Go back to Luke 19 with me. Luke
19. There's no one who hasn't heard
this story. None of our little children heard
this story. But there's so much more here
than just the story of a wee little man who climbed up a tree.
You know, we teach our kids that song when they're little. There's so much more here than
that. There's infinite glory and amazing
wisdom, salvation of God in every line. But this is a story. This
is every man's story. This is my story. If you know
the Lord, if He's had mercy upon you, this is your story. This
is your story. The way the Lord saves a sinner.
At the end of this, they mocked our Lord and said, this man's
going to be a guest A man that's a sinner. Well, that's Christ's
glory to come here to save sinners. He wasn't going to be his guest.
He didn't ask this man if he could come to his house. That
house didn't even belong to that man. It belonged to the Lord.
The Lord gave it to him. He said, I'm coming. They had
it all wrong, but they tried to mock him, you know, but it
was his glory. This is the way the Lord saves
every sinner. He calls them. This whole story is a picture
of our Lord's gracious call, a gracious call, a personal call.
He called this man. It's an urgent call. Make haste. It's a humbling call. Come down.
It's an effectual call. He came down. It's a joyful call. This man received Him joyfully.
And it's a converting call. This man's a changed man. When
the Lord spoke to him, he's a changed man. As he called you. The gracious call. Look at verse
1 and 2. Amazing grace. Jesus entered and passed through
Jericho. Now, Jericho was a decadent city. Vile city. Our Lord, years before Joshua,
had Joshua destroyed. Everybody in it was bad, including
a harlot named Rahab. But God. How did she know the
Lord? The Lord revealed Himself. He
sent two spies. He sent two prophets. He sent
two men to reveal God to her and the coming doom of that city
and with the mercy and the grace of God, a scarlet line. And buddy,
she laid hold of it and looked to it. And according to promise,
Joshua sent those same two men to bring her out of Jericho Take
her all the way home to Joshua and Jerusalem. Take her back
to Jerusalem and say, she's still there now. That's what it says. She's still there right now.
Married to the Savior. But he's destroyed the rest of
it. He destroyed all Jericho. Not one stone left standing on
it. Didn't he? And our Lord said, don't build
this city again. It's not going to be built again.
He cursed it. So when Joshua, Jesus, the Son
of God, came, it says he came and entered Jericho and passed
through. He passed by everybody in that
decadent place. Could he have saved anybody that
he wanted to? Yes, he could. But he didn't.
Why? For salvation of the Lord. Nobody's
calling. Nobody's asking. Are they? Are
they? You hear anybody in Jericho asking
Him? Save me! One fellow, before he got there,
hollered, didn't he? Jesus, Son of David, have mercy
on me! I will. On the way out, he left,
passed through Jericho. He didn't save one person in
Jericho. Why? But he's looking for somebody.
He's seeking someone. And he's not in there. He's outside. And the Lord put him someplace.
Up a tree. On purpose. This is a gracious call. You
didn't have to call anybody. Jericho is a decadent place.
Perverted place. Twisted place. Sounds just like
every city in America. Even little old Rocky Mountain.
Aren't the people coming out? Shaking their fists in God's
face. Oh, the Lord came to this little village. But, you know,
we're kind of outside the camp, aren't we? Out here on a hill,
a little city, sit on a hill. People always had mercy on us.
Behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief
among the publicans. Now, publicans were the worst
fellows around. Everybody hated publicans. They'd
sell their soul for money, and they did. They'd sell their mother.
They cheated the people. They didn't care how they got
rich, but they cared about one thing, money. Our Lord saved several publicans.
Levi, Matthew, sitting there counting his money, and the Lord
came by and saw him, spoke two words, and he dropped all that
money. This man was chief among the
publicans. Paul was a Pharisee. The Lord
didn't save many Pharisees, did he? Paul said, I'm the chief,
though. Chief of sinners. That's what
he came to say. And he was rich. Now, our Lord
just said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter the kingdom
of heaven. Why aren't we seeing more conversions today? Have you ever thought about it? Why
aren't we seeing 40 or 50 years ago, when I was a child, that
there were lots of conversions, lots of young people being converted,
lots of old people, lots of revivals in all the churches. People were
coming. Why aren't we seeing it now? Rich. They didn't need nothing. Right? That describe our day?
I don't need anything. I'm not poor to need anything.
