Jesus seeing Levi at his worst. Have you ever had someone see you at your worst? When Jesus sees Levi at his worst, how does he respond? He's not fazed. He doesn't even turn away. Not only that, he actually invites Levi, the tax collector, as he is, into his presence. I don't know where you're at this morning, but what you need to know is that your sin cannot deter you from Jesus, no matter how bad it is or how bad it gets. Actually, we're going to see later in this passage that not having sin is actually the only thing that can keep you from Jesus. Jesus sees you at your worst, and he's inviting you, even this morning, the real you, you at your worst, into his presence, just like Levi. Lastly, Levi's not only a tax collector, but he's an outsider. We read in verse 27, after that, he went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi. So the passage right before this is the healing of the paralytic, And we don't really know where that took place. It might've been a synagogue. It could've been a private house. We're not really told. We're not sure. But most of the people that were there in that house or that building, when Jesus did that, when he healed the paralytic, they were the kind of people that were interested in Jesus. Some for different reasons. But the majority of people, these people wanted to see Jesus. They wanted to be with Jesus. They wanted to listen to Jesus. But notice that this guy, Levi, he wasn't inside with the crowd. He wasn't inside with the crowd of people listening to Jesus. It's when Jesus went out that he sees him. So Levi's on the outside. Why was he on the outside? I think it was simply that tax collectors didn't do that kind of stuff. They didn't go to the synagogue. They didn't go to church. And that's just how it was. The tax booth was their synagogue. That's where they worshiped. Money was their God. And that's just kind of the way that it was. So imagine a family on their way to Saturday morning synagogue service, and the little boy in the family sees this group of tax collectors as they're passing by to go to the synagogue, and he asks, Mommy, why don't they come to church? And the mom answers her son, oh sweetie, those are tax collectors. They don't go to church. It's just how it was. Everyone knows that tax collectors don't go to church. So what's going on here? Jesus is calling to himself what kind of people, the kind of people that were never supposed to be followers of Jesus. And so I think, you know, you're in this first point, we don't just see Jesus's grace on display, we see his power. We see his power to change people that were never supposed to follow Jesus. There's a part in the Old Testament where in Ezekiel, God brings the prophet Ezekiel up to this valley that's full of bones that were very dry, and God asks him, son of man, can these bones live? That's kind of how I feel in the country where we serve most of the time. It's very dry. It's very dark. Spiritually, it's very hard. Very barren. You know, and God asked me, can this nation live? And like Ezekiel, I say, oh Lord, you know. And honestly, it's a struggle for me. I know God can save the whole country. I know he can do that. But it's a struggle for me to believe that Jesus really does do this at times. But praise God that even when we struggle to believe it, this is exactly what Jesus does. Jesus comes to Levi in the midst of his sin, but instead of turning away from him, repulsed, Jesus invites him into His presence. And instead of shaming Levi for his sin and the fact that he should have known better, Jesus crowns him with new dignity and honor and gives him a new identity and a new purpose. As you know, Levi, you know, is the same person as the Apostle Matthew. And I think that one of the things we so easily forget is that we were just like Levi. We were outsiders. We didn't care about God. We had no desire to be where Jesus was. But Jesus came to us, and He entered in, and He changed us. Second, how is it that Jesus is working here in this passage? that we have an American friend at our church plant, where we are, and he kind of looks like Clark Kent. And I don't know, you know, if you guys enjoy watching those kind of movies, you know, the Superman, or Spider-Man, or Batman, but all these superheroes, have at least one thing in common. Sometimes they're regular people, right? Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, but then other times they transform into these superheroes, right? So Clark Kent, he's working or whatever, and then all of a sudden he transforms into Superman. He saves the day, but then what happens? He goes back to being Clark Kent again. Same thing with Peter Parker, right, and Bruce Wayne. So, you know, you never see Superman in line at Walmart, you know. You never see Spider-Man trying to get an Uber, you know. So for these superheroes, they keep these two parts of their life very separate. And I think that as Christians, we can tend to do the same thing with ministry. We can tend to keep our normal life. What we think is our normal life is something very separate and distinct from ministry or ministry. We see them as two very different things that go in two very different boxes. They should be kept separate. This is my time to do life. Now, this is the time I have for ministry, for Bible study, or evangelism, or discipleship, or whatever it is. But here I want us to just focus on this verse 27 again. It says, after that, he went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi. So again, notice what's happening here, right? We talked about the connection. There's a connection between this verse I'm sorry, we haven't mentioned that. There's a connection, notice there's a connection between this verse and the preceding verses, right? After that, he went out. And we know that the passage before this was, you know, where Jesus was teaching and he healed this man, the paralytic. And so the account just before this is what we read in verses 17 to 26. And again, right, Jesus had been teaching, in the midst of his teaching, he had healed this man, and everybody's marveling. And that's when we get to verse 27, where