Jesus Receives Sinners and Calls Them to Follow

Sep 25, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: At the Receipt of Custom

Levi sat at his tax booth. Coins clinked on the table. People passed by, clutching their purses and looking at him with disgust. He was a traitor working for Rome, a man nobody trusted or wanted. Then Jesus came. He did not cross the road to avoid Levi. He walked straight up to the booth. While everybody else saw a crooked tax collector, Jesus saw a man He came to save.

Jesus knows exactly where you are. He can find you on a jobsite, behind a desk, alone in your truck, or sitting at a kitchen table after everyone else has gone to bed. He can find you in the place where you have spent years thinking no one would stay if they knew your story. Jesus already knows your story, and He has not walked past you.

He sees you not for what you have done, but for what His grace can do. He does not wait for you to get your reputation straightened out. The Savior comes walking while the sinner is sitting still. Where in your life do you feel unseen, and will you believe that Jesus sees you there?

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.
(Luke 5:27, KJV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to help you see yourself through His eyes of grace, not through your own shame.

Challenge: Identify one place you feel unworthy and say aloud, “Jesus sees me here.”

Day 2: Two Words That Change Everything

Jesus stood before Levi’s booth and spoke two words: “Follow me.” This was not a suggestion to add religion to a crowded schedule. It was a command to leave his old direction and come follow a new Leader. There was no sales pitch and no promise of an easy life. It was a call to surrender.

Levi left all, rose up, and followed him. He abandoned the income, the position, and the life he knew. He did not negotiate with Jesus. You cannot follow Jesus while insisting He walk wherever your old life is headed. Some want Jesus to bless everything already on their table but leave the arrangement alone. Jesus calls for a new direction.

This is repentance. You were going one way, and now you go His way. It is not about earning salvation by cleaning up; it is about trusting the One who calls you. What thing are you still holding onto, afraid that Jesus cannot handle it if you let it go?

And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
(Luke 5:28, KJV)

Prayer: Confess the one thing you are afraid to leave behind and ask Jesus for the faith to follow.

Challenge: Write down the name of one habit, relationship, or attitude you need to leave behind to follow Jesus.

Day 3: From One Table to Another

Levi left his tax table and immediately set a dinner table. At the first table, people came because they had to. At the second, Levi invited them because he wanted them to meet Jesus. He opened his house and provided a great feast for a great company of publicans and others.

Levi did not have a perfect testimony polished and laminated. He had only been a Christian for minutes or hours. He simply brought the people he knew into the house with the Savior he had just met. He went from being a greedy man to a generous one because the Holy Spirit was at work in his heart.

You do not need a microphone to bring somebody within earshot of Jesus. You need a willingness to open your home and your life. Who is in your circle that would take a call from you but not from a preacher? Who is waiting for someone to care enough to invite them?

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.
(Luke 5:29, KJV)

Prayer: Ask God to bring to mind one person you can invite to your table this week.

Challenge: Call or text one person today and invite them to share a meal with you.

Day 4: The Doctor and the Sick

The religious leaders stood outside Levi’s house and complained. They asked the disciples, “Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?” They were disgusted. In their minds, a real rabbi would keep his distance from such people. They saw a room full of people who could do nothing for Jesus.

Jesus saw a room full of people He had come to save. He did not sit with them to excuse their sin. He agreed they were sinners. He sat with them because sinners matter. He explained His mission with a simple analogy: those who are healthy do not need a doctor, but those who are sick do. He came for the sick.

The church must never soften the truth to make people comfortable in their sin. But we must never make someone feel they have to clean up their story before they can come hear about Christ. Do you see people as problems to be avoided or as patients who need the Physician?

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.
(Luke 5:31-32, KJV)

Prayer: Pray that our church would be a place where the sick know they can find the Doctor.

Challenge: Underline the words “sinners” and “repentance” in your Bible and thank Jesus for both.

Day 5: The Chief of Sinners

The Pharisee named Saul met the risen Christ and became the apostle Paul. After years of preaching and planting churches, he never got over the mercy that saved him. He did not write that he had found people worse than himself. He wrote, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

The longer we walk with Jesus, the less reason we have to strut into the room like we hired the Physician. We are here because He had mercy on us. This is true for the person whose phone holds things they pray nobody ever sees and for the church member who looks down on them. Everyone needs the same Jesus.

Levi’s story shows that Jesus receives sinners. He knows what you have done and what was done to you. His call is not to make peace with your sin, but to repent and follow Him. Will you trust the One who is calling you today?

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
(1 Timothy 1:15, KJV)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for His mercy that saved you, and confess any pride that makes you forget you are a sinner.

Challenge: Tell one person your story of how Jesus found you, emphasizing His mercy, not your merit.

Sermon Summary

Luke 5:27–32 reveals Jesus’ mercy toward people others have rejected. Levi sat at a tax booth, known as a traitor who used Roman authority to take money from his own people. Everyone saw his occupation, corruption, and ruined reputation, but Jesus saw a man He came to save. Jesus went directly to Levi instead of waiting for him to become respectable or religious. Grace found Levi where he was, without pretending that his sin did not matter.