Oh, you don't know. You just don't know. This man
was rich. He didn't know. He didn't need
anything. He's a curiosity seeker. That's all he is. Look at verse
3. He sought to see Jesus who He
was. He heard about Jesus like blind Bartimaeus. Now, he's not
blind. He's not poor. He doesn't know it. He's not
deaf. He's not poor and needy. He's
not hungry. He's not thirsty. He's just curious.
He heard about this Jesus, this prophet they call him, and this
speaker. Some say no one ever spake like he did. He healed
the blind. Well, he didn't need that. He
healed the dead. Well, he didn't need that. He raised the dead.
He's not dead. But he's curious, okay? I want to go see who he
is. I want to see what this is all
about. That's the only reason. The only
reason. He's curious. Now, my pastor
used to call this grace before grace. Nobody will really seek
the Lord unless the Lord is seeking them. I mean, no one will really,
really seek mercy. This is what it is to seek the
Lord. It's to seek mercy. It's to seek grace. It's to seek
His face. When the Lord said to David,
seek my face, David said, my heart said, I'll seek your face.
What does that mean, preacher? There's not a child of God that
doesn't know what that means. Seek His face. Once you tell
that to the world, what do you mean? Don't see a vision? No. See, the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God is in a face, it's a person, it's Jesus Christ. He's not seeking the Lord. No
one will unless the Lord is seeking them. Now, the Lord is dealing
with this man He doesn't know. This is grace before. He said He was around and Christ
was there and He couldn't see. He's little. I like this story. He's little, he can't see for
the press, the crowd, multitude of people he can't see. And by the way, every one of
us are little. You know that? Grasshoppers. That's what the Scriptures said.
Worms. And there ain't a son of Adam on this earth that can
see until God reveals Himself to him. No matter how smart,
no matter how big, no matter what, unless the Lord gives you
eyes. Well, he heard, he thought, well,
he's headed in that direction. And he looked, he saw a sycamore
tree. Now, how'd that sycamore tree
get there? Hmm? How'd that tree? You've seen
sycamore trees. They really think it's a mulberry
tree. But if it's a sycamore, they're
everywhere. They grow mostly by water. And anyway, sycamores
grow 200 years, don't they? Big trees, big trees. Well, years,
200 years before this, a bird took a seed and dropped it outside of Jericho. Oh, yes,
this happened, this happened. A bird took a seed and dropped
this seed in the ground, and God watered it, and up, a root
out of dry ground came up, a little sycamore tree. And it grew, and
it grew, and it grew, okay, and then the fella that owned the
property thought, I'm gonna cut that down, that's a worthless
tree to own. He couldn't. He couldn't budge. Until that thing grew high enough
where a man could climb it. And that's the reason for that
tree. And that's the reason for everything on the top side of
God's earth. For some reason, it shows his glory. For some
reason, it's to the praise of his glory. For some reason, some
way or another, it's to the purpose for God bringing his sheep into
his kingdom. That's a fact. And I talked about
technology today. That's the only reason. See,
what it gives people to do, you know, it increases their lifespan
because they've got open heart surgery. Well, it's either to
damn them or save them. It's either to add to their condemnation,
make them live a few more years in rebellion against God so that
there's no doubt that God should damn them or that they might
someday hear that gospel. That's the only reason. Not so
we can live a few more years and have fun. It's all about
His Kingdom. I ain't making this up. God planted
this tree. And He's got a man waiting on
Him. Before the foundation of the world, He purposed that this
sorry, no good, chief of sinners, rich man who never gave God a
thought, climb a tree. Why? Because our Lord is going
to pass right by that place and call him by his grace in time. Isn't that amazing? Think back
on your life. Think back on things that happened
to you. Huh? I think back. You've heard my story too many
times. I'm tired of telling it, but I don't want to talk about
it myself. But I could tell you so many stories. I'd look back
now and I'd think the Lord did that. The Lord did that. The
Lord did that to bring me here right now. The Lord did that
to make me hear his voice. If he hadn't done that, I wouldn't
have heard him. Praise his name. It's a gracious
call, you know. Zacchaeus wasn't a man you would
call. You wouldn't have called him. You wouldn't have had anything
to do with him. Nobody wanted anything to do
with him. Huh? That publican in the temple. You wouldn't have called Rahab.
If you'd have saved somebody in Jericho, it wouldn't have
been Rahab. Would it? No. You wouldn't have chosen Simon
Peter. You might have chosen John or
Jake, but not Simon Peter. That's cussing longshoremen ready
to take on anybody in a fight. No, you wouldn't have chosen
Simon Peter. Simon sure glad he did. It's a gracious call,
sovereign grace. You wouldn't have chose Saul
of Tarsus. You'd have passed by on the other
side of the road if Saul of Tarsus had been coming. People couldn't
believe it that the Lord called him. My Lord, he's persecuted
the church. He's a chosen vessel unto man.
