Luke chapter 19, Jim Fawcett is at home and Deb
asked to remember him in prayer because he's still got a long
way to go. I'm going to start reading in chapter
18 at verse 35 and go down to verse 9 of chapter 19. And it came to pass that as he
was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside
begging. And hearing the multitude pass
by, he asked what it meant. And they told him that Jesus
of Nazareth passes by. And he cried, saying, Jesus,
son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked
him that he should hold his peace. But he cried so much the more,
son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood and commanded
him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he
asked him, saying, What wilt that I shall do unto thee? He
said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto
him, Receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately
he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all
the people saw. They rejoiced and gave praise
unto God. And Jesus entered and passed
through Jericho, and behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus,
which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And
he sought to see Jesus, who he was, and could not for the press,
because he was of little of stature. And he ran before and climbed
up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that
way. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make
haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And
he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all
murmured, saying that he was gone to be guests with a man
that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said
unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to
the poor, And if I have taken anything from anyone by false
accusation, I restore fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, this
day is salvation. Come to this house for so much
as also is a son of Abraham. Oh, blessed, blessed, blessed
father in heaven, our great glorious, blessed God of heaven and earth. You said in your own word that
the heaven of heavens can't contain you, and that the stars and the
sun and the moon's not even pure in your sight. But Lord, here
we are, we come, flesh, flesh, people, coming, allowed to come
into your presence. And we're allowed to come because
we are pure in your sight. You purified us with the blood
of Christ. You purified us, sanctified us,
made us perfect in your holy sight. So that's why we come,
Lord, because of what you've done, what you've done for us. And Lord, we've gathered here
this morning to worship to worship you, to adore you, magnify you,
honor you, glorify you, and be a blessing to the saints of God
on this side of the river. And Lord, we pray for Christ's
sake that you would meet with us today. Give us of the presence
and power of the Holy Ghost in our midst. And our Lord, would
you please, for Christ's sake, cause the gospel to run well
here today. Cause it to sow that good seed,
that precious seed, that incorruptible seed in the heart of someone
here today. Because we know if that seed
is sown, that seed will bring forth fruit to your glory. And
Father, I pray for our brothers and sisters who are being tried,
we pray for Jim and Debbie, Lord, to please be with them. Give
Debbie an abundance of grace and strength to deal with what
she has to deal with as a caregiver. And Lord, we pray again for Rick
and Helen. Oh, Lord, they have a great fight
of afflictions. Pray for that them, Rick, would have the
grace and strength to take care of Helen, Lord, in the condition
she's in. And, Lord, we look to you for
all things and ask for mercy and grace be given to our lost
loved ones, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, and our grandchildren
and great-grandchildren, those that's not even yet been born.
Lord, we pray for them, that you and your sovereign mercy
But do like you done, Jacob, love them and choose them from
the mother's womb. We ask these things in our blessed
Savior's name. Amen. Let's all stand together
and sing the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Begin my tongue some heavenly
theme And speak some boundless theme The mighty works and mightier
name Of our eternal King Of our eternal King Tell of His wondrous
faithfulness, and sound His name abroad. Sing the sweet promise
of His grace, and our redeeming Lord, and our redeeming Lord. Proclaim salvation from the Lord
for sinful dying men. His hand has ripped the Holy
Word with an immortal pin. with any mortal pin. Oh, might I hear thy heavenly
tongue, but whisper thou art mine. Those precious words would
raise my soul Two notes almost divine. Two notes almost divine. Be seated. The verses I read this morning
I read about Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus as I want to preach on effectual
calling. And we have a great contrast
between these two men, Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus. Both were near
to Jericho, and Jericho was a cursed city. When they, when the walls
come tumbling down, Joshua said, cursed is the man
who builds this city. He'll build its foundation, start
its foundation on his firstborn, be a cursed city. And yet they
were found at extreme ends of this city. Bartimaeus was, as
he was going into Jericho, Zacchaeus was on the other end of Jericho.
