WEBVTT 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:08.720 Our Father Gods, we do pray now for the uh reading and preaching of your words. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:14.320 Uh, that you would help me to be faithful with what you've given us in the Bible. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:20.879 And I ask that you would make our hearts uh soft ground to receive your words. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:35.119 Help us to find ourselves in this passage as the sinners so desperately in need of Jesus, and help us to see him who so graciously meets our deepest needs. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:36.399 Amen. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:40.320 Mark chapter one. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:42.960 Uh I'll read from verse 40. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:55.840 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling, said to him, If you will, you can make me clean. 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:03.920 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I will be clean. 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:08.159 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:20.640 And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to them. 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:33.280 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the good news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter. 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:42.799 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home, and many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:50.000 And he was preaching the words to them, and they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:59.359 And when they could not get near him because of the crowds, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:08.719 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven. 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:15.199 Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, Why does this man speak like that? 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:16.879 He is blaspheming. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:19.680 Who can forgive sins but God alone? 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:29.120 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, Why do you question these things in your hearts? 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:36.400 Which is easier to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise, take up your bed and walk. 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:49.039 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, I say to you, Rise, pick up your bed and go home. 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:59.120 And he rose, and he immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:05.360 He went out again beside the lake, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:13.199 And as he passed by he saw Levi, the son of Alpha, sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, Follow me. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:17.039 And he rose and followed him. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:26.879 And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for they were for there were many who followed him. 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:38.000 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners? 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:48.159 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:53.439 I came not to call the righteous but sinners. 00:03:55.280 --> 00:04:02.000 We thank God for his beautiful and life-giving word this morning. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:09.599 Behind me is a photo, I hope, of the most exclusive club in the world. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:12.479 This is the Knickerbocker Club in New York. 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:19.519 It is a club for the elite, shrouded in secrecy, and it is very, very hard to get into. 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:30.720 It is so shrouded in secrecy that the following photo is, I think, the only one I can basically find on the internet that shows you anything inside that building. 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:32.639 It's very hard to get into. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:33.920 It is very exclusive. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:37.360 What sort of a person can become a member of this club? 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:40.720 Well, that information is not publicly available. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:49.040 But most of its members are descendants of the aristocracy from when America was settled, or from old money families. 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:50.319 New money won't do. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:57.439 You basically, if you look at who's in the club, have to be at least a third-generation billionaire to be allowed in. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:06.399 In Mark's gospel so far, Jesus has announced the coming of the kingdom of God. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:11.199 The first week we saw the king of the kingdom. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:15.120 Last week we caught a glimpse of what that kingdom is like. 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:19.040 Today, how do you become a member? 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:21.600 How does one get into the kingdom? 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:25.199 What kind of person do you have to be? 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:30.240 In some ways, we're going to see it is the least exclusive club in the world. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:36.879 The invitation to membership is open to all, but in some ways it is exclusive. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:45.279 And that it's in that its members are defined by what they don't have rather than what they do. 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:53.519 Its members are defined not by their riches, but by their poverty, not by their brilliance, but by their neediness. 00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:00.240 Jesus is going to show us what kind of people get in and what he does to get them in. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:03.279 Basically, you'll have noticed it was a reread. 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:06.319 We've got uh three little stories, three parts. 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:11.519 And here is the first of them, and we see that Jesus came to clean. 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:14.800 Jesus came to clean. 