Amen, let's take our Bibles this morning and turn to the book of Mark the book of Mark chapter number 2 Mark chapter number 2 we're going to begin here at a Verse number 13 Mark chapter number 2 the gospel according to Mark chapter number 2 verse number 13 and 14 this morning. This is the call of Levi or the call of of Matthew, Matthew the Apostle. You're probably familiar with his background. He was a tax collector, kind of preached about that subject last Sunday morning. Remember Legion, he was possessed, he was demon-filled, and now he's not. It's all over Scripture. I was reading in my Bible last week, 1 Thessalonians 2, Paul said, you did follow idols. He's talking to Christian people. He said, you did follow idols, but now you follow the true and living God. It's always that. Again, Jesus saves people, He justifies them through His righteousness, and the evidence of that starts being lived out of the believing sinner's life because Christ lives out of the believing sinner. You see how it works? He is supremely powerful, and the evidence of faith is a faith that produces works. And so, again, we're dealing with, you might think, what's wrong with a tax collector? Well, I think all tax collectors need Jesus, don't you? But to be a tax collector, you had to be a scandalous figure. A tax collector could even take bonuses. As long as they met the Roman quota, let's say like 5%, to incentivize somebody being a tax collector for Rome, especially if you were a Jew, why would you be a traitor and take money from your people who are occupied by an enemy? So you see the dilemma. There's political trouble. There's financial trouble. And so a tax collector could ask for more, as long as they met the Roman quota, anything else, like if Rome wanted 5%, Matthew could ask for 6, he could get his income from Rome and also 1 more percent from you, and it was completely legal. So he was a fraudulent figure until Jesus came and changed everything. The call of Matthew. Matthew chapter two, excuse me, Mark chapter number two, verse 13. If you dare say amen, amen. It's good to be in the house of God this morning, isn't it? I tell you, I'm glad I'm saved by the grace of God. I don't brag anything I've done because of what Jesus did. Praise his name. All right, Mark chapter two, verse 13. The Bible said, and he went forth again by the seaside and all the multitude resorted unto him and he taught them. Jesus did. In verse 14, And he passed by, and as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus. I think Liz sings a song, when Jesus passed by, everything changed. Everything changes. Now notice here that in verse 13, Jesus is teaching to a multitude of people. I don't know how many were there, but it's a multitude, so that's a lot. And then when Jesus gets done teaching in verse 13, he's walking, and as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of custom. He's sitting there taking up money. It kind of makes sense if you think about it. So where is the tax collector going to... where's his booth going to be? He sets it up where there's people at. So he's probably made the crowd even more angry. Like a food truck sets up where there's people. And so possibly Levi, he sees the big crowd, he's like, well, I can get some cash out of this deal. And he goes and he sets up with the crowd that Jesus drew. And so as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the seat of custom. And Jesus approaches him and he said unto him, follow me. I'm sure the crowd's like, you want him? You want Him to follow you. What's interesting is, Jesus is speaking to a general crowd, but then He has a personal conversation with someone who probably isn't even there to hear the teachings of Jesus. And so Jesus targets someone who came there for the wrong reason. So Levi's there to collect money, or he's in the region to collect money. He didn't go to hear the Word of God. And still, Jesus interrupts Levi's life and has an interaction with him. And the interaction is, follow me. There's been a lot of people who came to church for the wrong reasons and ended up knowing Jesus as their Savior. There's been a lot of children who came to church because their parents said, you're with me. And while they were there, they met the Savior. So the intent of you being here today really is irrelevant to what God can do in your life through His sovereign grace and power. So Levi is there not to hear the lesson. He's there to collect money. And while he's there, Jesus says simply, follow me. And look at his response. And he arose followed him. It's amazing what just happened. So think about, so I always imagine it. So Levi's collecting money, next, next, where's your money, where's your money? And the next one in line is the Lord's Savior, Jesus Christ, and he has no money. So don't follow Jesus for money, because he has