And oh my, the one was setting sitting by the wayside. The other
one was up a tree, in a tree, sitting in a tree. The one was
poor, he said, by the wayside begging. The other one was rich,
Zacchaeus rich. The one sought Jesus for mercy,
Bartimaeus did, And Zacchaeus was up a tree,
but one had to cry for mercy to be saved, and the other had
to get down. One had to get up, and the other
one had to get down. And our Lord Jesus is able to
save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. And whether
you're poor, or whether you're rich, whether you're high, whether
you're low, it doesn't make any difference to Him. Our Lord doesn't
save just because you're poor. And He doesn't save just because
you're rich. He saves men because He wills
to do it. Now, I want to use Zacchaeus
today as effectual calling. I love to talk about what God
does for His elect people. Now, there are six things, six
things that we most surely believe, six things, and they can't be
refuted. Men may refuse to believe them,
but they can't be refuted. And this is the first thing we
absolutely believe, surely believe, God's absolute sovereignty. God
does according to His will in the armies of heaven among the
inhabitants of the earth. No man can stay His hand. He
declared the end from the beginning and from ancient times of things
in the out dead, saying, I will do all my pleasure. And then
the second thing, We most surely believe among ourselves is man's
absolute sinfulness. He's not partially bind. He's
not partially crippled. He is an absolute sinful creature. He was born in sin, shaped in
iniquity. He'll live in sin all the days
of his life if God doesn't do something for him. And the only
people, you know, he said the man is full of wounds, bruises,
and putrefying sores from the count of his head to the sole
of his foot. That's how bad man is. That's
what God, that's how God sees. And then the third thing that
we most surely believe among ourselves is God's unconditional
election to salvation of his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's unconditional election
of His people to salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. If it
was only conditioned other than the Lord Jesus Christ, nobody
would be saved. Nobody, nobody. God's election
is His election. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. God chooses whom He will to save.
And He does that saving, that election, that electing before
the world ever began. We were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. I love election. I love it. I love the absolute surety of
election. Salvation does not depend on
my preaching, does not depend upon you in any way. It depends
upon God Almighty. Once you're saved, if you're
one of God's elect, then you'll always be saved because He saved
you on His will, on His terms, and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I tell you what, now, there's a fourth thing that we believe,
most surely among ourselves. The Lord Jesus died for a particular
people. He died for His elect. He died
for a particular people. You know what they're called?
They're called His sheep. They're called vessels of mercy.
They're called children of God. They're called the elect. They're
called chosen. Vessels of honor. God got a lot of names for His
people. A lot of names for His elect people. And the fifth thing
that we believe is this, that all whom were elected, that all
that Christ died for, that every single one of them will be effectually,
effectually, irresistibly called to the Lord Jesus Christ. They
are called to repentance and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. And the sixth thing is that we
believe, and all surely believe this, that all who come to the
Lord Jesus Christ, call to Him, who be died for, they will persevere,
they will continue in the faith, and will die in the faith. Now,
I believe every one of those things. Absolutely so. Absolutely
so. And that blesses my preaching
because, listen, my preaching, I want to preach the right, I
want to preach faithfully, I want to preach Christ, I want to preach
the gospel. But my preaching is not what
saves men, God does. But He ain't gonna save them
apart from the gospel. He ain't gonna save them apart
from the things I just talked about. And I want to deal with
this effectual call this morning, effectual call. And oh my, you
know, our Lord Jesus Christ, when he called his disciples,
he went up into a mountain, it says in Mark 3, 13, and called
unto him who he would. And oh my goodness, it's pictured
all the way through the Old Testament, pictured in so many ways. You
know, Abraham, Abraham, when he's called, called, to go out. He went out. Jacob, God, even
though he was chosen from his mother's womb, called before,
elected of God, God met him on a, laying down one night and
he was using a rock for a pillar and Christ got a hold of him
and changed him dramatically and changed him from Jacob to
Israel, a prince of God. And, oh my, the Samaritan woman, our Lord Jesus Christ went right
to her and effectually called her. And, oh, she said, come
see a man, that thief on the cross. What in the world? Why would he be saved? You know
why? Because he was effectually called
even while he was on that cross, dying, bloody. Fixed to take his last breath,
and the Lord Jesus Christ told him, today, today, you're going
to be with me in paradise. Oh, my. And here's a scriptural,
scriptural illustration of Christ not inviting the sinner. People
talk about inviting the sinner, but when we look in the scriptures,
Christ himself comes to the sinner. We only come to Him because He
first comes to us. And this is a perfect illustration.