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:18.240 In verse 40, we get a leper, don't we? 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:22.639 Probably not the clientele that an exclusive club is looking for. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:26.399 Having leprosy is pretty miserable at the best of times. 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:39.759 We're talking skin lesions, nerve pain, loss of sensation, eye problems, breathing problems, a pretty miserable life, and certainly in Jesus' day, basically untreatable. 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:46.639 But the pain of having leprosy wasn't just physical, it was relational and spiritual. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:07:03.120 According to Leviticus 13, if you were to go back to the New Testament, a leper had to wear torn clothes, leaving his hair unkempt, and he was to go everywhere crying, unclean, unclean, as a warning to anyone who might cross his path. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:08.560 He had to live apart from everyone else and wasn't even allowed to worship God at the temple. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:14.959 By Jesus' day, it had even become illegal to so much as greet a leper if you saw them. 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:21.839 The ancient historian Josephus said that those with the disease were treated as if they were in effect dead men. 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:27.600 Now this poor man, verse 40, is shut out from the fellowship of the people of God. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:30.959 He's shut out from the temple, he's shut out from society. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:34.160 He was basically a walking, walking corpse. 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:36.399 People saw him coming. 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:38.240 They ran in the other direction. 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:41.279 He so much as stuck his head in the door of your house. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:44.079 The whole place was made unclean by his presence. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:47.839 Anything and everyone that he touched, he made unclean. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:49.279 He was toxic. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:54.079 Just nothing more than a disease and a danger. 00:07:56.639 --> 00:08:01.839 But despite the fact he knows how everyone feels about him. 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:06.240 On this day, something is different. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:14.800 And he feels somehow the boldness to approach one person, to approach the Lord Jesus. 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:19.759 And look at what he does and what he says as he comes to Jesus. 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:23.920 He throws himself onto his knees before Jesus. 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:25.839 He implores him. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:28.720 This is earnest and urgent. 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:37.759 He's bold and sincere as he pushes his case and he says, If you will, you can make me clean. 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:48.799 That cleansing wholeness lies entirely in the gift of Jesus for this man. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:52.240 At his will, this man can be made clean again. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:54.080 He can be put right. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:02.559 But there is a great confidence from this man in the person of the Lord Jesus. 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:10.320 And there is a little model there, I think, of what it means to be a Christian, of how you get into the kingdom of God. 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:11.679 Just right off the bat. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:27.919 It is coming to Christ on our knees, as it were, in acknowledgement of his kingship, imploring him for the help only he can give, acknowledging our desperate needs, the uncleanness that we have. 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:31.679 And he can make us clean. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:35.440 There is no attempt to persuade, he doesn't try to bargain. 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:40.480 There's nothing but total abandonment of himself to the mercy of Jesus. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:48.720 And that is what it means to be a Christian, knowing that nothing and no one else can make you clean but Jesus. 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:55.519 Many years ago, um the old bishop of Liverpool, uh J.C. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:10:02.879 Royal, he remarked that uh rightly that leprosy was basically unheard of in England in his day and in ours. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:06.720 But is there nothing like leprosy among ourselves? 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:07.759 He asked. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:09.759 And he said, Yes, indeed, there is. 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:19.840 There is a foul soul disease which is ingrained into our very nature and cleaves to our bones and marrow with deadly force. 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:22.720 That disease is the plague of sin. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:31.600 Like leprosy, it is a deep-seated disease infecting every part of our nature heart, will, conscience, understanding, memory, and affections. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:39.039 Like leprosy, it makes us loathsome and abominable, unfit for the company of God and unmeet for the glory of heaven. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:48.480 Like leprosy, it is incurable by any earthly physician, and is slowly but surely dragging us down to the second death. 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:54.720 Worst of all, far worse than leprosy, it is a disease from which no mortal man is exempt. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:58.720 We are all in God's sight as an unclean thing. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:05.279 We are all lepers, he was saying, and I think he was saying the Bible would say rightly, in a spiritual sense. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:13.200 Our sin makes us unclean, and we cannot approach God, we cannot worship him, we cannot be with him. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:18.720 You know, children like that song we sang earlier, that you know God is a holy God. 