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In the providence of God, we now have arrived at Luke chapter five. We're going to look at verses 27 through 32, and I've entitled my discourse to you this morning, "Leaving Everything Behind to Follow Jesus." And here we will see our blessed Savior in yet another light of his glory and the power of his saving grace. Let me read the text to you, Luke five, beginning with verse 27.

"After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, 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 in his house; and 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 is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.

"'I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.'"

People come to the United States from all over the world, and they do everything they can to somehow get in our country because they want an opportunity to experience the American dream; a dream that essentially says, if you work hard, you will have the opportunity to get ahead, to be successful, to be one who owns a home, to have a fulfilling life, maybe even financial independence. And of course, we see this even rooted in the Declaration of Independence, where we read that all people are created equal, and they have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and largely this is true. However, rapid inflation, driven by excessive federal spending and the enormous national debt - I checked yesterday, it's going to be more than this, you've seen the debt clock; it just keeps going - $39 trillion, where the government spends more than it takes in, and then borrows money to cover the annual deficit. You add to this the cost-of-living increases that suppresses real wage growth and personal savings, combined with our ever-growing tax burden. Not to mention the cradle to the grave entitlements that many politicians want to push. You add all of that up, and we have what is now called an affordability crisis.

And of course, politicians love to promise way more than they can possibly deliver. They dupe people into believing that they can solve all of our problems if you just vote for me. And if you vote for me, I will raise taxes and essentially steal money from other people and give it to you. And that's how the whole system has worked for many years. And what our greedy, corrupt politicians are doing to buy votes is nothing short of criminal. You look at all of the taxes that we pay, and after a while you just shake your head and you think, "My, what else are they going to find to tax us?" I'm not even going to go through the list. You know it in your mind; and the staggering fraud and abuse combined with ridiculous spending; I was reading that under the last administration, the U.S. immigration statistics said that illegal immigration cost the United States 200 billion dollars a year. Just bring the people in; we'll take care of them because they will vote for us and keep us in power. And on and on it goes. I read that 59 billion dollars were paid to supply services for housing illegal immigrants just in New York City. 46.5 million dollars funding projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil. 43 million supporting programs to build an inclusive and capable workforce with a special emphasis on public health and climate change sectors in Egypt. Aren't you glad our taxpayer money is going for these things? 6.2 million to study the effects of asthma on transgender individuals in the United States. 5.9 million to fund trans health guides for gender diverse young adults, 5.7 million to support programs for LGBTQ plus individuals in Latin America and the Caribbean; and you add to this insanity billions of dollars to subsidize universities, and if you listen to many of the professors who are honest, they will tell you that many of their students can't read. They cannot read well enough to even complete their courses because many of them have been admitted under the DEI guidelines.

And you listen to some of the street interviews that news media will conduct, where they will ask people, you know, why do you hate America? Why do you hate Israel? Why do you hate Donald Trump? And you listen to their answers, and you can tell they are utterly clueless, and many of them are college students. The idiocy is staggering. I mean, so many of these people couldn't pour water out of a boot if the instructions were on the heel, and these are college graduates, and yet they protest and they vote, and they even get elected to Congress. This, by the way, is why Charlie Kirk was so hated by the left. He exposed the shocking idiocy of most college students today. Well, my point with all of this is just to remind you, as if you didn't need to be reminded, of how corrupt our government really is, and how taxation, in many ways, is nothing more than legalized extortion.