You know, down there, and I think in verse 5, look what it says. When
Jesus came to that, Luke 19, 5. And when Jesus came to that
place, He looked up, saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus,
make haste to come down for, listen to this, today I must
abide at thy house. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
You mean he didn't open his heart to let Jesus in? You mean somebody didn't teach
him the sinner's prayer so he could accept Jesus? But there was four obstacles
in the way of Zacchaeus. First of all, there was the crowd.
Oh my, great crowd was gathered around there. The second thing
was Zacchaeus' size. He was little of stature. And
the third thing is that was an obstacle was his sin. And the
fourth thing is his natural enmity against will and God. Now I was
going to deal with four calls in the scriptures, but I'm not
going to. I'm going to deal with Zacchaeus and the effectual calling.
Look at verse five again. Look right with me. And when
Jesus came to that place, He always comes to where you are. He always comes to where you
are. Every place that you find Christ
and somebody in the presence of Christ, Christ was there.
He came to where they were. He came by Bartimaeus and Bartimaeus
heard of His name and He came. But our Lord come to where He
was, so He could be where Christ is at the same time. And oh my,
and this effectual calling. And I tell you the first thing
about it, it's a call of grace. If a man's called, it's by grace. It's always of grace. You know,
they were in Jericho, and it says there in verse 1, and Jesus
entered and passed through Jericho. Jericho was a cursed, cursed
city. And oh, it's an awful city. It
was a city filled, only one person was saved out of Jericho. And
you know who that person was? Rahab the harlot. The only person
saved out of Jericho was one person. It's like down in Sodom
and Gomorrah. You know how many people were
saved in Sodom and Gomorrah? One man. My so he felt you know it was
when when that that Samaritan was driving walking by in Jericho
That's where he was fell among thieves But now let's look at
you know why it's called a call of grace Look at the carrier
character of Zacchaeus look what it first verse 2 behold there
was a man named Zacchaeus and which was the chief among the
publicans, and he was rich. Oh, my. He was a chief among
the publicans. That means he is a thief. He
wasn't just a regular tax collector. He had a whole bunch of other
tax collectors under him. He was the boss. He was one of
the main people. He, you know, He was a supervisor,
if I could say it that way. He was the boss. He was the chief
among them. And I tell you what, when they
collected taxes, they brought them to him. And you gotta wonder
when people collect taxes, how much of it do they save for themselves?
I'll put a little bit over there, put a little bit over there,
put a little bit. Next thing you know, how do you think he got
rich? How do you think he got rich? It's kind of like a people
in our politics, you know, they come from nowhere, get in Congress,
get in the Senate. Next thing you know, they're
only making $100,000 a year. Next thing you know, they're
worth $300 or $400 million. How's that happen? They're a
bunch of thieves. And that's the way Zacchaeus
was. He's a thief. He's rich. Chief among the publicans. Oh, my. Oh, my. You know, God,
Our Lord Jesus Christ, look over in Luke 18 with me. Look all
the way back over here in Luke 18, 24. You know, it's hard for
a rich man to be saved, very hard for a rich man to be saved.
You know, this was that rich young ruler that came to the
Lord Jesus Christ, and he told him, oh, he had been a good man
all his life, kept the commandments and all that. And you know when
Jesus, verse 22, now when Jesus heard these things, He said unto
him, Yet lackest thou one thing, sell all that ye have, distribute
it unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and
come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was
very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that
he was sorrowful, he said, how hardly shall they that have riches
enter into the kingdom of God. For it's easier for a camel to
go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of God. But here was a man that was rich,
and here's a man that Christ was calling. Oh my, not only was he rich,
but look over here with me again, in verse 7, Luke 19, 7. And when they saw it, they all
murmured, saying that he was going to be guessed with a man
that is a sinner. So you see, he was a chief publican,
he was rich, and he was a sinner. He was a sinner. And look what
effectual call our Lord gave to him. There in verse 3, verse 5 again. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make
haste and come down. You got to come down. Come down. That's why grace is effectual.