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:23.120 We can't be friends with him because of our sin. 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:26.159 We are lepers in our hearts. 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:35.759 But after the shock of the lepers' approach, there was perhaps an even greater shock coming, and you probably know the moment, verse 41. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:36.879 Look there for a moment. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:47.919 Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I will be clean. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:50.639 And immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean. 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:52.159 Now, just break that down. 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:55.679 First of all, Jesus was moved with pity. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:58.720 That would mean uh compassion. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:01.039 That is something we've seen uh already. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:06.480 We saw his compassion last week as he raised Simon's mother-in-law, who was ill with her fever. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:11.360 Here is his compassion, and that is what animates the heart of Jesus. 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:14.240 Friends, know that. 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:20.559 When he looks at you, he does not look at you with disdain or reproach. 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:24.320 He looks at you with eyes full of compassion. 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:27.919 Know that, treasure that for a second. 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:30.720 My Savior looks at me with compassion. 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:41.039 He never responds when I go to him hurting and afraid, bankrupt and bereft when we go to him aware of the sickness in our souls. 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:47.120 He never responds when we go to him guilty and in need of pardon, dirty and in need of cleansing. 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:52.480 He never responds slowly or begrudgingly, he responds with compassion. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:57.360 And notice what Jesus does in his compassion with the leper. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:00.720 He reached out and touched the man. 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:06.639 And just think, if you were that leper, what an amazing moment that must have been. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:17.679 Having lived for so long without human contact, cut off from society, perhaps years in isolation and pain without the touch of another single human being. 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:20.080 Can you imagine what that would have been like? 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:25.519 But then the touch of Jesus, it changes everything. 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:30.320 And notice in the story how Mark sort of slows everything down, doesn't he? 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:33.279 The camera zooms in and we see it unfold in slow motion. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:40.159 Jesus, filled with pity, stretches out his hand, and the eyes, man, the man's eyes grow large, wondering, what is he doing? 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:41.360 Doesn't he realize? 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:43.600 And then the moment of contact. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:51.840 It might actually be that the word Mark uses here when he says Jesus touched him, it might actually mean more than just superficial contact. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:55.919 Actually, it means that Jesus took hold of him, he clasped him. 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:01.840 The first time in years, a moment of extraordinary tenderness. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:07.200 You hear his compassion enacted as Jesus communicates to him his love. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:09.600 But think about what Jesus is doing. 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:14.960 When he says to the man with his lips, I will be clean. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:18.240 He's saying something extra with his touch. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:26.399 What he's saying is, Not only will I make you clean, but I will become unclean. 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:32.000 I will become unclean, so that you can become clean. 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:35.039 That is uh 2 Corinthians chapter 5, isn't it? 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:45.120 But for our sake God made him who uh made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:14:45.279 --> 00:15:05.759 Here is the shocking sight of this man riddled with the appalling effects of this skin disease, coming to Jesus, shattering every stigma and social taboo, and here is Jesus still more shockingly reaching out in love to touch him, being prepared to become unclean, to help this man, to make him clean. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:12.000 Jesus' selflessness, his compassion, his grace, his generosity is on full show here, isn't it? 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:16.159 He identifies with the unclean that he might make him clean. 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:19.679 And it's actually a lovely picture of the cross, isn't it? 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:41.200 That there at the cross, the holy, the blameless, the harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, Savior, the Lamb of God without spot or blemish, is fully identified with wretched rebels, with unclean sinners, with lepers of the heart, like you and me. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:44.080 Galatians 3:13. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:50.960 It says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:58.480 He took our dirt, our sin, our uncleanliness that we might be delivered from it at the cross. 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:09.840 And then if you look down at verse 44, you get a taste of the consequences for this man, a glimpse of what is possible now that he has been made clean. 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:20.320 Leviticus 14 required anyone who'd been cleansed or healed of leprosy somehow to show themselves to the priests, and the priest was the sort of certified that it was true. 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:24.559 And then you would go back to the temple and worship in gratitude and thanksgiving. 