[0:00] Let us turn to the chapter that we read, Luke chapter 5, and read at verse 27.
[0:12] Luke chapter 5, read at verse 27. And after these things Jesus went forth and saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom, and he said unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
[0:30] The call of Levi. Now it's a great thing tonight to be present in a church where there are so many people ready to listen to God's word.
[0:53] I've never preached in a church as full as this with so many people. Well, the most I've ever preached in front of before would have been in the seminary this morning, and it looks to me as if there are perhaps twice as many here tonight as there would be normally in the seminary.
[1:10] I'm used in my own congregation on the evening of the Lord's Day to preaching to about 70, perhaps 80 people. But while some congregations are small, and some congregations are very large, there's one thing that unites them all.
[1:30] Whenever a minister stands before a congregation like this, he can rest assured that there is a division. That the congregation is divided, perhaps not equally, but there is a division between those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and those who do not yet know him as their own saviour.
[1:52] It's true here. It's true here. It's true in the States and it's true right throughout the world. Anywhere I've been, anywhere you've been, congregations can be divided in that way immediately.
[2:06] There are those who know Christ and there are those who do not know Christ. And as we tonight look at the call of Levi, I hope that it will be of some relevance to everybody here.
[2:20] Perhaps those who know Christ can look back to the day when they first came to an awareness of him as their saviour and their friend, their lord and their king.
[2:32] They can put themselves in some ways in the shoes of this man Levi as he responded to the call of Jesus. And tonight if we've done that, we should be sitting in our pew thanking God that one day, perhaps yesterday, perhaps 60 years ago, Christ came to you and he said, follow me.
[2:55] And you got up and you followed him. But for others tonight, I hope that the call of Levi will be a challenge for them to respond positively to the gospel and to the offer of Jesus Christ.
[3:12] Now I say respond positively because you always respond to the gospel. I know that many people in this church will say tonight that they've never responded to the gospel.
[3:25] But if every time you've been in church, you've responded to the gospel, you've responded negatively or positively. The gospel offer goes forth and you go to sleep.
[3:37] You've responded to the gospel and said, no, I don't want to hear it. The offer goes out and you say, perhaps next year. You've responded to the gospel again negatively saying, I don't want Jesus Christ.
[3:51] We always respond whenever we hear the gospel. We make a decision for or against the Lord Jesus Christ.
[4:02] And my prayer tonight is that here in this place, in this hour, some of you will respond positively in a way that you've never done before.
[4:13] And stop refusing Christ and heed his call and come to him. Now as we look at the call of Levi, I want to note two main things with you.
[4:25] We're first of all going to look at the call itself. And I hope you will. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[4:36] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Legend of the Craig's Amen.
[4:47] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[4:58] Amen. Amen.