What grace it is. For Christ to look down on a
man, even look at a man, that's grace. But for him to look up,
look up. That's real good. I mean, you
know, he'd get to look down on somebody. That's something that
Christ would look down. And that's, he has to look down
on us. But oh my, he looked up this
time. He looked up. Oh my. Oh, to look down is, man, that's
a blessing. And then it was a personal call.
Look what else it says in verse 5. He came to that place and
looked up. Ain't that something? Stood and
looked up. He looked up. There's a couple of times our
Lord looked up. In John 17, he looked up and
prayed to his father. In John 11, when he's going to
raise Lazarus from the tomb, he looked up, called on his father. He could actually see into glory. But here he looks up to do what? to make a call. And look how,
look what it, it's a personal call. He said, Zacchaeus. He said, I know my sheep. I know
my sheep. He said, Zacchaeus, it's a personal
call, Zacchaeus. Let me tell you something. You
know, boys climb trees and there's no telling how many boys was
in that tree that day with Zacchaeus. You know, there's little boys,
they all climbed that tree, they got up there with Zacchaeus,
so Zacchaeus had to be a really small man. And Zacchaeus, you
know, he climbed up that tree, and oh my, you know, the general
call, all it does is, many shall be called, but few are chosen. But the particular call, the
effectual call, the personal call, oh my, look in Romans 9
with me. Look in Romans 9. The general
call, everybody refuses it. Everybody. But look what it says
here in Romans 9. But there's a particular call.
And I'll tell you what, that's what happens. You got, you know,
a particular call. You wonder, say, well, you reckon
the Lord's calling me? Are you listening to the gospel?
Do you believe the gospel? You think I'm telling the truth?
But in God's speaking, God's speaking. Look what he said here
in verse 11. For the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God, according to election, might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto the elder, shall
serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. Look in Romans 8.30 with me. Oh my, we're talking about a
particular call. This is a personal call. Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus. And oh, look what he says here. Romans 8.30. Moreover, whom he
did predestinate, them he also called. He called them. Huh? For as many as were ordained
to eternal life, they believed. Why? Because they were called.
And I'll tell you what, he called, he justified him, I'll tell you.
You know, you go through the scriptures. Mary, this is one
of my sweetest things you ever heard. Mary Magdalene had been
a bad sinner, an awful sinner, had seven devils in her. Can
you imagine a woman having seven devils in her? A few women that
you know, I wondered if I had them in them. I met a few men,
if I wonder, they had them. One of them I asked my marriage,
used to say, they had a devil in them big as a barn. But Mary, Mary, after the Lord
saved her, oh, she loves Christ. Oh, how she loved him. And she
went looking for him. After he was raised from the
dead, she went looking for his body. And she run up on this
man she thought was the gardener. She was just weeping and weeping
and weeping. And she come up, and this man
thought he was the gardener. And she took down and said, sirs,
would you, sir, would you tell me where you've laid him? And
I'll come and take him up. Barry. Barry. Mr. Lawrence. Seconds! I heard you call me
one time. Oh, I love what a call. I've
seen him over the years call so many, so many. Oh, my Mary. Peter and John went fishing,
you know, went back. And I tell you, our Lord Jesus
Christ, while they were fishing, Peter and John and Andrew and
them were fishing. He'd come by while they was working
on their boat. He said, follow me. They dropped
everything they did and followed him. Quit their jobs, followed
him. Oh, my. And I tell you, Matthew
was sitting like he was a publican. He was sitting at the receipt
of custom. Christ walked by and said, follow me. He left the
money on the table and walked away. Oh, my. I tell you, Paul
on the Damascus Road, Christ-hater, Christ-despiser, murdering the
Lord Jesus Christ people. But God met him on the Damascus
Road. Oh, listen, met him on the Damascus
Road, and he said, Lord, what will, blinded him, Lord, what
will thou do? What will thou do, have me to
do? And he said, wouldn't it please God who separated me from
my mother's womb, and listen to this, and called me by his
grace. He called him Saul, Saul. He
knew who he was. Then he became Paul, the apostle. And I'll tell you what, Lazarus, dead men don't hear the voice
of Christ. Yes, they do. Yes, they do. Oh, dead men hear the voice of Christ.