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:40.000 And Jesus sends the man back to the temple to perform what the law required as a testimony to the priests, as though to say to them, What you couldn't do, what the law couldn't do, Jesus has done. 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:46.799 All the law said to me in my these years in my suffering was unclean, excluded, shut out. 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:53.360 But now that I've come to know Jesus, he could do for me what the law couldn't do. 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:56.559 Jesus makes me clean. 00:16:57.519 --> 00:16:58.480 Now I'm brought in. 00:16:58.639 --> 00:16:59.600 Now I'm welcome. 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:01.039 Now I belong. 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:06.400 He's free to go to the temple, he's free to worship, he can draw near to God. 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:12.400 Once shut out, Jesus has brought him in, able to be a member of the kingdom of God. 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:16.720 Jesus cleaning you is how you get in. 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:23.279 We've got to go slightly more briefly to the second and the third stories. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:27.839 And so the second thing we see is Jesus came to forgive. 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:29.279 Firstly, he came to clean. 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:31.680 The second thing we see is Jesus came to forgive. 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:36.240 I'm going to spend much less time in this section, as I think it's a story many of us are familiar with. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:42.720 The story of how Jesus was again back in Capernaum in a house, again crowded with people, desperate for his help. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:46.240 And a paralyzed man is brought by four friends, they can't get in. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:47.920 So they head up onto the roof. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:48.720 You know the story. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:51.359 You've probably made crafts of it if you went to church as a child. 00:17:51.440 --> 00:18:00.079 You cut out the hole, lower the man down, and then we get to this weird moment when we expect Jesus to say, I fix your legs, and he doesn't. 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:12.079 Instead, in verse five, he looks at this paralyzed man who cannot walk, who can't get there on his own, and he says, Son, your sins are forgiven. 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:19.519 Now Jesus, he does go on to fix his legs, but again we get this idea that there is this spiritual problem. 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:23.279 There's a problem that is more urgent, a heart problem. 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:27.200 That in his grace Jesus deals with first. 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:32.880 We have ideas, don't we, of what we need from Jesus. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:38.000 But the grace that he gives goes deeper than we know we need sometimes. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:44.640 And what we really need, what my heart really needs, what your heart really needs is to be forgiven. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:48.480 You might not think that's your most urgent need. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:56.079 You may have a laundry list of life problems bearing down on you that you're desperate for Jesus to fix. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:59.359 I don't know what to do with my broken family. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:01.920 I desperately need financial help. 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:05.599 The doctor's given me terrible news, and I need a miracle. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:11.359 We can come to Jesus anytime. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:18.319 But in God's providence, sometimes, friends, it is only when we are weakest that we turn to Him. 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:24.960 When all of our best efforts to fix life and our own have finally proven futile. 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:33.759 You know, when the reservoir of our own resources is finally empty, and as a last resort, we plead with Jesus to get us off the hook. 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:37.279 In those moments, that's what we think we need Jesus for. 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:52.640 But we see here again, in a funny way, not that he's uninterested, but that he's not nearly as interested in fixing our immediate troubles as he is in cleansing our hearts. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:20:10.400 What we really need, says Jesus, is to hear in our hearts and conscience and our consciences the voice of Christ saying to you, My dear son, my child, my dear daughter, your sin is forgiven. 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:14.400 And those may be the most precious words ever spoken. 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:19.039 Heard by human ears, son, your sins are forgiven. 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:23.839 And to everyone else that day in Capernaum, perhaps they sounded woefully inadequate. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:29.839 But here is Jesus, after all, confronted with an embodiment of weakness and suffering and needs. 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:31.920 This paralyzed man lowered. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:35.200 What a pathetic sight that must have been. 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:37.599 Lowered down from the ceiling. 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:40.000 Jesus, we thought you were a miracle worker. 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:41.599 That's the best you can do. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:43.680 Must be beyond your ability, surely. 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:44.880 Your sins are forgiven. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:46.000 Your talk is cheap. 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:48.000 Show us what you're really made of. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:56.240 Whatever the others thought, though, no doubt for this man himself, those are words he would never forget. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:00.480 Words upon which his whole life would turn. 