it says, after that, he went out. So it was after Jesus's ministry, right? It was after the church service, or the Bible study, the seminary class, that this happened. Jesus had been faithful. It was a good few hours of ministry. He'd done some teaching. He had healed a man. Now it's time to go home, right? Now it's time to get back to normal life. But that's exactly when this happens with Levi. It's in the normal, in the ordinary. And I think one of the things that shows us is that Jesus is powerfully at work in the midst of the normal and in the midst of the ordinary. It's not just Bible studies or sermons that matter for the kingdom of God. It's the ordinary moments of our life that actually have incredible gospel significance. Jesus is at work in the ordinary, tucking our kids in at night and sharing a meal with friends. Those little moments in your life are full of gospel significance. We read again in verse 27, He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi. And that word there for notice, it's not the normal word, you know, for just seeing someone that's used in the New Testament. It's actually used only a handful of times in the New Testament. It's the Greek word theia omae. And the reason I tell you what the Greek word is, is it's related to our English theater, right, theater. That's where we get that word is theia omae. So in Greek culture, it's a word that we use for what you do when you go to the theater. It means to watch, or to observe intently, or to gaze at a spectacle. And that's what Jesus is doing here with Levi. He's watching him, he's gazing at him, intently observing him. Levi was just one man working at his desk. But as Jesus walks outside, he notices him. And I think in this, Jesus is helping to model for us a different way of doing ministry. Jesus's way of doing ministry was living with his eyes open in the midst of the normal. Living with his eyes open in the midst of the normal. Guys, to be honest with you, I fail at this. You know, I fail often to notice the people that are right in front of me. Maybe you do, too. But if you're like me, I think there's an encouragement for us here, even in this passage. Because notice, it's not the disciples who are doing the Theia Omi, right? It's not the disciples who are gazing intently at Levi, you know. It's Jesus. In fact, we have no idea where the disciples are in this passage, which isn't good, right? It doesn't look good for them because we know they're there. They have to be there, but what are they doing? It seems like the disciples are dropping the ball too, right? It seems like they are full of unbelief too, right? So they don't even look at Levi, right? That guy could never become a Christian. So not only is Levi not pursuing Jesus, it seems the disciples have no interest in pursuing Levi. But isn't it wonderful that even when we drop the ball, Jesus is still drawing his sheep? And in this case, almost single-handedly. So I think that's comforting. I think it means the pressure's off. because ultimately it doesn't depend on us. Jesus is the one who is building his kingdom, and that's a comfort. So the pressure's off. Jesus doesn't need us, but he does delight to use us, to give us the privilege of using us. And look at how he uses Levi later here in this passage, right? So Levi leaves everything, starts to follow Jesus, and then in verse 28, Levi goes on to invite his friends. to a place where they could meet Jesus and other Christians. He invites his friends to a place where they could meet Jesus and other Christians. This is a fantastic way to reach our friends. There's lots of ways to do this. You can invite your non-Christian friends to church. That's a wonderful way. They can meet Jesus, mingle with other Christians, or do a Bible study, or invite them over for a meal. a place where they can, you know, get a taste of an environment where you can be transparent about the ways that you messed up with your wife or failed with your kids, that you could be honest with your struggles and you're supported and loved and encouraged. Lastly, what is it that Jesus is saying here? So, Levi hosts this big party for his friends, verse 29, There's a crowd of tax collectors there and others, and they're reclining at the table together. And then we read in verse 30, So the Pharisees don't like what's going on here. They object. But notice instead of going straight to Jesus with their objection, they go to the disciples. Maybe they had learned a lesson there, you know, about going to Jesus with objections. So they go to the disciples and they say, why are you guys eating and drinking with the tax collectors and sinners? And it seems that they're accusing the disciples of guilt by association, right? These people are bad. You're hanging out with them. So what does that say about you? And Jesus confounds them with his answer. Probably for the Pharisees, the analogy they had in mind was the analogy of a judge and criminals, right? God is holy, he's a just judge, he must punish wrongdoers. These people are like the criminals, they're involved in wicked deeds, so how could you be on their side? But Jesus comes back to them with the analogy rather of a doctor and a sick person. These people are sick and they need a doctor. I've come to be their doctor to help them and to heal them. Jesus is saying there's real forgiveness for real sinners. He came to help and heal and save the worst people in the city. So this is something very different than religion, because with religion, this doesn't happen. With religion, you put in the hours, you clock in the time, you add up your prayers, you keep track of your points, but that's not how it is with Jesus. Jesus doesn't care about points. He says, let the people with no points come to me. So with Jesus, it's different. In Jesus, there's real forgiveness for real sinners, and real forgiveness can happen because on the cross, Jesus did take upon himself the blow that we deserve. We were criminals. God is holy. But on the cross, Jesus took upon himself the blow that we deserved. Because it's true, God must punish sin. But it was Jesus in our place who was pierced