You wouldn't have chosen Zacchaeus, but God did. The gracious calls,
the personal call, the Lord came and called him. Our Lord said
in John 10, He said, My sheep, My sheep hear My voice. I call
them by name and they follow Me. That's because He's the Great
Shepherd. He's the Chief Shepherd. He's
the Good Shepherd, the Sovereign Shepherd. The Lord is My Shepherd.
He calls whom He will and they follow Him. Oh, it was a personal
call. He called this man. He called
him by name. It's an urgent call. He said,
make haste. Didn't he? Why? Our Lord's passing
by. What if Zacchaeus said, well,
I'll try to see him tomorrow? No, no. Today. Do you know how many times the
scripture says today is the day of salvation? Do you know how
many times it says that? And whenever the gospel... Oh,
it's just you, Paul. We know you. You're just a preacher.
It's just Sunday. No, it's not either. No, it's not either. Young people,
it's not. It's just Sunday. Who named it
Sunday? Huh? Why did they do that, Melanie? Sunday. A chance? Coincidence? God did
it! It's the day that people of God
meet and hope in the son of glory of righteousness will rise and
healing in his wings and spread forth his power in dark hearts
and let us see his glory. This was this man's day. This
was the day of his salvation. Right then and there. I can't
convince anybody of that. The Lord sure can. This was a
humbling call. A humbling call. He told him to come down. Old
Naaman came. You know, Naaman came to hear
the prophet. He thought, well, he'll come
out to me. He'll be glad to see me. Hmm.
So the prophet sent a little servant out there, a wee little
fella. And the snail had looked at him,
and he's sitting on his high horse, and, hmm, who are you? I'm the servant of the prophet.
And here's what he says. You go down and you dip in that
old muddy water seven times. You don't quit dipping until you're all together. You've
got mud in your eyes and your ears and your mouth until you
see what you really are. Strip and dip. And he went back
inside. See, our Lord didn't come trying
to get anybody in Jericho to believe Him. Our Lord didn't
invite sinners to have Him in their house. Our Lord came, and
this is the next point. This was a sovereign call. This
was an effectual call. Our Lord put that tree where
it was to put a man up that tree on purpose. Our Lord's coming
right by, and He's going to call Him. He's going to have Him where
He put Him. He's looking for Him. Where is
He going to find Him? Where He put Him. Like that woman at the well,
he's sitting on a well. Somebody said, who are you waiting
on? Somebody. I don't see anybody. She's coming.
All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and he that
cometh to me. Oh, but she's a harlot. He's
a publican. That's who I came for. That's
who he still comes for, brother. It's a factual call, a sovereign
call, up a tree, on purpose. This is a joyful comment. Now let's look at the story.
It says in verse 3 and 4, he said he sought to see Jesus who
he was and could not for the press because he was little of
stature. And he ran before and climbed
up into a sycamore tree to see him. Our Lord was to pass by
that way. And when Jesus came to the place,
that place where he had him, what's he going to hear? What
is Zacchaeus going to see? Who's he going to hear and who's
he going to see? Jesus Christ. He's going to hear
the voice of the Son of God. He's going to see His face, isn't
He? Where's He going to do that? A place that God had chosen to
put His name there. Now, have you ever read that?
You go over to Deuteronomy 12 and start right there and read
to chapter 17. You'll see 12 or 13 times. There's
a place that the Lord God has chosen to put His name there. He said you take your everything,
you sell out, and you go there. Because that's where His glory
is. That's where His face is seen.
That's where His voice is heard. That's where Christ is seen.
That's where He speaks. That's the place. You go there
and you sit and you wait to hear from Him. Our Lord had him in
this place. Thank you. Right? He brought
you to this place. Where Christ's name is. Where
he's going. He brought some of you to this place. Is this not
a blessed place? He says it's just a bill. That's
right. That's right. You're just a man. That's right.
You're right. Never will be anything more than that. I wish you are
blessed. And the gospel is still being
preached. So I can't help but think that the Lord is going
to speak to another Zacchaeus. There are few and far between,
getting fewer and further, but I can't help but think that this
door of this ark is still open, we're still preaching, and that
somebody, the Lord, is going to speak to him. Wouldn't that
be wonderful? Wouldn't that be wonderful? This is how he does it. He came
to the place and he stopped. Remember? Our Lord of Glory was
passing through before he got to Jericho. He's passing by.
Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, okay? And one sinner, one
blind man by the wayside cried, called, and said, Jesus, our
son of David, have mercy on me. That is music to our Lord's ears. Everything else is noise. All
of man's words, all of man's vainglory, all of man's pride,
all that man says about himself, says about God, all that man
is saying is noise. It's come up in his ears, man's
pride. But one sinner calling for mercy,
music is here. And he'll stop. Every time he
stops, our Lord came walking by this whole crowd. He said,
can you see this picture? Like when Bartimaeus and our
Lord stopped, somebody said, somebody's calling you, calling
that. Everybody's calling. No, one
person is really calling. If people ever give up, we're
hungry, we need a house, we need a new car, we need this, we need
that. No, this man wants mercy. Our Lord stopped. All right,
this man up a tree needs mercy and doesn't know it. He needs mercy and he doesn't
know it. All right, so the Lord came by where he had this man
crawl up this tree. He came by and stopped at that
tree. And maybe James and Jonathan, what are you stopping for, Lord?
And he looked up. And they all looked up. That's
what you do when somebody looks up. You ever get on an elevator?
What's everybody do? Go outside sometime, do that.
Just go outside and stand and look up. Everybody come by and
look up. Our Lord came by and looked up
in that tree. John, Peter looked up and there's
Zacchaeus. They know Zacchaeus. He's a notorious
fellow, Zacchaeus. Come on, Lord, come on. We don't
need this man. Let's go, quick. Let's get out of here. No. I came for this man. Like they
said about the little children, get these little kids out of
here. No. I came. Lord, he's the chief
of sinners. He's no good. He's worthless.
Lord, you don't need him. No, I don't. I don't need him. That's it. And he looked up to
him. And he said, look at verse 5.
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him. Who
saw who? Now, our Lord had no beauty about
him that we should desire. No form or comeliness. He didn't
look any different than any Jew back then. He wasn't 6'5", you
know, and beautiful to look at. No, he's probably 5'8", 5'7",
very short, plain, not beautiful to look at, very ordinary. You
couldn't pick him out of a crowd. Couldn't do it. And so Zacchaeus
could look down. Where is he? Where is he? Never
seen him before. Where is he? Where is he? It all looked like
to me. I see him in his trees. He looked around. He can't see
him. He can't see him. All of a sudden, he sees somebody looking
at him. Somebody's looking at him, Kelly. This happened. And you look at
me when you see a preacher. I've heard this before. Oh, I hope that God Christ, like
he did to turn to Peter, Simon Peter looked at him and he pierced
his heart. He went out and wept bitterly.
And Zacchaeus saw this one person in whose eyes, dove's eyes, his
eyes as a flame of fire. Eyes of love, yes, but eyes of
holiness. Eyes of pity and compassion and
love and mercy and grace that he didn't deserve. But eyes of
love and mercy and grace that our Lord had purposed to show
to this worthless person that didn't care about anybody but
himself. And that's all of his problems.
And he's a problem to everybody else. And doesn't know it. But
God looked on him in mercy. Why? Why would he stop for such
a worthless individual? Because he's God, that's why.
Do you think that about yourself? What do you think about yourself?
I talked to a fellow on the phone one time. We were talking and
I was talking about God's sovereign mercy and grace. It was so obvious
he thought very highly of himself. I said, tell me about yourself.
What do you think about yourself? He said, I think I'm a pretty
good fellow. He said, I think I'm a pretty neat fellow. I said,
you're a worthless piece of grass. Why would the Lord stop and look
on this fellow? Why would he stop and look on anybody? You
know what an Ophiba chef said? When David sent two men down
there to fetch him and bring him to his house and sit him
at David's right hand at his table to eat king's food and
had mercy upon him, didn't kill him, had mercy on him, sat him
right there and said, I'm going to give you everything back.
You haven't done anything to deserve it. I'm going to give
it all back to you and you're going to sit here like one of
my sons. You know what he said? What am I that you should show
such favor to a dead dog like me? Why would you stop on the
side of the road and pick up a dead dog and take it home with
you? That's what he said. That's what old Zacchaeus thought
when this was all over. The store looked on him. And
with a word, look at this. He said to him, Zacchaeus, see
his sheep hear his voice. This is a personal call. The
Lord doesn't go out and say, will anybody have me? Did he? Did he invite people to have
him in his house? No. He came to this one fellow where
he put him on purpose and called him by his grace, by his power,
by his word, sovereignly, effectively, Zacchaeus Lazarus. Somebody said if the Lord hadn't
called Lazarus' name, everybody would have come out of those
graves. He didn't invite him. He told him, Zacchaeus, make
haste. Right now. I'm leaving here.