Jesus called Levi with two words: “Follow Me.” Levi did not negotiate, delay, or attempt to add Jesus to the life he already had. He left the booth, rose, and followed. Leaving everything did not purchase salvation, since salvation comes by grace through faith, but grace changed the direction of his life. Following Jesus means releasing the authority of the old life instead of demanding that Jesus bless it unchanged. Repentance turns a person from self-rule toward the leadership of Christ.

Levi then opened his home and prepared a great feast for other tax collectors and sinners. The table he once used to collect money became a table where people could meet Jesus. Levi did not possess a polished testimony or years of religious experience, but he knew Jesus had changed him, and he invited people from his own circle to encounter Christ. Ordinary hospitality, honest conversation, and a simple invitation can bring people within reach of the gospel.

The scribes and Pharisees condemned Jesus for eating with such people. They knew the Scriptures and guarded religious traditions, yet they failed to recognize the Savior those Scriptures revealed. Jesus did not excuse sin or approve of the lives represented at Levi’s table. He welcomed sinners because sinners were the reason He came.

Jesus explained that the sick need a physician. Sin is not merely a collection of harmful actions but a deep condition of the heart that separates people from God. Neither religious appearance, personal improvement, nor comparison with others can cure it. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance, offering mercy without minimizing guilt and truth without withholding compassion. Both the openly broken sinner and the proud religious person need the same Savior. Every believer remains at the table because Christ has shown mercy, and every believer is called to make room for others to hear the gospel.

Key Takeaways

1. Jesus sees beyond a ruined reputation Levi was known by his betrayal, greed, and occupation, but Jesus did not reduce him to his worst actions. Christ’s knowledge of sin is complete, yet His mercy is not blocked by a damaged past. No hidden failure places a person beyond His reach.
2. Grace calls sinners into a new direction Jesus did not call Levi to admire Him from the tax booth. The call to follow required Levi to leave the authority and security of his former life. Grace does not earn salvation through changed behavior, but genuine grace produces a changed direction.
3. Changed people make room for others Levi’s first response was not private gratitude but an open table. He brought familiar people into the presence of the Savior, even though his testimony was still new and unfinished. Faithful witness often begins with simple hospitality and a willingness to connect people with Jesus.
4. Jesus welcomes sinners without excusing sin Christ sat with sinners because their need was real, not because their sin was harmless. Compassion does not require denial, and truth does not require rejection. The gospel offers a place to come honestly while calling every person to repent and follow Christ.

Bible Study Guide

**Bible reading**
Luke 5:27–32

**Observation questions**

What was Levi's occupation and how did it affect his reputation among his own people?
What were the two words Jesus spoke to Levi and what was Levi's immediate, three-part response?
Who did Levi invite to his house and what was the religious leaders' complaint about this gathering?
How did Jesus describe His own mission and who He came to call?

**Interpretation questions**

Why did Jesus go directly to Levi's tax booth instead of waiting for him to come to a religious setting?
Levi left everything to follow Jesus. Since salvation is by grace and not works, what does this drastic change in direction signify about what it means to truly follow Christ?
The religious leaders knew the Scriptures but criticized Jesus for eating with sinners. What does this reveal about the difference between knowing about God and truly recognizing the heart of His mission?
Jesus said He came to call sinners to repentance, not the righteous. Who are the "righteous" He is referring to, and what is the danger of seeing oneself in that category?

**Application questions**

Is there an area of your life—a relationship, a habit, a source of security—that you have been unwilling to leave behind in order to follow Jesus more completely? What makes it difficult to release your grip on it?
Levi used his own home and resources to introduce his friends to Jesus. Who in your immediate circle of relationships needs an invitation to hear about Christ, and what is one practical way you could extend that invitation this week?
The religious leaders were more concerned with protecting their reputation than with reaching people who needed a Savior. In your own life, are you ever tempted to avoid people whose stories or struggles might make you uncomfortable? What would it look like to see them through Jesus' eyes instead?
Jesus welcomed sinners without excusing their sin. How can you better hold together both truth and compassion when interacting with people who are far from God, avoiding both the compromise of truth and the withholding of love?
Levi's testimony was new and unpolished, but he shared it immediately. What is one part of your story of how Jesus found you that you could share with someone else, even if it feels unfinished?

Sermon Quotes

Everybody else was looking at what Levi had done, but Jesus was looking at what grace could do with him.

The sinner was sitting still, and the Savior came walking.

Jesus already knows, and He has not walked past you.

You cannot follow Jesus and demand that He walk wherever your old life is headed.

When grace reaches a person, it does not merely give him a new opinion about Jesus; it calls him to a new direction.

You don’t need a microphone to bring somebody within earshot of Jesus.

He knew the difference between welcoming a sinner and approving of sin.

May we never become so skilled at guarding our reputation that we forget the assignment.

Sin goes deeper than the things we have done; it reaches into the heart, bends what we want, poisons what we love, and separates us from God.

Jesus receives sinners. He knows what you have done and what was done to you.

Ask a question about this sermon

Memorial Baptist Church This sermon · AI assistant

Give me some sermon illustration ideas

Create a fill-in-the-blank worksheet

Sermon structure and transition feedback

Sermon application ideas