Matthew left all and followed Him
Category: Evangelism & Soul Winning
Key Passage: Luke 5:27-32
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: December 9, 2024
Joshua filling in for us. Brother Garrett had to work late, and Brother Adam is back in the back, so I appreciate Brother Joshua doing that for us. Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Luke chapter number five. Luke chapter number five in God’s word tonight. We’re going to continue on with the twelve apostles tonight, and we have been back on that subject for the last two Wednesdays.
Two Wednesdays ago, we talked about a mistake, learning from the mistake of eleven of the apostles. You remember over there in Acts; they just had to cast that lot; they had to get somebody in there. But you never heard from it again, except for Paul, an apostle born out of due time.
And then last week we talked about Nathanael, within whom is no—what’s the word? Good, good. You are actually listening. Wow, what about that? Wouldn’t it be wonderful for the Lord to be able to say about you, “David McCourt has no guile in him,” or Ms. Brenda, whoever, Tim, Jennifer, “there’s no guile in them”? Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing for the Lord to say that about us? And what a challenge that is. If you weren’t here, I’d challenge you to go back and listen to that. If you were, man, you’re still remembered. That’s pretty good. I’m proud of you on that.
Then tonight, for just a little bit, we’ll talk about Matthew. Now, Matthew or Levi is the same person, okay? Typically, when it gives the list of the apostles, it’ll use Matthew, but Levi is also the same person. Between Levi and Matthew—talking about not the tribe of Levi, but Levi the person and Matthew the apostle—you’ll find those eight times in the Bible, okay?
This portion really is the longest portion about Matthew. You’ll find it also in the book of Matthew—that, by the way, he’s the one dependent, Matthew and Mark. But then Luke… All the Gospels describe Jesus, but Matthew describes Jesus as what? As a King. Good, good. Mark describes him as a Servant. Good. Luke describes him as a man. Good. And John describes him as Deity. Right, right. Good, good. So Luke really gives a little bit more of a humanity look, if you will, describing him as a man. So we’re going to look at Luke so we can find this same, really an account in other places in Scripture. We’re going to look at Luke tonight about Matthew or Levi.
All right, so we’re in Luke chapter number five, and we’re going to start verse number 27. Would you please stand if you are able to? Out of respect for the word of God. A little bold, amen. How about that? But Luke chapter number five. And how many of you say this Christmas time of the year is wonderful, but it’s busy? Anybody say that out there? Anybody tired out there tonight? Got your tired hanging out? All right. You’re still here. You won the battle. Praise the Lord for that. You’re in church. Right where you ought to be.
We’re just going to look at the life of Matthew for a bit and pray that God will use it to encourage us, challenge us a little bit tonight. Some great things here about Matthew that he says just very quickly here.
Matthew 5, look in verse number 27 right there: “After these things, he went forth and saw a publican named Levi.” Now, that’s Matthew, also named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom. And he said unto him, “Follow me.” And they left all, rose up, and followed him.
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. But the scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners?”
And Jesus answering said unto them, “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Matthew, Matthew, we’re just really going to go back and kind of go verse by verse here a little bit as we study up a little bit on… Help me out. What’s another name for Matthew? He’s also called? Good. You’re listening. Good, good.
Look at verse number 27. Verse number 27 right there. Just some things about Levi or Matthew. And after these things, he went forth and saw a publican. Now, let me just say a word about that. I think many of you know what a publican is. It’s a tax collector, very looked down upon in that day and time. A little different than Zacchaeus. Brother Josh did a wonderful job on Sunday night, preached about Zacchaeus.
But can’t read for you a little bit about Zacchaeus, Luke 19:2: “And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was chief among the publicans, and he was rich.” So Levi or Matthew is just more like a regular publican tax collector. Zacchaeus was the higher up; he was chief among the publicans. He was very wealthy.
So Levi here, he’s a publican, he’s a tax collector, but he wasn’t the elite of them. Notice where he was at. Notice where he was at. Verse number 27: “And after these things he went forth and saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the what? At the receipt of custom.” Now, that’s kind of like the IRS office. That’s a tax collector’s booth, if you will.
I don’t know this, but I tend to think the chief of the publicans, Zacchaeus, he probably didn’t do that little dirty work. I don’t know about that. But Levi or Matthew, they’re sitting at the booth where they’re collecting the taxes, people coming by, people coming to pay for it, whatnot. And he’s just doing the hand-to-hand, day-to-day collecting of the taxes there.
And watch what happens. He’s there on his job. He’s sitting at the tax office, and he’s a publican. And watch what happens, verse number 27 again: “After these things he went forth and saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the receipt of customs.” And he said unto him, this Jesus, and he said unto him, what’s the next two words? “Follow me.” You know, Jesus 18 times in Scripture says those two words about Himself: “Follow me.”