through for our transgressions and crushed for all iniquities. You might be sitting here this morning and thinking something like this. Okay, I'm glad that Jesus is gracious to terrible people like tax collectors, but I'm not a tax collector. I'm actually a pretty good person. If you say that, you're actually making the exact mistake that the Pharisees made. They thought they were righteous. They thought they were pretty decent, right? They thought they were healthy. They thought they were pretty good people. They went to church. They paid their taxes. They didn't cheat. They didn't lie. They didn't steal. They recycled. They drove the speed limit. And when they used the highway, they always made sure not only to drive in the speed limit, but to go to the right lane, right, so the fast people could pass them on the left lane, right? They did the right things, the things that they were supposed to be doing, at least on the surface. But Jesus saw past all that, he saw into their hearts. And their hearts were full of sin and lust and envy and anger and rebellion and evil. So the thing is they thought that they were healthy, but they were just deceiving themselves. Don't make the same mistake. The worst possible place you could be is to be a nice person who doesn't need Jesus. The fact is, Jesus himself tells us that we're all corrupted. We're all born corrupted, running away from God. And so if we think any differently about it, we're just not being honest, we're deceiving ourselves. Can I encourage you, don't deceive yourself. Can I encourage you to be honest with yourself. So with Jesus, there's real grace for real sinners, but that also doesn't mean that with Jesus, you can just live any way that you want. What were the first words that Jesus spoke to Levi? He said, follow me. So notice, Jesus doesn't come up to Levi and say, hey, Levi, you know, I know you're not perfect. I know you've made a lot of mistakes, but I've come to be able to forgive you and just kind of set you free to live the way that you feel you want to live. No, that's not what Jesus says, right? Jesus doesn't tell him, follow your heart. He says, follow me. So Jesus saves Levi, he forgives him all of his sins, but then he calls him to a life of following him. Levi isn't allowed to just live any way that he wants. There's no going back to his old life. Jesus forgives his sins, but then he calls him to a completely new life. Because Jesus came to be a savior for real sinners, but he also came to be our Lord and our King. And as our king, he demands our allegiance. Can I ask you, where are you at this morning? Have you given Jesus your allegiance? Salvation is being freely offered to you. But that salvation and forgiveness is only found in Jesus. So the question is, do you belong to him? Do you belong to him? Just a final word here about repentance. And I think for a lot of us, most of us, we know the Lord, we're seeking to follow Him, but it's hard, and we fail, and we struggle, and we get discouraged. Maybe we feel like we're hardly following Him at all, it seems. But I think there's an important reminder for us here as well, because what does it really mean to follow Jesus? I think that sometimes we tend to automatically assume that following Jesus means we stop sinning and get our act together. But friends, is that really what it means to follow Jesus? To stop sinning and get our act together? To not really have to have any sins, we have to confess anymore to God? Because if that was true, I think our prayers would sound a lot like this. God, thank you that I'm not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get. That was the Pharisee's prayer. That's not what Jesus wants. But following Jesus doesn't mean that. What does it mean to follow Jesus? I think it's what Jesus goes on to tell us at the end of this passage in verse 32. He says, I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Jesus is calling us to a life of repentance. Repentance doesn't mean getting our act together. That's not what repentance is. Repentance doesn't mean not having any sin anymore. Repentance means being honest with God about the sins we continue to struggle with and fail, and casting ourselves back on Jesus when we do fail. Our son Judah, he's two years old, and he went through this thing, I don't know, a few months, maybe several months now. back where he would get angry for some reason. When he got angry, he would claw me in the face. If you don't cut your kid's fingernails, parents know how sharp they can get, right? So he would claw me in the face. It really hurt. But almost without fail, almost every time, after a few moments, when he saw that he had done that and saw that it actually hurt me, he would just like, you know, like throw his head back into me and throw his arms around me. And that moment was so sweet. It's this heartfelt hug, you know, for my two-year-old son. It was so sweet that I would almost rather have him claw me in the face every time and do that than never do I've done that, right? I think often we think about God putting up with our repentance. That's how we think about repentance is God puts up with it. But actually, scripture says that the Lord delights in it. Psalm 51 says, you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would bring it the sacrifices of God or a broken spirit. The beautiful thing is that when Levi gets up to follow Jesus, it's just the very beginning of a whole life of repentance. This is what Jesus wants from us. This is what it means to follow him. I don't know the areas you guys have struggled in your life as a believer, or you're struggling this morning, but Jesus loves you dearly, and you can come to Him again this morning, and just like my son, you can bury your head in His arms and receive afresh His grace. So let's pray together. So Jesus, we just thank You for who You are, and what a God You are. God, we pray that we would do that this morning, Lord, that you would search us, know us, the idols of our hearts, Lord, show us our sin, remind us of your grace, enable us to do that, Lord, once again, to come back to you afresh this morning, God.