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:04.240 He came seeking healing, and what he found was better. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:11.839 He found the grace of God, which with authority breaks into our hearts. 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:13.359 It reconciles us to him. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:16.960 And just like that leper washes us clean. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:24.400 And that is a thing far more wonderful than any momentary deliverance from the earthly trials that we may be going through. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:28.000 As hard as that is to say, and believe it is true. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:34.319 He came to Jesus desperate for help, and he was given forgiveness. 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:37.839 He was given a membership card for the kingdom of God. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:46.799 What is it that you're looking to Jesus to do for you? 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:54.480 Whatever it is, but I would say at the heart of the matter these stories tell us is the matter of your heart. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:59.119 That is what Jesus is most interested in. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:00.319 You need forgiving. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:02.480 Me too. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:06.240 Jesus is the only one who can give it to us. 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:08.400 Have you call out to him for help? 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:10.480 Jesus can forgive. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:14.160 That is what you really need, and it is his to give. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:19.440 Makes me slightly sad to skip the rest of that story. 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:24.880 The bit where Jesus proves he has the authority to forgive sins by then also healing the man's legs. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:30.000 The bit where he shows himself to be God, the bit where everyone saw this miracle and they're amazed and they glorified God. 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:33.920 The bit where I tell you that this is amazing and we should glorify God because of it. 00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:40.640 And whilst a paralytic standing up and going home is glorious, Jesus forgiving our sins is more glorious. 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:43.279 But we've got to leave enough time for Levi. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:54.799 And this last little section, as we look at who gets into the kingdom of God, and here's the last point Jesus came for the dirty for the sinner. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:57.759 Jesus came for the dirty for the sinner. 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:00.799 Verse 13 again, Jesus is crowded. 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:04.240 It is hardly a surprise that so many people want to see him. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:14.559 But however crowded he might be, he's walking along and he spots Levi, this tax collector sitting in his booth. 00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:18.799 He's a despised figure in Jewish society. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:24.880 You may have low thoughts of those who work for HMRC, but he is worse. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:31.920 He's a traitor, a collaborator, lining his pockets with the permission of the Romans at the cost of his own people. 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:44.000 If this sort of party going on in verse 15 is any indication, it seems maybe Levi has done rather well for himself, albeit on the backs of his countrymen, at the expense of others. 00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:48.079 People like Levi were the worst of the worst. 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:49.759 They were deeply resented. 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:57.119 And I suspect even though he had lots of money, his life in some ways would have mirrored the life of the leper that we met earlier. 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:07.599 It's likely the only other people who were willing to give him the time of day were other tax collectors, people at the fringes of society too, sinners, as we learn they're called. 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:11.680 And when Levi walked down the street, no one would catch his eye. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:24.319 But on this day, we're told, verse 14, Jesus saw Levi, perhaps when no one else would, and he said to him, Follow me. 00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:26.720 And he rose and followed him. 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:30.319 The turning point for Levi. 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:37.279 The turning point for any of us for that matter is the call and invitation of Jesus Christ to come and follow him. 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:46.640 And it's the turning point in Levi's life, just like the leper, just like the paralytic, even just like those fishermen we saw last week. 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:52.480 And we're starting to see a pattern emerge in these stories, aren't we? 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:59.839 Is there a type of person that Jesus calls, that Jesus cleans, that Jesus forgives? 00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:01.200 In some ways, no. 00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:07.599 These are all very different people, in very different situations, but in some ways, yes. 00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:17.039 These three men are illustrations of Jesus' compassion for the needy, for the broken, for the outcast. 00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:24.640 We see in them, and I think particularly in Levi, that there really is no one beyond the reach of his grace. 00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:32.160 There's no cause, there's no case so unlikely that the call of Jesus Christ can't reach them and change them. 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:36.480 He calls the leper, the paralytic, he calls wretched Levi. 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:45.839 Slightly wider in the Bible, we know he calls Peter, Simon, last week, didn't he, the fisherman, impetuous, quick-tongued, flawed. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:53.039 He will go on to call Saul of Tarsus, that hate-filled persecutor of the church, and make of him Paul the great missionary. 