Lazarus, you know why he calls? He calls his people. He knows
their names. Come forth. And I love this,
he that was dead came forth. Oh my goodness. Oh my. And I tell you what, he called
us. He called you and me. And oh, thank God for the power
of God that makes us willing in the day of that power. Thank
God, I tell you what, He has from the beginning chosen us
unto salvation. Chosen us unto salvation. Oh,
it's a personal call. And I tell you what, when it
becomes personal to you, that's when you're gonna listen. When
there's nobody in the building hearing what's going on but you,
then you're a pretty good indication of the Lord calling you. Oh,
my. I remember years ago, I'm gonna
tell this. There was a fella, when we were
still down at the old building, he'd come to me all the time,
ask me to baptize him, ask me to baptize him. Oh, I believe
what you're saying, I believe what you're saying, ask me to
baptize him. And I wouldn't do it because, you know, he put
too much emphasis on baptism. And they went and asked another
preacher that I knew if he would baptize me. He says, well, Donnie
won't do it. I said, no. He said, well, I'm
not going to do it. Well, he got mad, got upset, and he left. He's gone about two or three
years. And I met him in a store one time, and we was talking. And he told me, he said, well,
I said, boy, we're sure missing you over there. And I said, well,
you know, his wife continued to attend here. She's not like
one of these families when one quits, the boat quit. You know,
when one moves, they all move. But anyway, to make a long story
short, he sat there and said, well, I'm not one of God's elect,
and I guess I'll just go to hell then. And man, that broke my
heart when he said that. And I started crying. Right there
in front of me, I just broke down and started crying. I said,
what would make you so proud about going to hell? Why would
you glory in that? Why would you think that? He come back the next Sunday.
He sat in here for almost three years. Never said a word. One day he got up and I got through
preaching. He said, Brother Donnie, the Lord saved me. The Lord saved
me. The Lord saved me. He's going
to be with the Lord now. He's going to be in glory. And
I'm grateful. I'm grateful. And I tell you,
not only is it a personal call, it's a hastening call. Look with
me back down in verse five again. And when Jesus came to that place,
he always gonna come to where you are. He gonna come to where
you are. And oh, he looked up. He gotta
look up. And oh my. And look what he says,
said unto Zacchaeus, make haste. Make haste. You know what that
means? Get down right now. I'm not going
to wait for you. I'm not going to wait for you.
This is the time to get out of that tree and come to me. This
is the time to leave everything alone and get to me. Make haste. Make haste. I mean, he said,
get in a hurry about this business. Get in a hurry about this business.
And this is, this is, this is awful that people do this. They'll
say, tomorrow, tomorrow, or when I get ready, I'll start coming. When I get ready, I'll make a
profession. When I get ready, I'll accept
Jesus. When I get ready, you'll never
get ready. The guest wasn't ready until
Christ said, the guest, make haste, make haste. Oh my. I tell you what, the general
call and the preacher's call, that's all it ever does. And
I tell you, I heard years ago that the road to hell's paved
with good intentions. That's all the general call and
the preacher's call can produce. But effectual call says, today,
today I must, today I must. He said, today I must abide,
today. Today, if you hear his voice,
harden not your heart. That's what the scripture said.
Don't harden your heart. Effectual call says today, today. And I ask you, some of you that
are believers now, could you have put off tomorrow when Christ
called you, effectually called you? Could you have said, well,
I'll wait till next week. I'll wait. No, no. When Christ
calls you, I mean, it's right now. And listen, I'm telling you this. You don't have to, you don't
have to come to the front. Oh, Scott Richards, and you say
all the time, said you can come to Christ without moving a muscle.