Well, nothing new. This happened as well in the first century, in different ways, in the time of Jesus, under Roman rule, and this is what makes Jesus calling Levi, his Greek name was Matthew, who wrote the Gospel of Matthew. But this is what makes Jesus calling Levi and saving him, so powerful. Now let me give you a little background here, so you understand what's going on, because this is foreign to our culture. But you will see a lot of the parallels. First, tax collecting was tantamount to a cross between our IRS and the Mafia. Think of it that way. In many ways, it too was legalized extortion. Tax collectors and the criminal element that protected them included people like politicians, businessmen, prostitutes - all those that were associated with this ilk of people, and they were hated by people in society. Now Herod Antipas, who was the Roman tetrarch - tetrarch means ruler of a quarter - he was in power there at that time, and he ruled over Galilee and Perea, kind of like a governor, and he collected taxes for Rome. Rome had a certain quota of taxes that he had to collect, but he also had the authority to levy taxes on anything he wanted to as he saw fit, and he had the power to enforce his wishes. And what he did, and what was customary in those days, was to sell tax-collecting franchises to the highest bidder, and then, of course, they would split the profits. So it was a very lucrative business venture if you're a crook. There was the customary poll tax; they had their own income tax, which was about 1% property tax, which was 1/10 of all grain, 1/5 of all wine and fruit. I'm not going to get into all of the others, but especially in the region here where Levi lived in Capernaum, which is up on the northern part of the Sea of Galilee, it was a fishing area, and so there were taxes on fish processors and distributors, and they were required to pay a tax on the fish that they sold, and pay tax on transporting the fish.

There were also taxes on roads, crossing bridges, and an assortment of duties and tariffs on imports, exports; and merchants who came to buy or sell in Israel, they were notorious for inflating those taxes, and you had to pay it under threat of bodily harm. And they were also willing to make loans, so they were loan sharks. And if you couldn't pay the exorbitant interest rates, then they would send the thugs out to take care of you. They employed thugs to physically threaten people and to beat people.

Now there existed a network of tax collectors, and they were essentially divided into two categories. There were what was called the "gabbai," and there was also the "mokhes." The gabbai were like our IRS agents, if you want to think of it that way. They collected the basic taxes like the poll tax, the land tax, the income tax, and the mokhes collected all the specialized taxes. There were two kinds of mokhes. That, by the way, in the transliteration is m-o-k-h-e-s - 2 kinds of mokhes who owned a tax booth in a specific location. There were the little mokhes - the ones that owned them; and the little guy, the little mokhes worked the actual tax booths, and that's what Levi was doing, all right, so that was where he fit into this whole scheme. Now everyone in the region, would have known him because they have to pass by him and pay the tax, and you know, no telling what all they said under their breath every time they walked by him. So he was in constant contact with everyone, and we can see that his booth, his tax booth, was near the shore of the Sea of Galilee. So he collected the tolls and the tariffs relating to the fishing industry there in Capernaum, and these toll collectors were renowned for their dishonesty and their extortion. They habitually collected more than what was due, and they were always posting new regulations and made false accusations and valuations and so forth.

Now, the Pharisees were especially resentful of the tax collectors for a couple of reasons. One is because they cut into their profits. The tax collectors were also considered traitors because they worked for Rome and took money from their own kinsmen to be used against them. Not to mention, they would line their own pockets with the money that they stole from the Jews. Sounds a little bit like Congress, right? So naturally, for Jesus and his disciples to have anything to do with a tax collector would have been hideously offensive, and yet Jesus saved him by his grace, and then called this despised, corrupt, traitorous, immoral way man, to leave everything and follow him.

Now I'm going to give you three real simple categories that we can use to look at this text. We're going to see a great exchange, a great reception, and a great rebuke. Let me give you a context here. Jesus has just healed the paralytic. You remember he was dropped down before Jesus from the roof when he was teaching. Verse 20 of Luke five says,

 "Seeing their faith, He said, 'Friend, your sins are forgiven you.'

"The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, 'Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?'"

And then, in verse 24, "'But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,' - Jesus speaking here - "He said to the paralytic - 'I say to you, get up and pick up your stretcher and go home.'"

So Jesus has just manifested his deity in a very powerful way, and he's been again proclaiming the gospel of repentance and saving grace, which absolutely infuriates the Pharisees. That brings us to verse 27 of our text this morning.

"After that He went out and noticed..." Now let me stop here for a second. It says he noticed a tax collector. The term "notice" in the original original language means to look at with a fixed gaze. It could be translated "stare." He sees Levi and he just pauses and he stares at him. "After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi." Again, this is Matthew, and he's sitting in the tax booth. And "He said to him, "Follow Me.'" Now imagine the scene here. Mark's gospel gives us a little more insight here. Mark chapter two verse 13, "And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them."

