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  EXPOSITORY THOUGHTS ON MARK - MARK 2:13-22
  by J.C. Ryle
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CONTENT
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The person who is called Levi, at the beginning of this passage, is the
same person who is called Matthew in the first of the four Gospels. Let
us not forget this. It is no less than an apostle and an evangelist,
whose early history is now before our eyes.

We learn from these verses the power of Christ to call men out from the
world, and make them His disciples. We read that he said to Levi, when
"sitting at the receipt of custom, Follow me." And at once "he arose and
followed him." From a tax-collector he became an apostle, and a writer
of the first book in the New Testament, which is now known all over the
world.

This is a truth of deep importance. Without a divine call no one can be
saved. We are all so sunk in sin, and so wedded to the world, that we
would never turn to God and seek salvation, unless He first called us by
His grace. God must speak to our hearts by His Spirit, before we shall
ever speak to Him. Those who are sons of God, says the 17th Article, are
"called according to God\

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/jc-ryle/expository-thoughts-on-mark-mark-213-22/
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