How do you do that? We come to Christ in our hearts,
in our souls. In our minds, we come to Christ. How many people's coming to Christ
this morning while I'm preaching? Of the Lord's people, you're
coming to Christ right now. You understand what it means
to make haste. I'm getting older and older and
older. And one of these days, one of
these days, I'm gonna have my last day. One of these days,
you're gonna have your last day. One of these days, you're going
to breathe your last breath. One of these days, you're going
to see out of your eyes the last time. One of these days, somebody's
going to clean your body up and stick it in a casket. And I'm not trying to scare you.
I'm just trying to tell you what reality is. In a little less than two years,
one time, we buried seven people out of this congregation. seven
people that had been faithful for years and years and years. And I tell you, every single
one of them, it was a blessing to be able to stand over them
and talk about what Christ had done for them, and how they believed
the gospel, and how they rejoiced in the gospel, how they believed
in the grace of God, how they looked to Christ alone, and that
was their only hope and plea before they left this world,
was the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, my. And I tell you, affects
your cause today. Tomorrow is on Satan's calendar. Tomorrow is on Satan's calendar.
Tomorrow is the day that the dead waited for. Tomorrow is
a dream. Tomorrow is a delusion. Tomorrow
is a promise that you make to yourself and you'll never keep
it. You won't keep it. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Oh, my. Today. Today. Today. Is today your day? Would today
be the day that you say, yes, yes, I need Christ. I want Christ. I've got to have
Christ. I'm tired of carrying this sin
around. I'm tired of carrying this burden around. I'm tired
of having this fear on me. I'm tired of just doing this. I'm tired of it. Oh my. Now, God says now, the Spirit
says now, Christ says now. Look what it says here in verse
five. Again, make haste and come down. And look what it says in
verse six. And he made haste and came down. He made haste. He does just exactly
what Christ told him to do. He got out of that tree so fast.
He got out of it a heapsight faster than he went up it. When Christ tells you, listen,
today, you must make haste today, you ought to just say, he made
haste. And I love this, he came down.
It came down. Every place you find people,
they'll either find him at the feet of Christ or touching his
garment or Christ touching him with his hand. And all he did
here was just speak his word. Make haste, come down. He made
haste and came down. Oh, ain't you grateful? Oh, wow.
When Christ calls, men make haste. Men make haste. And it was a
humbling call. Look what he said. He told Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down. And Zacchaeus made haste and
came down. Today's preaching, and most preachers
are telling people, to stand up for Jesus. Be a lady, a gentleman
for Jesus. Stand up and give Jesus a big
hand clap. Let's all stand up for Jesus. Let's all make a great proclamation
that we're gonna stand up for Jesus. Oh my, but effectual call. Is
that gas? Come down. That's what effectual
call is. Go down. Old Scott used to say
all the time, make your headquarters in the dust. Come down, come down, come down. People want to go up, God says,
come down. People say, I want to do it my
way. God says, you're going to do it my way. Oh, my. Effectual call humbles the sinner,
humbles him. Oh my, he must come down from
his good works. Must come down from what he calls
his good works. Must come down from his self-sufficiency. Must come down from his pride
and self-righteousness. Must come down from his morality
and who thinking he's something special. I'd be doing God a favor if I
joined the church. And the preachers just love to
say, oh, I'm so happy that you came today. I'm so grateful that
you came today. You ought to come to hear the
gospel. It's a privilege to come and
hear the gospel. But people say, boy, I'll tell
you what, they would really be a blessing to have me in the
church. You know, I've heard preachers say, well, listen,
I'd come over and help you if you wanted me to. I want to help
you out. I don't want to get out. I don't
need no help to get out. I don't want out. And I certainly
don't need no help to get out either. Oh, no. Oh, Zacchaeus. I believe Beloved
went, you know, he climbed that limb at a time. But when he came
down, he come down out of that tree so fast, everybody else
left up there. Whoa, down there where Christ
was. He was where Christ was. He said,
come down here, Zacchaeus. Come down here where I am. Come and stand before me. come
be in my presence. And it says there all he wanted
to do was see who he was. When he climbed that tree, because
of his little stature, he said, I want to see who he is. He'd never saw him. He said,
I want to see who he is. That's what he said. He was sought
to see Jesus. He could not for oppressive little
stature. But oh my. And look what, it
was such a loving call, such an affectionate call, such a
sweet call. Look what he says there. And
our Lord Jesus Christ there in verse five said, make haste and
come down for today I must, I must abide at thy house. You know what I mean? He must
there are of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Bible. He must need go
through Samaria. Why? Got one of his elect up
there. He came to where Zacchaeus was,
told him to come down. He goes to where his people are,
and oh my, he said, today I must. Now, do you notice that? He didn't
say, boy, I sure wish Zacchaeus would invite me in. I sure wish
Jackass would ask me to come to his house. I'd like to go
over there and try my best to win him. Oh, today. Today. I must. I must. I got to go to your house today. I got to do it. I must do it. Oh, you're talking about the
love of Christ. When he goes after one of his,
he must, he must come. He must. He must. I shall call his name Jesus.