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:54.559 He called me. 00:25:57.200 --> 00:25:58.640 In verse 16. 00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:03.440 Now the Pharisees discover Jesus at Levi's party. 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:07.200 Perhaps he even is it a conversion party, it seems that way. 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:14.319 And they are deeply offended by the kind of person that Jesus would welcome into his company. 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:19.119 They are appalled that Jesus would befriend these lowlifs. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:21.440 You get a slight sense, don't you? 00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:35.680 That the Pharisees think Jesus would have been much better off calling them, much better, much nicer people, socially accepted, not really needy in any way, not carrying around burdens of shame or guiltiness or helplessness. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:38.400 At least that's what they told themselves. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:44.319 But look at Jesus' reply in verse 17 at the end of our passage. 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:51.119 Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:54.400 I came not to call the righteous but sinners. 00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:59.039 If you don't realize you're sick, you'll never visit the doctor. 00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:04.799 And Jesus is the great doctor, the great physician. 00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:08.960 And among what sort of people ought you expect to find him doing his work? 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:11.039 Well, you look for them among the sick, don't you? 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:12.480 Where else would I be? 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:14.160 Jesus is asking them. 00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:18.000 Righteous people don't need a savior, only sinners. 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:25.599 So here I am with tax collectors and sinners, while you, so sure of your righteousness, remain outside of the party. 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:31.519 I don't want to say, friends, the Bible would say, outside of the kingdom of God. 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:43.440 And here's the difference, I think, between Levi and his friends celebrating with Jesus around the banqueting table and the Pharisees standing outside. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:50.480 Here's the difference between people who will come to Jesus and receive his grace and those who do not. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:59.599 The Pharisees think that life is like waiting in a corridor in a school for a maths exam. 00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:07.039 They think there is some sort of test that you're going to have to pass, some display of personal righteousness that will qualify them for the kingdom. 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:08.720 They're not looking for a savior. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:10.480 I don't think they need one. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:14.720 They are looking to be more righteous than everyone else. 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:20.640 Even if the Bible would say that is not true in their hearts. 00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:26.319 But Levi and his friends, they have come to realize that they are desperately sick. 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:30.880 The leper, the paralytic, yes, sick on the outside, but sick on the inside too. 00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:34.880 These guys are also waiting, but not in a school corridor for an exam. 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:39.359 They are waiting in the doctor's office, unable to cure themselves. 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:42.799 When Jesus, the great physician, calls their names. 00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:47.599 He cleans them, forgives them, makes them whole, and makes them his. 00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:02.160 We all need God's help. 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:11.119 And one day, like the Pharisees in Mark's Gospel, some will be outside the party, but outside forever in the darkness. 00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:28.720 And friends, with all of my heart, if that is you today, I ask that you stop kidding yourselves and run to Jesus, who is ready to welcome and forgive the dirty and the broken and the sinner. 00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:39.599 But for all of us who know, if we have any confidence in this life, it is that we are beyond hope. 00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:43.359 And that is a requirement for being a Christian. 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:56.960 Any of us who know that we are beyond hope, beyond fixing, beyond remedy, if you know today that you are not good, not clean, not righteous, the Bible says Jesus has compassion for you. 00:30:57.200 --> 00:30:58.559 Jesus came for you. 00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:03.519 Jesus came to call you, to rescue you, to heal you, to forgive you. 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:05.920 Jesus is for you. 00:31:07.119 --> 00:31:10.960 And he will welcome you forever to his banqueting table. 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:22.400 The friend of sinners, savior of the wretched and the outcast, my savior, to whom be every ounce of glory that there is. 00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:24.880 Let's pray. 00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:36.240 Our Father God, we thank you that Jesus came for sinners. 00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:43.519 Father, I ask that you would help us find rescue in Him. 00:31:44.400 --> 00:31:47.759 Help us hear His call and respond to it. 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:52.480 Fill us with confidence and delight and hope. 00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:55.119 Because what He does, He does forever. 00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:58.000 What He does is address our deepest need. 00:31:58.160 --> 00:31:59.599 What He gives is forgiveness. 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:02.640 What He does is put us right with you, Father God. 00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:10.319 Help us to know that today, to believe it, to feel it, to trust it. 00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:12.240 Amen.