So he's on the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee, and he's traveling by road and sometimes by boat, and that was the main thoroughfare there by Capernaum. A lot of you have been with me, we've seen this area; and what we know, according to Josephus, is there's villages now clustered all along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. So this is kind of open-air gospel preaching. This, for example, would have been where the Sermon on the Mount was preached in this region - Matthew 5-7 - which is probably a summary of all that he preached. And Mark tells us in Mark one, beginning in verse 14, "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.'" So this is what's going on. This is what what he is preaching.

Now I need to digress for just a moment, because this is so powerful, folks, this type of preaching is rare even these days. People don't want to be called to repentance. They want a gospel of self-esteem. They want a gospel of self-fulfillment, or they want a social justice gospel, or some gospel that will help them know how to manipulate God so that they can be healthy and wealthy. But Jesus preached the gospel of repentance and saving grace through faith alone, not works. Now, despite the the fact that this was terribly offensive, he went ahead and preached it. I might add, if you want to know more of what he said, we could go to John six. I'll give you just a little sample of it. He emphasized the doctrine of the sovereign will of God to the selection of those that he came to save, those who were coming to him. What is derisively called today, Calvinism. This is what Jesus preached. Go to John six; you'll see it very clearly, as well as all throughout the New Testament. The fact that the Father had predestined those whom he would save, and every person chosen by God would be drawn by God as a gift of the Father's love to the Son, a love gift from the Father to the Son, a gift that the Son would receive and secure forever, and will raise into eternal glory. John 6:44 tells us what he preached. Jesus says, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him."

As a footnote, I might add obviously, there's no free will here. It does not exist in man's fallen nature because man is enslaved to sin and unable to believe apart from God's empowerment. I mean, certainly we all have a a will. We have the capacity to choose. We have volition, but it's not the will that's the problem. It's what I believe R. C. Sproul said is "the willer." We don't have the desire to do what needs to be done unless God changes that. And so Jesus taught that sinners must accept his work on the cross. It was symbolized by his analogy of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, remember, in John six. Of course, these were spiritual realities that were completely foreign to the people, foreign to the Jewish people. They could not understand, largely because of willful unbelief and the judicial blinding that that produced, and that's why it says in John six, beginning in verse 66. As a result of this, in other words, what Jesus is preaching here, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore. So Jesus said to the 12, "You do not want to go away, also, do you?' Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.'" Folks, this is why we believe in sola scriptura. You see the five solas around this beautiful auditorium, - sola scriptura, that our authority is Scripture alone - and this was central to the Reformation, which was a recommitment to the sole singular authority of Scripture. Sola Scriptura means that our spiritual authority is the inspired, inerrant, infallible, authoritative, all-sufficient Word of God. It's not the wisdom of man like we see in false religions. It has nothing to do with tradition or councils or papal decrees or allegorizing and spiritualizing methods of Bible interpretation, or philosophy, or psychology, or culture. Instead, we contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). We're not concerned about the wisdom of man. When I preach to you I'm not giving you my wisdom. It's meaningless, and so is yours. Everybody's got an opinion, right? Well, what we have to look at is what the word says. That's why Paul said in First Corinthians 1:23, "We preach Christ crucified to Jews a stumbling block; to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, it is Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

So my point with all of this is: these are the saving truths now that Jesus is preaching. He's got a crowd following him. Most of them are following just to see another miracle. Back to Mark for just a moment in Mark 2 verse 13, "And He went out again by the seashore, and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them." And it says, then, "As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, 'Follow Me!' And he got up and followed Him."

Here's our first little point in my little outline, here we see a great exchange. He's exchanging a very lucrative business, shall we say, for eternal life. Now, this would have been utterly reprehensible to the Jews following after Jesus. I mean, this guy's a traitor. Jesus shouldn't even be talking with him. He collects taxes. He's a villain of the highest order, he's a disgusting scumbag, if to use our language, that's how they saw him - a social outcast. Everyone hated him, and yet, in the providence of God, Jesus sees him with all the crowd, and in the midst of the teaching, he stops and he fixes his gaze upon Levi. I'm looking forward to the day when I can talk with Matthew in heaven and ask him what that was like. Jesus knew that he was a wretched sinner, but he also knew that that man's name had been written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. This is one of those that he would save by his grace. He would soon pay for his sins on the cross. So he knew he was among the elect that the Father had given him. John 6:37, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me, I will certainly not cast out, for I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." Beloved, did not Jesus fix His eyes upon you once upon a time, in like manner? And were we not all likewise wretched and guilty before the Lord our God, just like Matthew?