And I tell you one thing, it says, You know, there's no other
name under heaven among men whereby we must be saved. And, oh, our Lord must. Oh, my. I must abide at their house. You know, you know what kind
of house he had before the Lord Jesus said, I must come there?
That's where all the money was. That's where he collected all
the taxes at. That's where he had everybody bringing all their
money. And he was the chief, and so he was collecting taxes
and had all these other people bringing money. Oh my. It was a house he had, and look
what they said there in verse 7, that he is going to be guests
with a man that is a sinner. Oh my. He's gonna go, listen,
that's the only people he'll go guests with. That's the only
people he'll have anything to do with. He don't have nothing
to do with good people. He won't have nothing to do with
moral people. He won't have nothing to do with people in self-righteousness.
He won't have nothing to do with people's trust in their good
works. He ain't gonna have nothing to do with anybody that thinks
higher of themself than they ought to. He ain't gonna do it.
He will not do it. Oh, I never will forget, you
know. But look at the kind of houses we had. What kind of houses
did we have before Christ come? Drunkenness. Lying. Anger. Upset with everybody,
mad at everybody. Friday nights was a big night
for us. Oh, now. Christ come in. That lying and
cheating and all that stuff, it's got to go. Old books, filthy books got to
go. Got to go, huh? Oh, my. But let me tell you,
Strive, I think I've told you this before. Years ago, a dear
preacher friend of mine, he's dead and gone now, he's gone
to be with the Lord, but his wife asked him, her husband was
in the hospital, and he's pretty bad shape, and he asked her,
he said, would you go and talk to my husband for me? She'd been
a faithful church member for years. He said, would you go
talk to my husband? Yeah, I'll go talk to him. So he went and
talked to her husband, Read him some scripture. Read him some
words. And talked about, you know, Christ
came to save sinners. And if you trust Christ, and
he said, well, preacher, I'll tell you one thing. There's a
lot of things wrong with me, but being a sinner is not one
of them. Closed his Bible, walked out. Said, I got nothing for
you. Christ has nothing for anybody,
and you won't be a sinner until Christ says, come down. And you
know what? That's the only people he'll
guest with, the only people's home he'll go to is sinner's
houses. Preacher told me one time, said,
you know, I was teaching him how to pray the sinner's prayer.
Sinners is the only people who do pray. Lost people say, well,
I prayed, and I prayed, and I prayed. But only people who really pray
is God's people who are sinners. And every time you pray, you're
a sinner praying to God Almighty. You're flesh, He's spirit. You're
weak, He's Almighty. You're helpless and He's got
all the power to help you. And I like it like that. I like
it like that. And oh my. and the kind of house
he makes it to be. When he comes into a house, he
said, oh, today I must abide at your house. Oh, the kind of
houses he makes it to be. He turns it into a house of liars
and turns it into a house of prayer. He turns it into a house
of cursing, into a house of praise. Oh, my. Turns it into a house
of thankfulness. all sorry books but the Bible
becomes every the Bible becomes the most precious book in your
house. Instead of a house of cursing,
it turns into a house of praise. God does that for us. God does
that for us. Oh my. And then look what else
it says there. In in verse five, today, I must
abide at thy house. You know, I must. Wherever Christ
comes, you know what that tells us? He's gonna stay. Wherever
He comes and whoever He says, He's gonna stay. He ain't gonna
leave you. He's not gonna leave you. When
He comes to the house, He's gonna stay. He's gonna stay. I must abide at your house. And,
oh my, abide with me, abide with me. Oh my. You know, those to
whom he come, he stays. He stays. You know, he told Peter,
when Peter denied him three times, when our Lord resurrected, he
said, the angel told him, said, go into Galilee, go tell his
disciples and Peter. He's going before you into Galilee,
and there's where you'll see him. He said, be sure and tell
Peter. Because I tell you, Peter done some awful things. But I
tell you, he's still mine. He's still mine. He's still mine. Oh my. He comes. Oh my. General call to walk in and out.
