FAITH COME BY HEARING
Luke 5:27-39
JESUS SELECTED YOU TO CHANGE
V:27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. \”Follow me,\” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
A. Jesus can take you out of the situation you are in.
1. Jesus will put in a new direction.
2. Levi (Matthew) was a tax collector for the Roman Government.
3. He was in a profession of dishonest men.
4. They stole from the people by over charging them for their
taxes. They kept the over charged amount for themselves
5. Matthew a Jew, made his living by stealing from his own
people.
6. Tax collectors were hated by the Jewish community.
B. God does not tell us the full conversation between Jesus and
Matthew.
1. God does not tell us what frame of mind Matthew was in
when Jesus showed up at his station.
2. We don’t know if Jesus was there to pay taxes or not.
3. All we know is Jesus command at the end of the conversation.
4. We know Matthew’s response was to leave his job and
follow Jesus.
C. Let me suggest that maybe Matthew had heard John the Baptist
message to tax collectors to charge only what was due.
1. Maybe Matthew reflected on John the Baptist message of
repentance to be saved. Luke 3:12
2. Maybe Matthew was tired of the guilt he knew and being
hated by his community.
3. Maybe Matthews heart had been prepared by John the Baptist
and he was ready for a change when Jesus came to his booth.
4. When Jesus comes into your life, He will set you on the right
path.
CELEBRATE YOUR NEW LIFE WITH JESUS
V:29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, \”Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and \’sinners\’?\”
A. It would be nice for believers to throw a Jesus Party and
invite non believers, friends and relatives.
1. Notice, Levi does not apologize for his past, he just moves
forward with his new life with Jesus.
2. You cannot change your past, but you can affect today.
3. The first people to proclaim your new life with Jesus is your
associates and family.
4. Those who don’t like your change, becomes the conversation for
change.
4. Levi had been blessed with a house and wealth from his
previous occupation as a tax collector.
5. His house became the place for people to meet Jesus.
6. Whatever we have, ought to be used for people to meet Jesus.
B. When you throw a party, many people will show up to eat.
1. It is up to the host to make sure Jesus is the main course.
2. The Lord will make sure distractors of the Gospel show up.
3. Those who don’t know the Lord make good conversation
for Bible Study.
BIBLE STUDY BEGINS WHEN YOU PROCLAIM JESUS
V:31 Jesus answered them, \”It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.\”
33 They said to him, \”John\’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.\”
A. Self righteous folk know the Word and know what is going
on in the Church.
1. It is useful for people who oppose the church to voice their opinion
about the Church.
2. Once we know what people think about Church, we have direction
from God to explain the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
3. Notice Jesus used the self righteous objections against eating
with sinners to explain the need for righteousness.
B. If you let people talk long enough, they will tell you what on their
mind.
1. It is up to you to listen objectively in love, to determine the best
way to respond.
2. Jesus used a medical example to explain a spiritual need.
a. If you are well you don’t need a doctor.
b. If you are in sin you need doctor Jesus.
c. Since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,
those in sin need our testimony about what Jesus did to get us
out of sin.
d. Sometime people need a different interpretation of the same
scripture to get the correct understanding.
A TIME TO CELEBRATE AND A TIME TO FAST
V:34 Jesus answered, \”Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.\”
A. The second objection of the Pharisees was the lack of fasting by Jesus
disciples.
1. When there is a wedding party, no one fast. It is a time
of celebration.
2. Jesus explained a deeper meaning of His presence.
a. We feast on the Word in Bible Study.
b. When two or more are gathered together in Jesus name,
He is in the mist.
c. While Jesus was with His disciples, they had a daily diet of
the Word.
3. There is a time when we need to meditate on the Word we
received.
a. Meditation is the time of fasting in a sense. We put aside
all hindrances, i.e. daily activities and focus solely on the Word.
b. It is in our meditations when we let the Lord give us enlightenment
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
c. One of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to teach us the Word.
OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW
V:36 He told them this parable: \”No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
A. There are times when we need more that one example to get the full
meaning of scripture.
1. The old garment is the law.
2. The new garment is grace.
3. The law was given as a tutor until grace came.
4. The law condemns.
5. Grace saves.
B. The Pharisees were experts on the law.
1. They had trouble with grace because it came in the form of Jesus.
their long awaited Messiah which they could not recognize.
2. To them, Jesus was just another uneducated man talking
none sense.
3. The Bible tells us the Word is spiritually inspired and foolishness
to the world.
4. The law and grace don’t mix.
a. The law requires works for repentance.
b. Grace is the free gift from God through Jesus Christ
that requires only faith.
5. The Pharisees was stuck on the law because it gave them
power and authority.
6. Grace eliminates man’s power and authority and focuses
on the one true power and authority, which is Jesus.
A PHYSICAL EXAMPLE OF A SPIRITUAL TRUTH
V:37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, \’The old is better.\’\”
A. The New wine is the teachings of Jesus.
1. The old wine was the is the law.
2. The old wine, the law, required a sacrifice each time there was sin.
3. The new wine, grace is the one time, sacrifice of Jesus for sins of all
people for all times.
B. The Bible Exposition Commentary explains this verse as follows
Luke 5:37-39
The wineskins (vv. 37-39). If unfermented wine is put into brittle old
wineskins, the gas will burst the skins and both the skins and the wine will
be lost. The new life of the Spirit could not be forced into the old
wineskins of Judaism. Jesus was revealing that the ancient Jewish religion
was getting old and would soon be replaced (see Heb 8:13).
THANK GOD FOR THE NEW WINE
Rev M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor Of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church
5510 West Sam Houston Parkway North
Houston, Texas 77041
For more lessons, follow me on facebook and visit my blogs
Revmmitchell.com and goodnewsrevmitc.blogspot.com
