author: Ryan Hayden Take your Bibles with me and turn to Luke 5. Luke 5. We are going to read a story today about the conversion of a tax man. There are few people in the world who have been more universally hated, than tax collectors.
- I recently read that George Washington never told a lie, but he never had to fill out a 1040.
- There is no child so bad that he/she can’t be used as an income tax deduction.
- Mark Twain said "The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin."
All jokes aside, people really, really despised tax collectors in Jesus day. We might make jokes about the IRS, but we don't think everyone who works for them are the worst people int he world. In Bible times, the people who collected taxes were considered the worst sinners. There were irredeemable traitors.
Let's read our text, which is Luke 5:25-32
[!bible] Luke 5:27-32 - KJV 27. And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. 28. And he left all, rose up, and followed him. 29. 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 them. 30. But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 31. And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Jesus has just finished preaching in the house where he healed the paralyzed man. Remember, the Pharisees had sent a contingent to watch him. Those Pharisees are still around.
Jesus leaves that little event and sees a man names Levi. Levi is a publican, a tax collector.
So I have to talk about that for a minute.
Remember, that Israel at this time wasn't in charge of their own country. They had been conquered by Rome and were ruled by Rome. For the most part, the Romans left the countries they conquered (like Israel) alone - they just wanted two things:
- They wanted their troops to be housed there.
- They wanted to exact taxes from the people.
Imagine, if you will, that some other country, say Russia, took over our country. They pretty much left us alone, but they had a garrison of soldiers around that had to be obeyed, and they taxed us heavily - taking a large part of our income. You would start to hate the Russians in that case.
That's what Israel was going through - but it was actually a little worse than that.
You see, Rome had this great idea (actually it was a terrible idea): They weren't going to collect these taxes themselves. They were going to farm that job out to the highest bidder.
So it would go like this. Some Roman poobah would say "I want $5,000,000 in taxes from Mattoon this year - who would like the contract?"
And a bunch of guys would raise their hands and say "I'll give you $100,000 for it." No, I'll give you $150,000.
"Ok, you have the contract."
Why would anyone pay for the contract to be a tax collector?
Well here was the deal: if you got to be the tax collector for Mattoon, every penny you collected over $5,000,000 was just profit.
This is a terrible idea, because what the Romans did was incentivize these tax collectors to be thieves. The tax collectors collecting more than they needed to was part of the deal.
There were some taxes that they couldn't fudge. Everyone paid the same poll tax. Everyone paid a 10% field tax and a 1% income tax. That was easy enough to figure out.
But they could also have tolls and sales taxes, and they could take as much as they wanted. If you couldn't pay the tax, then the tax collector would often turn into a loan shark - offering you a loan at exorbitant interest.
To enforce all of this, the tax collector often employed a bunch of ruffians, muscle.
Now, if some American did this to you for America - you would rightly despise him. But if some American did this to you on behalf of Russia. You would hate him.
And that was how people looked at Publicans, these tax collectors were the lowest of the low. They were the most despised people in the world.
And Jesus sees one of these tax collectors. Sitting in his little toll booth. This man named Levi.
Apparently, Levi had shown some interest in Jesus. Maybe he'd tried to sneak into Jesus' meetings. Maybe he had witnessed Jesus' miracles.
But Jesus noticed and so Jesus went right up to Levi and said "Follow me." and in that instant, Levi left the tax business behind and became of a full-time follower of Jesus.
He became one of the 12 apostles. Jesus changed his name to Matthew, which means "a gift from God." He went on to write the book of Matthew and to serve as one of the first missionaries in Africa - where he died a martyrs death.
Levi left his tax booth and became a follower of Jesus. But he didn't just follow Jesus, he invited Jesus to his house. He asked a bunch of his tax collecting friends over with some other people who Israel despised, and Jesus came to them and ate with them.
Now, remember, there is this contingent of Pharisees there - there is this group of religious inspectors trying to catch Jesus doing something wrong.