If you are in tune with God, if you are in tune with the Lord tonight, you will hear those two words whispering deep in your heart: “Follow me.” Jesus said that often in His three and a half years of public ministry: “Follow me.” If you are listening, if you are in tune, you are not cold, you are not callous, you have the warmth of the Holy Spirit working in your heart, you will hear those words. There are two words: “Follow me.” Wonderful words.
By the way, it doesn’t bother me if I hear those words. I need to hear those words. But here’s the sad thing: sometimes when I’m out of tune, and I may have quenched or grieved the Spirit of God, I don’t hear those words. When I don’t hear those words, there is something wrong with me. I ought to hear it; it ought to be in my heart, sometimes at night, wherever it may be, I ought to hear something inside of me—the voice of the Lord saying, “Follow me.” You ought to have that. Jesus said that often: “Follow me.”
That’s a wonderful thing. When the God of the universe came down in the incarnation of Christmas, and He robed Himself in flesh, and He comes to mankind and says those two words, “Follow me.” Hey, when’s the last time you heard those words? When’s the last time that the Holy Spirit of God just kind of called out to you and pulled on your chain a little bit and tugged on your heartstrings and said, “Hey, are you following me?”
It changed Matthew’s life. Now, I love it. I love the next verse—what happened. Look at the next verse, verse number 28. I love it. It is a wonderful, wonderful thing, very challenging and convicting. Look at verse number 28: Jesus said, “Follow me”—two words, “Follow me”—and he… what’s the next two words? “Left all.” Wow, that’s pretty amazing. He left all his reputation; he left it all.
I don’t think he was filthy rich, but he had a pretty big house later on. He has this big feast and has a lot of people over there, so he had some means about him. But he left all. He left his job. He had a good career, had good money coming in—a good lifestyle. He just left all. He left his house.
By the way, after this, he became an apostle later on; the Lord called him, and then he traveled, and he spread the gospel to several different starting churches and eventually over to Ethiopia. But he left all. He just left it all. He said, “I’m going to serve the Lord.”
You know, I’d never recommend you do that for a certain church. I really wouldn’t. I wouldn’t recommend you do that for a certain preacher. I wouldn’t recommend you do that for certain people. I wouldn’t think you’d do that for a lot of things, but for Jesus Christ, I would highly recommend leaving it all for Him. Give it all up: your friends, your money, your reputation, what you are hanging on. Just give it all up for Jesus. I’d recommend everything for Jesus.
It’s interesting. The Bible records later on over in John 21 that Peter went fishing. He could have just gone fishing back to them on his own, but he tells other guys, “Hey, I go fishing.” And all together, counting Peter, about seven of them were over there fishing. But Matthew or Levi, he is not named there. He didn’t backslide, if you will. He left all. I like that. Just that voice: “Hey, follow me.” Levi said, “All right, I’m leaving it all.”
What a wonderful thing. No one that’s ever left it all for the Lord Jesus Christ has ever regretted it. I guarantee you Matthew doesn’t. He’s up in heaven saying, “That was one of the best things I ever did: I left it all for the Lord.” It’s a great thing.
Look at verse number 28. Great verse in verse number 28. I love it. Short but powerful verse. Jesus just said two words: “Follow me.” Verse number 28: “And he left all, rose up.” He didn’t just give lip service; he rose up. And what are the next two words? “And followed him.”
A couple of things about that. If you are going to be close to Jesus, it is not just a matter of sitting somewhere. Jesus is going somewhere. If you are going to stay close to Jesus, you have to follow Him. Notice how he responded: “Follow me.” He rose up and he followed Him. Jesus is going somewhere.
At that time, He was the Savior of the world; He still is. But I mean, He was going to the cross and training the apostles. He was busy doing something. And you know, in our day and time, if you are going to be close to Jesus, He is doing something in this sin-cursed world. If you are going to leave all and follow Him, you may have to follow Him to the nursing home to minister to the hurting people out there, right, Brother Tim?
It may be that if you are going to follow Jesus, you have to start a neighborhood Bible club. It may be that if you are going to follow Jesus, you have to reach out to someone that no one else wants to reach out to. It may be that if you follow Him, you have to give something monetarily to someone this Christmas Eve. I don’t know how He is leading you, but if you are going to follow Jesus, you have to go somewhere. It may be to say, “I’m sorry,” to someone. It may be to say, “I forgive,” to someone. But if you are going to be close to Jesus, you are going to have to follow Him. He is going somewhere.
