Luke 5:27 - 32
27 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. 28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him. 29 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. 30 But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Throughout the years many sermons could have and probably have been preached on the lyrics in various hymns. When I read this scripture, one song came to my mind over and over. The song is called "Just As I Am".
Charlotte Elliott, who wrote this wonderful song, was born in Clapham, England, in 1789. As a young person she lived a carefree life, gaining popularity as a portrait artist and poet.
By the time she was thirty, however, her health began to decline rapidly, and she became a bedridden invalid until she died at the age of 82.
With her health failing, she became depressed and felt she needed help in coping with her situation. Then, in 1822 an evangelist visited her in her home in Brighton, England....
His visit proved to be a turning point in Charlotte’s life. In counseling her about her spiritual and emotional problems, he shared this truth with her, "You must come just as you are, a sinner, to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."
Each year throughout the remainder of her life, for more than 50 years, Miss Elliott celebrated the day on which that evangelist led her to a personal relationship with Christ... she said she considered it to be her spiritual birthday.
Although she didn’t write the words for this hymn until 1836, fourteen years after her conversion experience, it’s apparent that she never forgot the words of that evangelist, for they form the very essence of this hymn.
There is no way of knowing how many people have been touched by this song in the almost 200 years since it was written... Upon her death Miss Elliot’s family found more than a thousand letters among her papers from individuals around the world, expressing testimonials for what this one hymn had meant in their lives. With that one song Charlotte Elliot reached out to others with the message of hope in Jesus Christ.
That message is just as vital, as valid and as important today as it was almost 200 years ago. The message that Jesus himself proclaimed, that He wants us to come to Him just as we are....
In our scripture this morning Jesus Himself says that He had come to call sinners to repentance....
We sit here today in God’s house praising Him and singing songs of worship to Him and that’s wonderful, but we all too often forget that the mission of each and every Christian is to win souls for Christ!
How easy it is for us to think to ourselves that it’s someone else’s job to do that.
How easy it is for us to not want to bother ourselves with reaching out to someone in need....
Folks, take a look around you, outside this church... There are literally thousands of people in this county alone that don’t know Jesus and yet, we are content to live out our lives without ever so much as mentioning Jesus to someone else.
Not only did Jesus call us to come unto Him for our own sakes, we have been called to that highest of callings, winning souls for Our Lord!
There was a man who went to Ghana in Africa in the 1980s and he met a man there who hated Americans... This man was a native African and had embraced the communist notions that were being espoused by most of the leaders in that country at that time.
When this black man from Ghana met this white man from America he proceeded to light into him with a vengeance.... He ranted and raved about the injustices done by Americans in the world and blamed Ronald Reagan for everything from oil shortages to the drought which killed most of the cattle in that area.
The man from America said that it was all he could do to keep from jumping in to defend the United States, but, something in the back of his mind told him that he wasn’t there for that reason....
So, after the man from Ghana had finshed his rant and had sat down in his chair, he asked the American man, "Don’t you have anything to say?"
Without hesitation the American man said, "Yes I do. I would like to invite you to give your life to Christ. Only He loves you perfectly and only He can take away all the hate and bitterness that sinful white men and greedy governments have put in your heart."
He went on to say, "When I die, I know I’m going to heaven and I would like to know that I will see you there one day."
The man from Ghana simply didn’t know what to say and just stared at the American, who then said, "Are you 100 percent sure, that if you died right now that you would go to heaven?"
That man, who just seconds before had been ranting and raving at the top of his voice replied very softly, "No, I am not."
The American then asked that man, who moments before would have been his enemy, "Won’t you take my hand and pray with me for Jesus to come into your heart and forgive you of your sins so that you can be saved?"
That encounter changed that man.... For the remainder of the time that the American was there in Ghana, that man came each morning at 5:00 AM to pray with him.... And when the American left, that man carried his suitcases to the bus and paid for the American’s bus ticket.
You see, that man came to know Jesus just as he was, full of hate, full of bitterness, but when Jesus comes into our lives we are changed... In some cases the change can be very dramatic.
Speaking out for Jesus may come with some risks... Risks of being ridiculed, laughed at, cursed at or even threatened, but Jesus told us to take up our cross daily and follow Him....