The first thing they see is Jesus saying "thy sins be forgiven thee" to the paralyzed man. Here they find another thing to write in their little notebooks - Jesus is eating with publicans. Jesus is hanging out with these despised and sinful tax collectors.
How could any righteous man go in a publican's house? How could any real Bible teacher eat with publicans and sinners?
Well, Jesus hears them asking this and gives one of the most important and famous lines in the Bible:
They that are whole have no deed of the physician, but they that are sick: I cam not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
I want to talk about what this story teaches us about Jesus and sinners this morning. I have three very basic points, all of them come right out of this story, and all of them are still applicable to us today.
First,
1. Jesus came to save sinners
That's what Jesus said "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." You can totally shorten that to "I came to call sinners to repentance."
This is one of those purpose statements of Jesus:
[!bible] Matthew 1:21 - KJV 21. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
[!bible] Luke 19:10 - KJV 10. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
[!bible] 1 Timothy 1:15 - KJV 15. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Jesus came to save sinners. That was His whole point in coming. To save "His people from their sins."
Sin is anything that we say, do or think that God isn't pleased with. It is this rebellion that is seated inside all of us that doesn't want to obey God and live for Him.
Every one of us are born into sin. We are born sinners. But we also choose to sin. There is not a man or woman I am speaking to that doesn't struggle with sin or worse, not struggle with sin and just sin all the time.
We are sinners - but the good news is that Jesus came to save sinners. Jesus came for sinners.
And that means that if you are like this publican - if you see yourself as a sinner - then you have a leg up - because that i who Jesus came for. He came for sinners.
Jesus told this story in Luke 18 that illustrates this well. You can turn there if you want to.
[!bible] Luke 18:9-14 - KJV 9. And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10. Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Listen, the Pharisees in our text this morning were sinners - they just couldn't see it. They were so full of themselves and so full of pride, that they just swelled on and on about how good they were.
But this Publican (and again, the publicans were so despised). The publican won't even look up into heaven. All he can say is "God be merciful to me because I"m a sinner." And God justifies him.
Jesus came for sinners! For people who know they are sinners.
I'll share my testimony with you: I basically grew up in church. I went to a Christian school. I was the good kid who sang specials and memorized scripture. But I wasn't saved. I didn't really know Jesus - because I wasn't a sinner.
The night I got saved, I had been a wretch. I was terrible to my parents. I was rebellious. I was into things I shouldn't have been. I was spiraling out of control. And for the first time it kind of hit me that I was a sinner. I wanted to be saved from my sins. So I trusted Christ.
There is one prerequisite for coming to Jesus - and that is knowing you are a sinner in need of salvation.
When I was a children's pastor, I used to have kids come up all the time wanting to get saved. So many of them were doing it out of peer pressure and they didn't understand. So I would ask them this question to kind of see if they understood "are you a sinner?"
If they said "no, I'm a good person" I would know they weren't ready to trust Christ. But if they said "yes, then almost always they would trust Christ."
Jesus is after sinners. He came to save sinners. Has He saved you?
Jesus came to save sinners, that is the first lesson I think we learn in this text. The second is similar, but different. Not only did Jesus come to save sinners, but we see in this story that...
2. Jesus chases sinners
Look again at our text in verse 27. It says He went forth, and saw a publican...and said unto him "follow me."
Let me play English teacher for a minute.
Who is the subject of that sentence? Who is preforming the action there?
It is Jesus. And I want to tell you something, this word "saw" here in verse 27, where it says that Jesus saw Levi.
That's not a casual looking. That's not like me saying to Amanda "I saw gas was below $3 again on my way home." No. the word "saw" there is a specific word that means "look intently."
And what this verse is saying to us is that Jesus had his eye on Levi. Jesus went looking for Levi.
Here is this man that everyone avoided. If anyone looked for Levi it was so they could duck into an alley and not pay his silly taxes. Or they may have looked for him in the restaurant to make sure they didn't have to eat with someone like him.