You can pray. If you are going to follow Jesus, you have to follow Him into the prayer closet. My friend, Jesus is going somewhere. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. He is here to bring life more abundantly. He is here ministering to this world, and He is looking for someone to follow Him in that.
Matthew says, “All right, He told me to follow Him. I’m going to leave it all. I’m going to get up. I’m not going to sit back on my laurels and do nothing. I’m going to get up. I’m going to follow Him.” He has a ministry for every person, all of us. And praise the Lord, old Matthew, he followed Him. I like that about it.
By the way, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we get to heaven one day and the Lord says, “You know, I could say a whole lot of things about Brother Allen or Miss Stacy, whoever may be, and I’m just summing up with this: ‘Miss Patterson, she followed me.’” Wouldn’t it be wonderful? Brother Kevin, he followed me. That is what the Bible says. He rose up, he left all, he rose up, and he followed him. Wow, what a synopsis of a life—he followed him. I like for that to be true of me. Not always true, but I like for it to be. Matthew just rose up in him and he followed him. I like that. I like it very much.
Now let’s keep going. We’re in verse number 29 tonight. Y’all still with me out there? The Bible doesn’t give us a whole lot about Matthew, but what little it gives us—man, it’s just awesome. He’s an awesome, awesome man.
Look at verse number 29: “And Levi made him a great feast in his own house.” He is willing to open up his own house, roll up his sleeves, and get involved in the ministry. He didn’t say, “Well, we’ll go somewhere else,” and he said, “Let’s just do it right here.” And Levi made him a great feast in his own house, and there was a great company—notice that, not just a company, but a great company—of publicans and others that sat down with them.
Now, the important part: “with them.” Part of that “them” is Jesus. Matthew met the Savior, and he wanted other people to meet the Savior. Hey, all my publican friends, we’ve been working together for years. We’ve been partying, we’ve been telling jokes, we’ve been doing this and that. And man, I found a man that I’m willing to lay down everything for. I’m going to follow Him, and I want you to join me.
Man, he’s bringing his friends over there. I don’t know that everyone—I almost guarantee not everyone—got saved. I almost guarantee you some of them got saved. They are sitting down eating with Jesus. Matthew just left his old life, rose up, and followed Jesus. He said, “I tell you what, man, I need my friends. I like to see some of my friends get what I got. Man, I’m forgiven. I’m cleansed. I’ll never have to pay account for those dirty, rotten sins I’ve done. I like for some of my friends to experience what I’ve got.” So we’ve invited them all over for a feast. Come on, I’m going to have a big old meal. I don’t know. Maybe he got a smoker out and smoked all night long, you know, and had some pork or biscuits or something. You can’t beat a good old smoke. I have some tasty stuff right there. Somehow he got a bunch of them over there.
It is amazing food. Food brings them in a lot of times. You say, “Well, you just have dinner on the ground and get people in.” Well, it did in the Bible. We’ll be all right if we do it nowadays. I’m a Baptist because Brother Steve Goldfell said, “I’m a Baptist. I believe what they believe in.” He said, “But Baptists like to eat.” That’s another reason I’m a Baptist, you know. They have good food, you know. Amen. Oh, Levi, he’s bringing them in. He’s going to feed them all. Man, he got his friends that sat down with him.
Curtis Susson said this: He says, “There’s never a man saved that wants to go to heaven alone.”
I thought about this studying this today. I thought about it. I hope Sarah doesn’t remind me… hope she doesn’t remind me mentioning this. She’s nervous all of a sudden. She’s, “Oh no, what I’m going to tell?” But she got saved later on, I think, at teen camp one time. She was a little girl, she got saved. We were concerned, you know, at that time, whether she really understood. John had a little league, or maybe it was T-ball. Tammy and John went ahead, and me and Sarah stayed home at the beginning of it. Sarah prayed, and she asked the Lord to save her, and we were wondering if she really got it or not. We got to the ball game a little bit late, and man, you know the bleachers at those little league ball games—you get to know all the fans, just like a big family. She just went around everywhere, telling everybody she got saved. She wanted people to know about it. We thought, I think that was a real one. That’s what it ought to be.
Oh, Levi, he met Jesus. Jesus said, “Follow me,” and he said, “I’m going to leave it all. I’m going to get up. I’m going to follow Him.” I want my friends to know about this. This is the life you want right here. This is what it’s all about. He got all his friends in there. I imagine people getting saved. I love it.
Now I want you to see something about it. This is interesting. It’s a bunch of publicans. Now you know this, but the publicans—everybody kind of looked down their nose on them as dirty, rotten sinners, cheating everybody out of their money, working for the Romans—traitors. That’s where they were kind of looking down on them. But watch what Jesus was doing.