Well, Jesus also saw the misery of Levi's heart, the heavy weight of guilt upon his chest; that helpless, hopeless feeling, that sorrow. And although Levi would have been very aware of Jesus' reputation, he probably at this point didn't know for sure if this is the Son of God, like he claimed, if he's the Messiah. Certainly, he's a great prophet, and I'm sure there's more conversation that occurred than what we read here. But bottom line, the Spirit gave him eyes to see the light of the glory of Christ here. He may not have realized all that he would later on at that point, but he did certainly later on. By the way, I love to hear the testimonies of saints that have described that season in their life when they were convicted of sin. I can still remember it for me when I was a little nine-year-old boy. It was a crushing weight, and I didn't have time to do a lot of high-handed sinning, but I had enough to bring guilt to my heart, and you all remember it in your own heart-that need for saving grace, for forgiveness.

My mind goes to Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress at this point when I think about what happened here, you remember Bunyan described himself - he used the name "Christian," - the name Christian, and he described himself as walking through the wilderness of this world. That's what was going on with Matthew. That's what went on with all of us, and maybe some of you even right now. And he said that he was a man "clothed in rags," and certainly God sees our perceived goodness as nothing more than filthy garments, (Isaiah 64:6). He sees us clothed with filthy garments (Zechariah 3:3). Just like the Apostle Paul, remember in Philippians three, beginning in verse three, that passage where he views his own righteousness and his religious heritage, his fulfillment to the ceremonial law, his conformity to the moral law, his religious zeal, and all of his best efforts, he says, is nothing more than worthless dung. Folks, that's the stuff of real conviction. That's where Matthew was.

Remember Jesus' parable in Matthew 22 about the man who was rejected at the king's wedding invitation. Why? Because he wore his own clothes, rather than the clothes the king provided. In other words, he was in desperate need of the robes of righteousness. So Bunyan was a man walking through the wilderness of this world, a man clothed in rags, and then we read that, "He was standing in a certain place with his face turned away from his home, and he carried a book," reference to the Bible, "in his hand, and a great burden on his back." You remember that burden of sin? That's what was going on with Matthew.

And we go on to read that, "He opened the book and began to read and as he read, he wept and trembled. Then, not being able to contain himself any longer, he cried out in anguish, asking, 'What shall I do to be saved?'" Oh, the great burden of sins, guilt, and the fear of divine judgment, and beloved, salvation requires this kind of awareness of sin and a profound awareness of the wrath of God that abides upon us, lest we repent. This is like the tax collector, remember in Luke 18, who stood far off, hung his head and bowed his body toward the ground. He beat his chest and he cried out, "God be merciful to me, the sinner."

 And then, as Bunyan says about the book, "The book brought great conviction." That's the word of God. That's what was happening here, and I might add that the Bible brings objective conviction because it is, shall we say, forensic in that it legally brings charges against us and convicts the sinner of his crime. But it is also subjective in that it produces a godly sorrow that leads to repentance. As the writer of Hebrews says, the word of God is "living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. There is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

Now, unlike Levi, who had not yet witnessed Jesus' atoning work on the cross, and was therefore justified by grace through faith in God's mercy, like all Old Testament saints, we, however, can look back now at the cross, like the lyrics of the hymn says, "At the cross, where I first saw the light and the burdens of my heart rolled away." So Bunyan described his conversion, and I just want you to see the parallel because it reminds us of our own in so many ways. We read,

He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.

Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, “He hath given me rest by his sorrow, and life by his death.” Then he stood still a while, to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked, therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks. 