Our youngest son, Robin, used to live in Adairsville, Georgia. Their house was right across the street from the elementary school and just a block from the high school....
A few years before Robin bought his house there the principal of the high school, at great personal risk, invited an evangelist to come into the school and for four nights they conducted crusade style preaching in the auditorium...
Each night for four nights students lined up outside the auditorium to hear the gospel and in four nights over 100 students came forward and gave their lives to Jesus.
A young Methodist preacher agreed to follow up with those who came forward and the principal held daily prayer meetings and Bible studies in the school at noon therafter.
It was reported that the change in the atmosphere in that school could actually be felt.... One out of every nine students in that high school came to Jesus because of someone not being afraid to step out and take a little risk for the sake of Our Lord.
Now, not everyone is called to be an evangelist, but everyone is called to win souls for Jesus.... But we shouldn’t only look at this as a duty, as a responsibility.... Winning souls for Christ is a privilege for which we should give thanks....
Just think about it for a minute.... Jesus came here from glory to get down in the dirt with us... He came so that sinners like you and me could have hope and He did it willingly....
Jesus spent just enough time with us to get His word out, not too little, not too much, He spent just the right amount of time....
We have all that we need in order to go forth and conquer the world for Our Savior.... If we don’t have the words right on the tip of our tongues, The Holy Spirit will guide us and show us what to say and what to do....
Jesus said those who are whole don’t need to be ministered to, rather those who are sick.... We won’t win many souls for Jesus as long as we only talk about Him in church.... The real need is not inside the church, but out there.... Out there where people have the wrong idea about God and the wrong idea about what it takes to be a Christian...
Why is it that we can say with all assurance that we trust Jesus to deliver us from our sins and wash us white as snow, but we won’t trust Him to help us when we tell others about Him?
What kind of faith is that?
Jesus taught the parable of the talents where a man gave one of his servants 5 talents, another two talents and another one talent.... And then he went on a journey...
When the man returned the first two came and showed that they had used their talents well and had doubled the value of that which was given them....
Do you remember what the man said to them? Well done my good and faithful servants....
Yet when he came to the last man, the one to whom he had given one talent that man said, "I knew that you were a hard man and I didn’t want to lose your money so I buried it and here it is, safe and sound".
Which of these men were rewarded and which was not?
In this parable Jesus is telling us that He expects us to use that which God has given us.... God has given all of us the ability to win souls for Him....
Jesus spent just exactly enough time here on earth to equip us to go out and do just that.
At a revival meeting one night in Marietta, Georgia as the meeting was about to close and people were saying their good-byes, one of the men happened to catch a glimpse of a young girl, a girl who turned out to be a prostitute....
She was hanging around just outside, away from everyone else... He walked over to her and said to her, "You need Jesus’ grace, don’t you?"
She replied, "Yes I do" and immediately broke down and began crying, with her tears running down through her makeup....
The man, that young girl and a couple of others headed down to the alter together and when they reached the alter to pray with that girl who was desperately looking for the love of Jesus, she hesitated, turned around as if to leave and then she bent down and took off her shoes before going on to the alter to kneel down before God to ask Him for forgiveness.....
That girl was saved and while she didn’t know why she took her shoes off, she felt she needed to do something to show she was sincere about her decision to come and accept Jesus....
Any one of us could be the next person to lead someone to Jesus.... Any one of us could find ourselves in a situation where we could make a difference in a person’s life....
Unfortunately, all too many people out there look at Christians and shake their heads.... They just know that we are all a bunch of hypocrites.... They just know that we believe we are better than they are.....
Let’s show them they’re wrong.... Let’s show them that we are willing to put our money where our mouths are and that we live for Jesus....
Where would we be today if Jesus hadn’t taken the steps that He did that we might be saved?
We sing the song "Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus", But do we really stand up for Him? Are the critics right? Are we hypocrites? Or are we willing to stand up for Him?
James 2:14-17
14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Just like in this scripture, when we only wish for someone to come to Jesus we have no works... We need to reach out to them in love and invite them to come and meet Jesus....
We are not alone in this, Jesus told us He would send the Holy Spirit to us to guide us and to comfort us...
If God is for us, who can be against us? Don’t you want to exercise the privilege of winning souls for Jesus? Are you willing to stand up for Him today and every day from now on?
Let us pray....
