What Wondrous Love
Mark 2:13-17 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Jesus call
In verse 17 Jesus said, “ I have not come to call those who think they’re righteous, but those who KNOW they’re sinners.
Come to me all who are weary and carry heavy burdens.” Matthew 11: 28
Jesus is calling the same individuals here. The one who KNOWS he is a sinner is the one who is weary and carries heavy burdens.
Levi, who is later named Matthew, is a good example.
In Mark 2: 14, Jesus saw Levi sitting in his tax collector's booth. “Follow me, and be my disciple,” Jesus said.
Levi was a Jewish man, who worked for the Roman people, stealing from them, a traitor. Considered a notorious sinner by the Jewish people. He knew what he was doing, he must have been deeply grieved by his decisions,
again. “ Jesus saw Levi sitting in his tax collectors booth “follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said.
He didn't come to call those who think they're righteous, but those who KNOW they're sinners.
Our response
Levi got up and followed HIM.
Levi didn't simply hear Jesus call HIM and continued what he was doing. He GOT UP AND FOLLOWED HIM. We have to respond to His call.
Going back to Matthew 11:28, there is an action required on our part.
1) COME to me
2) TAKE my yoke
3) LET me teach you
"If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." 1 John 1:8-10
We all know King David, the bible calls him a man after God’s heart. In
2 Samuel: 11, we will find one of his darkest moments in life, when he called for Urias' wife, Bathsheba, slept with her, got her pregnant, tried to cover it, had her husband killed, etc…
Psalm 51 is David's cry to the Lord sometime after these events
"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise."
God will never reject a broken and contrite heart
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."1 John 1:9
There is always a calling on our life, before salvation, to leave our old life behind, and come to Christ, to follow HIM. And even after we are following after God's own heart, like David, and we fall flat on our face, HE says COME.
This is where we will find the rest of our souls that Matthew 11:28 talks about.
Might be that were going through the worse of circumstances, the darkest times in our lives, Jesus can turn those worst moments into the best moments.
The Adulterous Woman in John 8 was caught in the act of adultery, about to get stoned, I don't know about you, getting caught in a messy situation being accused in public about to get killed would bring me to submission, but Jesus replied: "I DO NOT CONDEMN YOU, GO AND SIN NO MORE."
Jesus is calling us to a new beginning
Are you weary? Heavy Burden? Shamed over sin? Looking for a new beginning? Christ is calling you.
Have you fallen into sin as a believer? Christ is telling you to COME!
Our worse moments in life can become our best moments when you come to Christ. Like Levi, Like David, like the adulterous woman, like you and me.