I'm passing through. Right now. Come down. Come down. Come down. You're too high. It's amazing how sinners, people,
unbelievers are in a hog pen destroying themselves. Just about
to destroy themselves and still think highly of themselves. Isn't
it? It's amazing how low somebody can get and yet still have their
pride. Isn't it? That was me, Dan. That
was me. And the Lord threw me off a building. Come on. Now sit in that pew. Come down. You say he didn't
cry like that. How do you know he didn't? Zacchaeus,
come down. He that exalted himself shall
be abased. The Lord knows how. Yes, He does. He that humbled himself shall
be exalted. Come down. They say, well, I'm
not as good as everybody else. Come down. He's got to bring you down to
where you conclude about yourself, I'm less than the least. Right? I'm not fit to be called
a disciple. That's where He's got to bring
us all, doesn't it? If he doesn't, we still think that we've got
some value to somebody, and we don't. Every man at his best
age is manatee. Come down. Oh, that the Lord
would bring all of us down. That's where he is, buddy. If
he brings you down, there's one place to look, to him. And he
said, come down, for today I must abide at thy house. Zacchaeus,
I'm coming home. I'm coming to your house. This
day is salvation come to your house. See, he didn't ask him. He told him, I'm coming to your
house, and I'm going to dwell there. I'm going to set up rain. I'm going to set up rules. Zacchaeus,
I'm taking your bedroom. I'm the master. I'm taking your... Why? Because it belonged to him
in the first place. The Lord gave it to him. The
Lord gave Zacchaeus all that money. Why? Spend on himself? No. Because in a little bit,
he's going to spend it on other people. He's finally going to
see why the Lord gave him all that. He gave him a house. Why?
So the Lord could come sit in it and bring people in. That's right. I'm coming to thy house. You
know, before you come to God put you in his house, he's going
to come to you. He's going to come to your house.
He's going to come dwell in you and your heart and mind and soul.
He's going to set up his reign and rule. The next story is of
the people that would not have this man reign over them. That's
the next story. Isn't that amazing? The Lord's Word all fits together.
The next story is they say, we will not have this man reign
over us. Nobody could tame Zacchaeus. Nobody could tell Zacchaeus what
to do. He's rich. You can't tell a rich man anything. You can't
convince a rich man of anything. He doesn't need anything. He
doesn't need what you have. The Lord came by and said, You need
me. Come down. You've got to come
down. Somebody said this about a woman
who's a millionaire. She said, She's so poor, all
she has is money. That's all she has. That's for
him. Our Lord was rich. He had it
all. He had one thing at all on his
life. Not one. He was rich, happy. We just don't know that. So we're
striving for all this stuff. That's what old Zacchaeus did,
all this stuff. But when the Lord showed him
himself, when he finally found out, you know, Christ is all,
that he didn't need anything else at all. And that's my last,
well, next to last. It was a joyful call. Look at
verse 6. He said, He made haste. What
did he do? What did Zacchaeus do when the
Lord gave the command? He came down. He made haste. He came down. And that's why we call on the
Lord. Lord, speak to her. We can't. I shout and holler. Why am I doing it? Just because
it's urgent. Because I believe it. Do you
ever raise your voice to your children? Did you, Tracy, ever
raise your voice to them? Are you kidding me? Why? Because you felt like you
can't get through to them, you know. Why? Was it important?
It's so important that you want them to hear this. But they won't
do it. Then why do you do it? Because
the Lord said do it. Lift up your voice. Raise up
your voice! Speak! I tell you what, God,
He deserves glorious preaching. Love so amazing, so divine, deserves
our soul's best song and deserves loudest praise. You know that?
One day we're all going to be shouting at the top of our lungs.
You know that? Hallelujah. Yes, we are. Uninhibited. No self. No vain
glory, just glory in Him. Praise the Lord! Don't you long
for that? Why don't we do it now? Self-conscious. What do other people think about
that? Sad, isn't it? Real sad. And I shout, and I've
said this before, I think I'd do it for you. You want to do
it, I'm doing it for you. Our Lord deserves to be shouted
from the housetop, come down. And he made haste,
and he came down, and it says he received Him joyfully. He was just looking out of curiosity.