Now as he stood looking and weeping, behold, three Shining Ones came to him, and saluted him with, “Peace be to thee.” So the first said to him, “Thy sins be forgiven thee,”  the second stripped him of his rags, and clothed him with change of raiment, the third also set a mark on his forehead,  and gave him a roll with a seal upon it, which he bid him look on as he ran, and that he should give it in at the celestial gate: so they went their way. Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing,

“Thus far did I come laden with my sin,

Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in,

Till I came hither. What a place is this!

Must here be the beginning of my bliss?

Must here the burden fall from off my back?

Must here the strings that bound it to me crack?

Blest cross! blest sepulchre! blest rather be

The Man that there was put to shame for me!”

So back to our text, Jesus fixes his eyes on Matthew, this wretched, miserable sinner, and he says, "'Follow Me.' And he got up and followed Him." Now again, Matthew was fully aware of Jesus' miraculous works and powerful gospel preaching, so the Spirit of God was already bringing conviction to his heart. But because of his repentant faith, Jesus forgave him of his sins and made him a disciple. And later, in chapter six and verse 15, Jesus called him to be an apostle, which, by the way, indicates that Matthew became the fourth individual to follow Jesus in Luke's gospel, following Peter, James, and John.

So back to Luke five, verse 28, "And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him." Beloved, when a sinner is truly converted, everything in life takes a back seat to following Christ, right? Those things just don't matter as much. This is the reason why we exist. Now, unlike the fishermen - as I think about it, who followed Jesus, who probably in the back of their mind knew that well, if this doesn't work out, I can always go back to fishing - it wouldn't be that case with Matthew. I mean, he was done. You know, you're out forever. And he had no idea what lay ahead. Luke's gospel in Luke 5:28 tells us here that "He left everything behind to follow Jesus." As I think about it, this is a real problem for many people who profess Christ. They don't want to follow Jesus? They want Jesus to follow them. Big difference. You know, I'll keep living the way I always have, and you can stay close to me and help me. You know, when things go bad, because after all, you exist for me. Folks, that's not genuine saving faith. I think of others who follow Christ as long as it's popular to do so. Think of what Jesus said in Matthew 13:20, "The one on whom seed," referring to the gospel seed, "was sown on the rocky places. This is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no firm root in himself but is only temporary. And when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away." This is that superficial, sentimental, emotional commitment to Christ. So often we see it in altar call decisions. But when there's a price to pay, they walk away. Others make a superficial commitment without any genuine repentance, because down deep, they're really still so much in love with the world. They're caught up in the culture; they're obsessed with money and material things. They gradually turn away from Christ. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 13 verse 22: "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." This is like, remember the rich young ruler who came to Christ, but he chose to serve riches rather than to serve God in Mark 10. But true regeneration is so different. This is what we see here in Matthew. Jesus describes this as well in Matthew 13, verse 23, "And the one to whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and brings forth some a hundredfold, some 60, and some 30."

Now, back to Luke five, verse 29. Levi, it says, gave a big reception for Jesus in his house, "and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were who were reclining at the table with them." So we move from a great exchange to a great reception. Now Mark adds that there were many tax collectors and sinners in that group. Now, as you think about it, what do genuine converts want to do when they come to faith in Christ? They want to share the gospel. They want to bring their family in and their friends and tell them about Jesus. I mean, this is like the man in Jesus' parable in Matthew 13 that the merchant that sold everything to purchase the pearl of great price. Plus, undoubtedly, he's going to announce his retirement, his career change because of his love for Christ. He's going to share the gospel with his friends, introduce them to Jesus, and so I mean, think of it this way: he invites the mafia to come over to his house; all of the politicians in Herod's court, all of the thugs, the shakedown artists, the prostitutes, all the lowlife that hangs around the criminal underworld, and in many ways, undoubtedly, they're thrilled to be there because they've all heard about Jesus. They want to see this miracle worker. I mean, what is going on? And don't you know they heard the news? It's like, man, "Did you hear what what's going on with Levi? I mean, we're all going over to his place. He's throwing a big reception here, and Jesus is going to be there. And we're hearing that Matthew's going to start following him. Yes, Jesus of Nazareth." And by this time Jesus' encounter with Levi is, shall we say, it's all over the internet. You know, I mean, it's spreading like wildfire, and of course, the Pharisees are all over the story, which is precisely what Jesus wants to see happen. And now they learn about the Capernaum mafia meeting at Levi's house with Jesus, and they say, "Ah, we got him now." The paparazzi is everywhere. The story goes viral on social media. You know how it would work in that day.