none to offer you. He is the prize, not what he can offer you. Then that would be the prize. Jesus is the treasure. And so Jesus is in line, and then the next one, he goes next, and it's the Lord Jesus. And all he says to Levi is, follow me. That's it. That's it. And he arose and followed him. So Levi's collecting money, Jesus says follow me, and this is the response. Okay, that's it. Why would Levi follow Jesus? Why would he? Now think about Levi. He has already given up everything everything to get in this position, to be a tax collector. He's given up everything to do it. He's given up friends and family, notoriety. Everybody hates him now. I mean, you would hate him. Let's say Russia invaded America, and now they're taking up money from you, and your cousin works for the Russians now. That would be a hard pill to swallow. You probably wouldn't invite him Thursday Thanksgiving dinner. Why would Levi, who gave up everything to be a tax collector, why now would he give up everything now because he gave up everything to be this? Why would he give it up? Think about that. He gave up everything to be a tax collector, but now he gives up this for the very thing that he gave up everything to get. It's interesting, isn't it? Do you ever think when you read the Bible? I pray you do. I mean, you can think while you read the Bible. And sometimes we glory in our ignorance. It's amazing that God can use ignorant people. Look at me. But while you read, think. Think about what you're reading. Why would Levi, who gave up everything to be a tax collector, give up everything that he gave up everything for, and all Jesus said to him was what? follow me." That's it. He didn't offer him a bigger paycheck. He gave no conditions, didn't tell him where he was going, what was going to happen next. And Levi, weirdly, who gave up everything to get this, gave it all away only when Jesus said, follow me. That's it. Why? It don't make sense, does it? Why would he give up everything that he gave up everything for? Why would he give up who he is? Why would he surrender all and follow Jesus? That's the question, isn't it? Now, it's easy to say if he was a poor man, we'd say, what's he got to lose? But that's not how this works. I mean, if he was Elon Musk, we would say, wow, he gave up all that for Jesus. That's incredible. But it's easy to understand it if it's a little eight-year-old boy who gives up. Why? What's he giving up? Then we're not talking about this. Then we must be speaking about something else. Why would Levi, who gave up everything to get this, give it all away, give everything away, and all Jesus said to him was, follow me? Now, you might think, well, maybe Jesus said some other words, or maybe he did, but the Bible is drawing emphasis on this, because this is what the Bible wants us to know, that this is the conversation that invoked a response in Levi's life to give up everything that he gave up everything for. The Bible wants us to know just this. We don't know if there's any other conversations. What we do know is this, that Jesus said, and God wants us to know that Jesus said, follow me. And he arose and followed him. That's it. That's it. Why would he do that? Why would he do that? Why would he follow Jesus? And why would anybody follow Jesus, really? That's the question we're going to try to answer. Why did Levi follow Jesus? Number one. because of the call of Jesus Christ. That's why he followed Jesus. Now there must be something in the call that Levi heard. It must have been a call of authority. It must have spoke not only to his ears, because he heard a lot, but it must have spoke to his heart. that Jesus' words were unlike any other word that he's ever heard before. There was something unique in the words of Christ. Something unusual that he's never heard before, rather. Something that struck him when he heard Jesus speak to him. He's heard other people talk. He's heard all types of conversations that day. But when this man spoke, Levi's life stopped. Who is this man speaking to me? We know Him as Christ. We know Him as the Savior. If you're a Christian this morning, you've heard the same call. You heard a call that you could not resist. You heard a call that invoked a response. You heard a call that changed everything, didn't you? It interrupted your life. Intersected your life. It made your life stop, didn't it? when you heard that call. You can't describe it rightly. Maybe not. You can't maybe really come to terms of understanding it. But if you are honest this morning, and I pray you are, or maybe you've never thought about it, the same thing that happened to Levi is the same thing that happened to you. It was because of the call of Jesus Christ. It was an unusual, interesting, powerful call. It was simply His Word that spoke to you. There was no need for much explanation. When