Verse number 30: “But the scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners?’” I think this is interesting: They didn’t attack Jesus; they attacked the other disciples, but Jesus stood up for them. And look what Jesus answering said unto them: “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Jesus was sitting there eating with the sinful people of that day and time. We are all sinners. Did you understand the mindset? You do not find Jesus with the elite and the social elite and all the rest of that. You find Jesus eating with the public. Now, He had a purpose. He wasn’t just doing that to hang out with them. You have to be careful with that.
By the way, in any interest, we’re talking about if you are going to follow Jesus, you have to go somewhere; Jesus is going somewhere. You remember what Proverbs 13:20 says: “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.” If you are going to hang around wise men, you have to be walking. “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”
Jesus is not hanging out with these guys just to hang out. He had a purpose. He said, “I’m coming to call the sinners to repent.” He said, “I’m not hanging out with you, righteous people, because you don’t need any help. I’m here to help these people because they know they need it.”
I’m not the perfect example of it, but it does just pop to my mind: years ago, I had a guy I’d worked with. I had witnessed to him for a year, and we would often get to work alone, and he never, at least as far as I knew at that time, never wanted to get saved. Never wanted to do anything about it and just kind of put the cold shoulder on in front of me.
I’ll never forget—I always think about this when I talk about him—but he would tell me stories about running from the police in his Pinto. And I used to make fun of him: “Come on, man, a little four-cylinder running from the police in a Pinto, you know.” He would be what the world would call a pothead and so on and so on.
I remember one Friday night, he said, “Paul, why don’t you come to my house?” I was working a little late that night and said, “I don’t have time,” whatnot. I was making excuses. And then he said, “Hey, Paul, I want you to come over because I want to talk about being saved.” I go, “Okay, we’ll make the time.” We were engaged at the time, and I called Tammy and said, “Hey, man, pray for this guy.” Praise the Lord, we got to go over there. Big old Calvin, big old fella.
He took me back to his bedroom, sitting on his bed, and started witnessing to him. He said, “Paul, I’ve lain in this bed a thousand times thinking about going to heaven or hell.” Pretty soon, big old teardrops started coming down. I never dreamed of it, but he got saved that night.
The thing is, if you are ministering to them, man, that’s all right. Take some time. But if you are just hanging out with them, no, no, no. But Jesus, He is eating with them, but He has a purpose in mind. He is eating with them for a reason. He said, “I’m not coming to the righteous, but I’m calling the sinners.” He had a purpose in that.
And by the way, did you notice that in verse number 30? You start reaching people. Oh, Matthew got them in there. Man, you’re getting them to meet Jesus there. And watch what happened. You start reaching people. Verse number 30: “But the scribes and Pharisees murmured.” People are going to start complaining. They’re going to start nitpicking. They’re going to find something just to complain about. They murmured against his disciples: “Why do you eat and drink with the publicans?”
It’s just part of it. By the way, don’t get sidetracked down the wall. Don’t get caught up in the wrong fight. That’s not the right fight. Just keep fighting the devil. Keep reaching the lost. That’s the same thing that happened in Bible times. You start reaching people. People are going to start picking: “Well, you didn’t show them this, this, this. You didn’t spend 30 minutes with them. You didn’t hear everything in the world.” Friends, just keep trying to reach people. Don’t get caught up on that. Just stay after the lost. Just try to minister to people. That’s what Jesus and those folks were doing.
I read about George Whitefield. How many have ever heard of George Whitefield? A great, great preacher in the early days of America. He could preach, and you could hear him a mile away. He didn’t need a little lapel mic or whatever. He preached a lot of open-air meetings. God blessed and used him greatly.
George Whitefield had been preaching, and he made this statement: “Jesus will take the devil’s outcasts.” Well, after the service, he went to a well-to-do family’s house for lunch. Somebody said, “Hey, I don’t agree with everything you said.” Whitefield asked, “What part didn’t you agree with?” They said, “That part where you said Jesus will take the devil’s outcasts. I don’t believe that. I disagree with that.”
About that time, one of the servants came and said, “Mr. Whitefield, there are two ladies out front that want to talk to you.” George Whitefield got up from the table, went out to the front door, and there were two—the story just says—sinful ladies. We are all sinful, but you understand. Those two ladies were crying and weeping. They said, “We have to talk with you, Mr. Whitefield. You said this in your sermon: ‘Jesus will take the devil’s outcasts.’ Is that really true?”
George Whitefield said, “Oh, yes, it’s true.” They said, “Well, we were the devil’s outcasts. If Jesus really took us, we will take Him.” Those two ladies got saved, met Jesus. They say after that incident, right about that time, he didn’t have to really convince those other people that Jesus really will take the devil’s outcasts. They saw it with their eyes. Jesus here, He is eating with the outcasts.