Now, now let's go inside, verse 29, "And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them." Now, this is the way that they would extend friendship in that day, in that culture, and it indicates that they are having extended conversations about all of these things. And mind you, this is appalling to the Pharisees. But what they didn't know is this: they were witnessing the pursuit of saving grace. Imagine sitting at the feet of Jesus. Every one of them knew that they were at least in the presence of a great prophet, if not the Messiah, and of course Jesus was doing exactly what he said he would do, and that was to seek and to save the lost. And in his great love, now he's pursuing, shall we say, the lowest of the low, the social outcast, the criminal, the prostitute, the unclean reprobates that are considered to be worse than dogs by the religious elite.

But notice what happens, verse 30, "The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, 'Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?'" You see, eating and drinking would have been especially defiling because not only who they were, but because they're eating the wrong foods and they're drinking the wrong drinks, so they're defiled. Of course, self-righteous legalists always have their own code of conduct, and by the way, false religions always require some kind of works that you have to perform in order to gain salvation.

Back to the five solas that you see around this auditorium, this is why central to the Reformation was the concept of "sola fide" that salvation is by faith alone, not faith plus works. In Romans four and I believe verse five, we read how God justifies the ungodly by faith, not the godly, and I mean we are far too sinful to merit salvation. No matter how hard we try, the sin in our life that we can even see is only the snowflake on the proverbial tip of the iceberg. We don't see anything that God sees. Romans four and verse five, "But to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness." Romans 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves..." it is the what? "It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. " By the way, folks, if you do not understand that salvation is by faith alone, you're not saved.

There's a Pew survey that said that 52 percent of evangelicals believe salvation is by faith plus works. Galatians 3, beginning in one verse one,

"You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

"This is the only thing I want you to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith?

"Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"

 Let me let me be abundantly clear here, that means, with that Pew survey, that means that 52 percent of professing evangelicals are bewitched, and they don't know Christ. They don't understand the gospel. This is why Roman Catholicism, for example, is a false religion. The Roman system is all about works. You believe in God, but then you also have to start earning your way into heaven through personal righteousness. Galatians 1:6 says that's a different gospel. That's another gospel. Galatians 1:8, "Anyone who preaches to you a gospel contrary to what we preach to you is to be accursed."

So what we see here in this great text is Matthew sees Christ understands at least enough to say, "I'm going to follow Him." And God does a work in His heart. Isn't it great to know that there is no heart so hard that the Spirit's work cannot penetrate it with regenerating grace? And I have to ask you: Are are you following Jesus, or down deep do you kind of expect him to be following you? I might also add that Matthew fades from the scenes of history after this. I mean, we have his gospel, but we know nothing for certain about his life and his ministry after Pentecost. Various historical accounts indicate that he preached the gospel to Jewish people, and then later to Gentiles in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea, and over in Persia and Macedonia, and even in Syria; there's no agreement about how he died. There are some traditions that say he was burned at the stake. Others say that he was beheaded. Others say that he was stoned to death, but he was probably martyred for his faith in Christ, but what we can say is that he chose Jesus because of God's grace, and he left a very lucrative career and followed him all the way to heaven.

Well, folks, may we all evaluate our commitment to Christ in light of this very insightful passage, really speaks to all of our hearts, doesn't it, in so many ways? And may we all rejoice in the gift of God's grace that forever silences any misguided attempt for us to boast in our contribution to salvation-the salvation that we have received so freely, Amen?  Let's pray together,

Father, thank you for the glorious truths of your Word. May they bear much fruit in our hearts. And Lord, if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it is to know and to love Christ, to have sins forgiven, to have the burden of their sin roll away. Oh Lord, won't you bring them to a place of such conviction that they will fall on their face before the cross and cry out for the mercy that you will so freely give? We ask all of this in the precious name of Jesus, our Savior, in whom we trust and for whom we wait. Amen.