you heard this call, you responded to the call. You heard the words of Jesus. Now the Gospel is a general call. That's what I'm doing right now. I'm preaching the Gospel. Listen, this is the Gospel. Jesus died for your sins according to the Scriptures. They buried Him and He arose the third day according to the Scriptures. And if you believe on Him, you'll have everlasting life, and you will know Him as Savior, and He will abide in you, and you will live forever, because He ever liveth to make intercession for you. Now you all just heard that, didn't you? But some of you didn't hear it. But maybe some of you heard it for the first time, maybe. That is the general call of the Gospel. I heard it a bunch before I got saved. I heard it with my ears. But then there is this inner call that Levi heard. This inner call is personal. The outer call is general. Every one of you hear it. But the inner call is something you don't hear with your ears, you hear it with your heart. You hear it with your soul. And who is this man that can speak to the heart of man? It is Jesus, the Son of Man. His Word has power to go beyond your ears and you hear Him in your heart. This is the call of Christ. Turn to the book of Philippians. We'll see the Bible speaks about this. Chapter 2 and verse 13. The Bible says, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Now let's just believe what it says. Here's what it says. For it is God which worketh, where at? In. It is God which worketh in you to will, that means that God, what happens? Is that the call of Christ overwhelms your natural desire to resist His call. That's what happens. We know it as conviction. The words of Christ have the power to overcome your natural will to resist. And if that didn't happen, none of you, or me, or Levi would ever follow Jesus. None of us would. Because why would Levi give up everything now that he gave up everything to get and give it all away? Just because Jesus said, follow Me. What's happening inside of Levi? This is what was happening to him. For it is God which worketh in you. God don't just work on your ears. God works on your heart. See, right now, some of you, generally, we all are hearing me. But God works on the heart. And you know what? I have confidence. It's not really about how well a preacher preaches, thank God. It's not really even how much a preacher knows. It is God which worketh in you. God works in you. For it is God which worketh in you, both to will, that means He overwhelms your natural desire to resist. You remember that, don't you? You all remember that? That conviction? This is it. You remember hearing it? Listen, after you get born again, I still hear it, don't you? This inner working of God. who deals and draws and sanctifies and changes the believing sinner. Don't you steal as a believer? I hear it so clear and loud. I love it. And a stranger, I will not follow. My sheep, He said, know My voice. And when I hear it, Joshua! Yes! He says, follow me, and I'll be honest with you, I cannot help it. A stranger I will not follow. I love him, don't you? I must go where he goes. I must live as he shows. And when I struggle and straggle and stray, because I'm prone to, I'm a sheep, and sheep are prone to stray. But the Good Shepherd says, Joshua, Joshua, Joshua, come to Me, come to Me. It is He, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And if it wasn't for that, we would not know grace. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves." It's not of yourselves. For it must have been by grace through faith. Because if it was by any work, if it was a work and not by faith, then it would not be by grace. It would be out of debt, and the wages of sin is debt. Y'all seen that viral video going around them sheep? You seen it? Walking around in a circle. Any of you seen it? Crazy, ain't it? I thought, that is sheep without a shepherd. And some people say, well, those sheep are lunatics. Yeah. Christ or chaos. That is sheep that need to be definitely guided. Maybe they're possessed. They still need Jesus. Amen. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Why would Levi give up everything that he gave up everything for? What did Jesus say? He said, follow me. And Levi went, and he arose and followed him in the way. Why did he do it? Because of the call of Jesus Christ. That's why he did it. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Look at John chapter number six. John chapter number six, look at verse number 44. This inward call of God in the heart of the unbelieving sinner, it overwhelms the natural desire to resist, and it makes the heart willing. Because if it wasn't by that, you would never come to Jesus. Never. Some people say, well, I've never heard about this. Well, I might ask, are you reading a different Bible than I am? Because the Bible that I read and that you have in your lap this morning says that the natural mind is an enemy against God. That's what it says. that the natural mind cannot discern the things of God, for they are spiritually discerned. I quoted last week, I think, then you got 2 Corinthians 4, 4, that the God of this world has what? Blinded the minds of those that believe not. Something has to happen. There has to be this inward work of the Holy Spirit. that makes a man who gave up everything to get where he's at, to give up everything again, to follow Jesus. And for what? Money. He gave up his life for money. And now he's going to follow Jesus, who has no place to lay his head at night. What in the world is going on with Levi? This call is on his life. John 6, 44. Look at 43 first. So Jesus is preaching and teaching. They're having a hard time with what he's saying. Because the natural mind does. Jesus, therefore, said unto them, murmur not amongst yourselves. Because it's like out of your hands, he's saying. You don't even get what I'm saying. Until what? Verse 44. No man can come to me. You see that? Read it. Believe it. No man can come to me, Jesus said. Except. Old timers used to say you can't get saved whenever you want to. I say this, you can't put yourself under conviction. Why would anybody want that? Why would Levi want to give up everything and give up everything to get? No man can come to me, Jesus said. Except, here's the only exception. Here's the only way you'll come. This is the only way you will come. This is it. Except the Father, which has sent me, drawing. That's the only way. There's no other way. Isn't this deeply interesting? Now, to those who believe, He is precious. But when you didn't believe, He was not precious to you. It's contrary to every desire of your heart. Levi's life proves it. It's contrary to everything he gave up everything to get. He was okay being an outcast. He was okay being... He didn't care. He gave it all away to get it, and now he gave it all away to follow Jesus. For what? For Jesus. That's it. It's interesting, isn't it? The gospel is interesting. It's the most interesting thing that ever happened to you. There's nothing else that tops it. It is contrary to you completely. It is irony on the grandest scale. It's like an anomaly against what you wanted. It's a paradox too. Like you follow, you give up everything to have Jesus who makes you rich without money. It's amazing. You give up your life to have life. You forsake yourself and deny yourself so you can find yourself in Him. You lose yourself to find yourself because in yourself you was lost and you lose yourself to come to Jesus because you can't bring Levi with Him. Amazingly interesting. It's intriguing. It's beautiful. It's awesome. Any other adjectives? Glorious. We look at it from this end like we're looking at Mount Everest. We're like looking at K2. It's amazing, this mountain. It's more remarkable than standing at the sand on the seashore. This is intriguing on the most amazing language. I can't even quantify it into words. This is interesting. No man can come to me, Jesus says, except the Father which hath sent me. Draw him. And I will raise Him up the last day. Isn't that awesome? Raise up the last day. Wow, how'd you do that? I did nothing. I just followed Him. Follow Him. Why would Levi follow Jesus? Because of the call of Jesus Christ. That's why. There's a man I'm working with. You pray for him. I think this is happening to him right now. It's happening right now. And maybe some of you, it's happening to you right now. This is happening to you as I speak. What's crazy about it is I can't even tell it's happening to you. I've seen some, you know, they white knuckle the pews. It's happening to them. I mean, they are messed up by the grace of God. The great preacher said that He disturbs them. He crushes them. Trouble in the soul. He's rocking the boat. He's toppling over the bookcases in their life. Complete disruption of their inner man. There's an invader on the inside. He's conquering the mighty Christ who has authority to go where you didn't even know that He could go. And say things to you you had no idea He could say. And reveal things to you you had no idea you could even see. No wonder He's the light of the world. He puts a hunger in you, you had no idea you had an appetite for. No wonder He said, I am the bread that turned from heaven. I am the true bread. He offers you life without money. Abundance without possessions. It's happening maybe to you right now. It's an earthquake in your heart, and nobody even knows it but you and Jesus. You see? There's the general call, and then there is the inner call. You see? Glorious be His name! This man at work, he's describing, he's talking about this, and maybe he has, I don't think, maybe, and who does? What a violent interruption of the status quo! That's