But our Lord says, I'm coming to eat. I'm coming to drink. I'm coming with you. And I've
come to stay with you. I've come to stay with you. And
oh, one of the old hymn writers said, here, I'll make my settled
Rest, no more will I come and go, no more a stranger or a guest,
but master of this house. That's our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then look what, oh my, a necessary call. Look what else he says. He says, it's a necessary call. Ain't that what he says? He said,
today I must, I must do this, I must do this. He must needs
go through Samaria. You know, it's God's purpose
that he came through there. He came, he came to where he
was. The Lord Jesus bought this man,
paid for this man, shed his blood for this man. He was, he was
fulfilling one of God's promises that God said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. All that come to me, but all
mine. No knocking at the door here.
No knocking at the door here. He kicked in the door. Well,
he didn't even, you know, he said, I'm coming. I'm coming. No, Lord, I got things to do. I got to get the house cleaned
up for you, comp. No, no. He said, Lord, I'm coming. That's what women do when they
have company or something like that. They just about have a
nervous breakdown trying to get everything for all their company
and everything. Oh, my, I got to get this done,
that done, you know, just run around like Martha. But our Lord
said, I'm coming. I'm coming. I must come. I've
got to come. And he comes to our house just
like it is. You don't have to clean up to
get him to come in. In fact, he's the only one that
can clean you up. You're not going to be clean
until he cleans you up. Oh, my. All right. It's an effectual
call. Look what else. You know, this
effectual call, it brought forth fruit. Look what it says in verse
8. And Zacchaeus stood, and said
unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I'm going
to give to the poor. Verse 8, half of my goods I'm
going to give it back to the poor. Half of what I got I'm going
to give to the poor. That's what he told that rich
young ruler, sell all you have and give to the poor. And if
I've taken anything from any man by false accusation, I'm
going to give him If I got a dollar from him, I'm going to give him
four back. If I took two, I'm going to give him eight. If I
took five, I'm going to give him 20. That's what he said. I'm going to give him back four
times what I took from him. Oh, my. That's what happens to
the Lord's people. That's what happens to the Lord's
people. I tell you, when the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost goes after a person, and when And I tell you what, he
gives correct views. He gives people correct views
of himself. And he gives his correct views
of his self to his sheep, of God, man, and salvation. So what's
important to God? This is the way we are. What's
important to God becomes important to us. God's son. God's son. What his will is, is our will.
Oh my, I tell you what, his righteousness is our righteousness. And I tell
you, his sheep, I hope and pray by God's blessed grace, that
somebody, somebody, I don't care anybody, our Lord says, somebody
touch me. He turned around. That woman
stood up and said, it's me. Would you say, was that gas today?
I'm coming down out of this tree. Our Father, oh, our gracious
God in heaven, in the blessed name of our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, thank you for your gospel. Thank you for your effectual
call. Thank you for the things that
you taught your people. You told us in your word, no
man can come unto you except the Father which sent me drawing.
And everyone that's been taught of God, everyone that our Father
teaches, comes unto me, comes unto you, Lord Jesus. Teach your
people here. Teach men and women here. If
there's any sack asses, if there's any woman at the well, Lord,
please, for Christ's sake, open the heart. Sow that blessed seed. Bring glory to yourself for Christ's
sake. We ask in his holy name. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.