He was just climbing a tree hoping to get some sight of this Jesus
fellow, you know. He's climbing a tree and he's
looking around and he can't see and all of a sudden somebody
lifted him. And somebody gave the call. And he shimmied down like he shimmied
down like he jumped down. Like Peter diving out of that
boat. Jumped down. He stood there and Christ said,
I'm coming to your house. I came for you. Yes, you. I'm coming to your house. Nobody
else. I'm coming to your house. Me. And now look at this. They all
murmured. Who did? Who murmured? Pharisees,
scribes, Sadducees, murmured. People all around murmured. I
guess it was a sinner. Look at that. Look at that. That
man's a sinner. Look at that. He's talking to
a harlot. He's going to be a guest of a
sinner. See, the wrath of man will praise Him on it. Man's
derision glorifies Him. It does. Man mocks, but no, God's
not mocking. He's going to be a guest of a
sinner. Isn't that marvelous? They murmured. Zacchaeus marveled. All those
Pharisees murmured. Look! Look! Zacchaeus said, Look! He's going home with me! And
Zacchaeus stood. Who's he saying all this to?
Who's Zacchaeus saying all this to? If Christ ever comes to you,
you confess Him. You won't be ashamed of Him.
I won't have to ask you to get in the baptismal pool. You'll
ask me. He confessed to me. He said, half of my goods, I
don't need this stuff anymore. Whatever I've done wrong, I like
it. Now the Lord didn't tell him to do any of this. The Lord
told the rich young ruler, sell everything you got and follow
me. He said, I can't do that. I don't need you that bad. He
left. But the Lord didn't tell Zacchaeus
this. He didn't tell him one thing. He said, I'm coming home
with you. Zacchaeus said, I'm selling out. Now I know who I
need. And I can't believe that he stopped
and called me. Infinite condescension. Infinite
grace. Infinite mercy. What a call.
What mercy. What grace that He will stop
and call me, the chief of publicans, the chief of sinners. There's
no good. Oh, my goodness. This stuff has
not made me rich. It's made me poor. Now that Christ
is coming home with me, I'm rich. I'm rich. And it's a converting call. He's
a different man. He's a new man. Oh, Barnard used to say, when
God saves a man, even the old hound dog will know it. Quit kicking him. This man came
home, Zacchaeus came home, and he had all these servants he
was mean to before, you know. Didn't have a good word for before.
Paid them scanty little wages, you know. And they all hated
him. He came in the house and said, hello, John. Hey, how you
doing, buddy? How's your wife? How's your children? You look, those clothes are pretty. Here, John, here. Take $100. Go down and buy some clothes. Oh, John, get your wife and your
children. Why don't you come up to the big house with me today?
Why don't you sit at my table today? Is that good? John, I'm sorry. Everything I've
done to you. John, forgive me, would you please? The Lord's had mercy on me. The
Lord Jesus Christ has spoken to me. John, the Lord Jesus Christ
has shown mercy to me. The chief of public and the chief
of sinner, He's shown grace to me, John. And I've been mean
and evil and wicked and vile to you, John. I've taught only
about myself, John. Please forgive me, John. John,
you're not less than me. I'm less than you. Oh, John. And I want you to hear Him. And
the Lord came into that house. And He could have saved his whole
house. That's what Matthew did. Matthew had a feast with all
his publican friends. Not Republican. Publican friends. The Lord saved that whole house.
Amazing. Go home and tell what great things
the Lord has done for you. And our Lord said that salvation
has come to this house. Zacchaeus didn't come to Christ.
Christ came to him first. And all that he comes to, they
come to him and follow him. He said he's a son of Abraham.
Salvation of the Jews. You know that? God has an elect
people. God chose Abraham. He said I'm
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob have I loved and
Esau have I hated. What do you think about that?
What do you say to these things? I'll tell you what Zacchaeus
thought. Me? It can't be me. Yes, you're a
son of Abraham. I've come for you. You're one
of my elect. Love it. I'm so glad. And the moral to
this story is, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save
that which was lost. Every single sinner that God
has chosen, no matter how lost, He's come to save them. No matter
how lost, He's come to find them. He'll find them. They don't find
Him, He finds them. No matter how blind, He's going
to give them eyes. No matter how dead, He's going
to give them ears. All the Lord came for, He called. All He calls,
they come. All that come, He gives them
salvation. They see His glory. Salvation is up in the Lord.
Has He called you? I believe He has. Call me this
morning. Okay. John, let's say a closing
here.