what Jesus does. And this man I work with is describing this. All kinds of stuff is happening to him. And I told him that basically, and I'll be honest with you, this sermon came from that spiritual conversation at work, and follow Jesus at work because you don't know who around you that Jesus is earthquaking their life, and you might be the word that God uses to illuminate the situation where they can follow Jesus in the way. So follow Jesus. Stop cussing at work. Amen? Stop doing inappropriate things at work. Follow Jesus. I know it ain't all about cussing, but would you agree with me that the first sign that something's different about you is that you don't use the language that everybody else uses? Something's different. Don't ruin it by being not different. Follow Jesus in the way. I told my buddy, I said, This is happening to you. I told you about the Apostle Paul. You know, Paul, he's going to arrest Eddie and Larry and Larry's wife Brenda. Not you, Brenda. The other Brenda. He's going to arrest these people. He's got a list. He's on his way on the road to Damascus. And don't you love it, praise God, when the road to Damascus gets difficult. Paul had some trouble on the way to Damascus. I'm glad I had some trouble when I was going my own way, aren't you? What we need is to pray that, Lord, we don't want these lost people, these unbelieving friends and family to be comfortable. No, we don't want them to be comfortable. We want them to realize it's hard for You to kick against the pricks. Like God, the Lord Jesus told Paul. He's on His way. I've got to round up these heretic Christians, these psychopaths. I've got to round them up and arrest them. And then all of a sudden, you know, There was no, excuse me, I'd like to have an appointment with you. He don't make appointments with you. You're not as important as he is. He shows up when he wants to and where he wants to. Well, I don't have time for you, God. You know what? A lot of people say that, but one of these days, one way or another, you're going to have all the time in eternity. So I told my buddy at work, that's what's happening to you. You're just living your life. Like Moses, maybe he left his problems behind in Egypt. He's just doing a job. The pasture fields of Jethro, his father-in-law, and then all of a sudden, something changes. He sees a bush that's burning and is not consumed, and he says, like, we should say, I must, I say it a lot, I must go see this great sight. We must go see this great sight. Maybe that's happening to you right now. the inward work of the Holy Spirit. If that's happening to you right now, then you know what? Even if you're confused and don't know what's going on, maybe whisper a little prayer and say, thank you, Jesus, for stopping by. And after you taught a multitude, you thought enough of me, a man who's hated and despised, and you stopped by and said and asked me to follow me, follow me. If that's happening to you right now, then thank God that God is working in your life. Because He is. He is. Some people act like the worst thing in the world is for somebody to be under conviction in the church. Like, we've got to get them out from under conviction. You know, that's bad. No. That's exactly where they need to be. We're going to rescue them from the work of God's Holy Spirit? No. No. Pour it on, Lord Jesus. Pour it on. Pour it on. the inward call, it's personal. You know Jesus in John chapter number 11, so he goes to the cemetery and he has to say Lazarus by name because the idea is that if he didn't, then everybody would have come out. So he said, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus only, come out. Everybody heard the words of Christ. But in that moment, that was a specific call. to a specific person, and get this, who was dead. Dead. And what awoke in him? The words of Jesus Christ. Lazarus went. He awoke. Awake. Arose. Why did Levi follow Jesus? Why did he? I want to say, couldn't help it. Couldn't help it. Why would a man give up everything now that he gave up everything to get? Because Jesus said, follow me. Had three points, I'm stuck on the first one. Maybe the one's enough for the day. Maybe this morning, God is dealing with you like that. Especially. If He is, then praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Maybe you're a young person. I'm glad that He does not discriminate and shows no bias. I'm glad that the Holy Spirit who deals with the inward heart of a struggling alcoholic It's the same Holy Spirit who deals with the heart of an eight-year-old child. He's the same. He's the same. Don't resist Him. Don't resist Him. I told my buddy at work, follow Him. Arise and follow Him. You don't have to know everything. You don't have to have the answers to all the questions. But if that's going on, Then follow Jesus. Follow Him. If you're a believer