People are complaining. That’s all right. People are getting saved. People are going to complain. The devil is always at work when God is working. Just keep reaching people.
Here is the thing: Matthew left all, left all. He rose up and he followed Him. I love that. God used him. We read right there; he is reaching some of his friends. A little bit later on, at this point he was an apostle. A little bit later on, Jesus called him Matthew, and the other eleven, and they become the twelve apostles.
Think how God used Matthew. An apostle in heaven will have a special place; they will be judging the twelve tribes. Matthew will be one of those. Not only that, in the New Jerusalem, the foundations have the names of the twelve apostles. I’m talking about how God used Matthew. Not only that, but God later on uses Matthew to pen the book of Matthew. He was the penman of the book of the Bible, Matthew.
They say he traveled and preached and started churches. That is not the Bible; that is church history. There are several different stories about it. It is hard to make out the very specifics, but eventually he was over in Ethiopia, preaching the gospel. And he laid down his life; he was martyred for the Lord over in Ethiopia. But God used him greatly. It just seemed like it all started when the Lord called him. Just two words: “Follow me.”
Do you hear those words tonight in your heart? Do you hear the Holy Spirit just say, “Hey, follow me”? He is still speaking tonight. He is still calling people tonight. Just two words. It is amazing. I can say so much in so little. Just two words: “Follow me.” And I like to be like Matthew: He left all, He rose up, and He followed Him.
Consider the story of William Borden, of the Borden dairy products. Born in 1904, he was heir to the business. He graduated from high school in Chicago, already a millionaire. Now, back in that day and time, to be a millionaire—wow—just graduating high school. That would be equivalent to a multi-billionaire today.
His graduation present? It was a trip around the world. Wow. These guys get Mustangs; this guy got a trip around the world first. He graduated. Wow. Pretty amazing. He traveled through Asia, Europe, the Middle East. But that trip changed his life. On that trip, he became so burdened for the lost people around the world. He was so young, but he was so in tune to the Lord; he caught the vision, the heartbeat of God.
He wrote a letter home on that trip saying this: “I’m going to give my life to prepare for the mission field. I’m going to do my part, all I can do to reach the lost around the world.” Someone responded to that, saying, “Come on, you’re a millionaire at your age. You’re throwing your life away.”
He wrote something in his Bible in response to that. It was just two words he wrote down: “No reserves.” In other words, he left it all—no reserves.
He went to college—actually, his Bible college back in that day and time, but it was Yale. In an amazing way, so many of these Ivy League colleges back in the day were started for preachers. But I’ll be honest with this point: Yale had kind of backslid and fallen off a little bit, but he went there because he was preparing to be a missionary. He went to Yale Bible College. Even there at Yale, the Bible college was kind of backslidden and grown liberal and whatnot, but he made a great impact.
Someone said this: “He came to college far ahead spiritually of any of us. He had already given his heart in full surrender to Christ, and he had really done it.” Just a freshman. He had already left all. In college, he began to make a great impact.
In his diary during college, it says this: “Say no to self and yes to Jesus every time.” Wow. Just a young man. “Say no to self and yes to Jesus every time.” He was very burdened about the student body and the teachers, as they had grown so cold to the things of God. In the middle of his freshman year, he started meeting with friends before breakfast to read their Bible and pray. He was just a freshman, but he was burdened about it.
By the end of the freshman year, there were 150 freshmen meeting with him every morning for Bible reading and prayer. By the time he was a senior—now get this—at that time, Yale only had 1,300 students total. By his senior year, a thousand of them were meeting in the morning, reading their Bible and praying. He started the Yale Hope Mission.
His dad, Bill, died. The family wanted him to take the business. He said, “No, I’m going to be a missionary.” They said, “Your dad’s gone. You need to take the business.” He took his Bible. He already had “No reserves.” And I put down there just two words: “No retreat.” No retreat.
He eventually did go to the mission field. I don’t have the whole story in front of me, but he went to the mission field. God did use him, but at a very young age, as he was traveling, he contracted a disease, and he died very young. They say that when he passed, they sent his Bible back. They looked in his Bible and saw those things written there: “No reserves,” “No retreat.” And somewhere a little before he died, he had written down two more words in his Bible, right there as it goes, and it said, “No regrets.”
This reminds me of Matthew: Jesus said, “Follow me,” and he left all, and he rose up, and he followed Him.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂Matthew left all and followed Him＂ Wednesday 12⧸04⧸2024 [6lVfmoJR4us]