But Jesus was looking for Levi because Jesus loved Levi. Jesus wanted to save Levi. Jesus wanted to use Levi as a disciple.
In John chapter 4, Jesus tells his disciples "I must needs go through Samaria." Normally, Samaria was a place they avoided at all costs. But Jesus had an appointment there.
Why did Jesus go to Samaria? So He could witness to one woman. A woman who had been married five times and was currently shacking up with someone who wasn't her husband. An idolater. A sinner.
Jesus is after sinner. He is chasing sinners.
One more example from the Bible. In the early church there was this man who was kind of a leader in getting rid of Christians. When the first martyr was being stoned, he very well may have been the person directing the stoning. He was obsessed with killing Christians. Lying about them in court, rounding them up. He was filled with hate and murder and lies.
And Jesus made a special appearance to him. He became Paul the apostle, who wrote most of the New Testament.
Listen, Jesus is after sinners. He is chasing sinners. You might look at your life and think, "God would never want me, I could never be a Christian, look at the things I've done."
But I want to tell you "No! He is chasing you, He is hunting you, He came for sinners like you."
So we see in this story that Jesus came for sinners and Jesus chases sinners. Now, before I move onto my third point, I want to make one quick application.
If Jesus came into the world to save sinners, if He is actively chasing after people, seeking the lost. Shouldn't we as His followers join in in that work?
If Jesus is looking for sinners to save and the sin sick to heal, shouldn't we as Christians, as little Christ's be people who love sinners too, who have Christ's compassion on sinners?
Christian, I think it is good to ask, "Are you more like the Pharisees in this story, or like Jesus in your attitude towards sinners?" Do you see sinners as contaminants to be avoided, or souls to be saved?
Jesus came for sinners, He is chasing sinners.
There is one more thing in this little story that we see:
3. Jesus changes sinners
Jesus loved Levi - the sinner. Jesus loved his despised and rejected publican friends. He came for them, He chased them.
But when Jesus got them - they didn't stay sinners. Levi didn't stay "Levi the publican." Levi became Matthew the Christian.
Notice again what Jesus said in verses 31-32:
[!bible] Luke 5:31-32 - KJV 31. And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. %% #Luke5 %%
Why does a sick person go to the doctor? They go to the doctor to get well.
You know, our son Noah is sick. He has some kind of autoimmune condition that is affecting his kidneys and other parts of his body - and we have had to take A TON of trips to Chicago to see doctors.
We don't go up there so they can poke and prod him and catalog his condition. We go to the doctors so they can heal him. That's the point of doctors.
We must never forget that Jesus didn't come for the self-righteous. He came for the sinners. He chases the sinners.
But notice, Jesus said "I came to call sinners to repentance." Jesus came for sinners, but Jesus came to change sinners.
Jesus is absolutely a "come as you are" Savior. You can and should come to Jesus as broken as you are. Warts and all. Sin and all.
Jesus is a "come as you are" Savior, but He will not leave you as you are. He came to heal sinners. To change them.
Jesus went after a man in scripture called "the maniac of Gadara." This man was naked, living in caves, cutting himself, terrorizing his town. But when he met Jesus, he was "sitting and clothed and in his right mind." That's what coming to Jesus does to people. He changes sinners.
When you come to Jesus in faith, He offers you justification - that means in an instant you are free from the penalty of sin. In God's eyes, you have Jesus' perfect record.
But He doesn't just give you justification - He also gives you sanctification. You aren't just saved from sins penalty, you are set free from sin's power.
And some day, you won't just have justification and sanctification, you'll have glorification. You'll be saved from sin's presence and given a sinless body in heaven.
author: Ryan Hayden
If you are here today, and you have already come to Jesus, you've already been changed. Then this story is a good reminder to you where you came from, the change Jesus made in you, and the heart Jesus has for sinners.
But if you are here today and you have never trusted Christ - may today be the day when you stop running. Jesus came for sinners, He chases sinners, and He changes sinners.
Will you trust Christ today?
Let's stand for prayer.