and you've been saved, say, Brother Josh, I've been saved a long time. Hear me, I'm about through. I've been saved a long time. I hope and pray it's not been two hours since you've heard the Lord's dealing in your life. Does God speak to you? I don't mean to hear him with your ears. I heard a preacher say one time, it's like a man who was combing his hair while he's at the bathroom. He's combing his hair and he says, while he was combing my hair, the Lord spoke to me, but he kept combing his hair. The Lord speaks to you. You'll quit combing your hair if you heard him with your ears. He'd be like Isaiah in Isaiah chapter number six. He says, woe is me, Lord, because I'm a man of unclean lips and I live in the midst of people with unclean lips. Woe is me. That's the response to the words of God. People say, Lord spoke to me the other day. Did he? Did he? So let's just say that, let's play that out for a second. So if God spoke to you, God spoke to you and you still resist him. God spoke to you. God dealt with you. God drew you and you go on about your way. God spoke and then business as usual. There's a passage in Hebrews, I'm going to paraphrase it. Harden not your hearts, as in the day of provocation in the wilderness, when God spoke to His people and they resisted His Word. You could say when they resisted Him, He resisted them. When's the last time, even as a Christian, that God dealt with your heart over a matter? If you say, well, it's been a long time, really, then I would say to you, how long have you been resisting Him? Has God's voice grown so distant you can barely hear? Has God's draw on your life become so faint that the worldly noise drowns Him out while you can still barely hear His call? Run to Him quickly! Hurry up! Close the gap! If He speaks, then let us all respond. If He says, follow Me, then arise and follow Jesus! Because why in the world would you lose everything? Because you wanted everything. And that kept you from following Him who offers you all things. That don't make much sense. Maybe this morning you've never been born again. You've never been saved. You've never said and believed in your heart and confessed with your mouth. You've never come to terms with it. Right now, trust Christ as Savior. As many as received Him to them, gave Him power to become the sons of God. Lord Jesus, save me. I've been going the wrong way. Lord, I'll follow You. Lord, I trust in You. Will you do that this morning? Will you do that this morning? If the answer is no, then what's hard in your heart? If the answer is wait, then why? Ain't it right, Wiley? Today is the day of salvation. Now is the appointed time. If God is dealing with you now, then you go, because in Genesis 6 it says that my spirit will not always strive with man. And if He's striving with you, then you should respond now! Right now! Right now. Whosoever will, let them come. Whosoever have ears to hear, let them come. Let them come. Jesus offers you everything without money, without health. Arise and follow Him. Let's stand to our feet. What are we going to sing, Bryson? I'm glad He's a healing Lord, but He don't always choose to heal. Amen? Don't come to Jesus because He can heal. I'm glad he has the cattle of a thousand hills. All the silver and gold are his, but he probably knows if he gave you all the silver and the gold, it would wreck your life. Some people say, well, I wish God would give me some more money. Maybe you can't handle it. Some poor people think I ain't got problems with money like all them rich people. But yeah, while you're spending all your days wishing you was rich, sounds like maybe you got problems with money too. Jesus offers Himself. What did Matthew get? Levi. Jesus. Come to Jesus for Jesus. Follow Jesus for Jesus. Believe on Jesus for Jesus. Walk as a Christian with Jesus for Jesus. That's it. I don't want nothing out of the deal, Lord. I just want You. And only God in the heart can draw you to that conclusion. Do you know that? Lord, all I want is you. That's what happened to Paul. He said, Lord, what would you have me to do? That is a miracle of grace in the heart. Without condition, the sinner says, all I want is you. That's the work and the miracle of the gospel. All I want is you. If that's you this morning, if all you want is Jesus, then why don't you just have him? receiving by faith. Don't resist it. Maybe you're a believer, been saved a long time, but that voice, that inward call of God, it used to be, follow me, follow me, but you've drifted so far, it's follow me, follow me. You can barely hear it. If you can still hear it, hear Him, then run back to Jesus. Run quickly, for you take one more step away. Run. Some people say, I'm just not where I need to be. You admit it, but still you remain. Come to Jesus. What song, Bryson? Page 44. You obey the Lord this morning.