Thank you for your hospitality. The place we have been staying
is spot on. Todd called and asked me if I
would be in this conference. And I told him only if I didn't
have to share a bathroom. I said, I'm getting too old for
that. And then they got us an Airbnb. And it's a nice one. And as soon as I walked in, I
was met by David. And he said, I guess you're the
feature speaker. You get the big bathroom. You got to love a man like that.
That was a good message. That was a good message. Well,
now that I've got your attention, turn over to Luke. chapter 19, Luke chapter 19. I titled this message Up a Tree
on Purpose. Up a Tree on Purpose. You know
everything that Almighty God does he does on purpose. God is not a reactive God. He's proactive. That word means
creating or controlling a situation by causing something to happen
rather than responding to it after it happened. Calvary is not a rescue attempt
on humanity. It's not a rescue attempt on
humanity. It is the redemptive glory of
God. It's according to his eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ before the world began. It is God saving a multitude
of sinners that he chose in Christ before the foundation of the
world. If he had not chosen anyone in Christ, no one would be saved. The angels that did not fall,
you know why? They are called the elect angels.
The elect angels. And if God had not chosen a multitude
of sinners to be saved, no one would come to Christ. No one
would ask for mercy. Let me ask you this. When you
read the Gospels and our Lord had cast out demons, do you ever
read of any demon asking for mercy? Well, you and I wouldn't
either, unless he chose us and called us and saved us. We wouldn't
be any different than the devils. I have learned over the years
that the only difference between a devil and a man is that a man
has a body. And that's the only difference.
We're just devils in a body. But our Lord, our Lord, before
the creation of the world, became responsible. He became surety
for a multitude of sinners no man can number. He became responsible
to bring them home. This gives me great comfort.
He is responsible for me. I find great comfort in that.
I'm not responsible for myself. He, as my surety, is responsible
to bring me home, as David said, faultless. That's the work of
a surety. And Christ is that surety. He's
responsible for every one of them. Now here in this narrative,
we have Zacchaeus. And I know you've heard this
priest from, I have many times, and I still love it. You know,
Paul said this in writing in Philippians. He says, it is not
grievous to me to write the same things to you, but for you it's
safe. to stand here week after week
and preach Christ crucified, to preach Christ and His glory
is not grievous to us who preach and it's safe for you who are
here to listen. It's safe. It's the safest thing
you can do for the sheep is continually preach Christ to them. Now Zacchaeus
was a publican. That means he was a tax collector
and no one likes Well, I was gonna say no one likes a tax
collector, but there might be a tax collector in here. So I
won't say it. So I'm not gonna say it. But
he was a tax collector and they hated him. He was hated. He was a Jew working for the
Roman government. And he was hated for this. Hated
for it. And then verse two, It says he
was a rich man. A rich man. And this is interesting.
Because in chapter 18, there's a young rich man who comes to
the Lord, calls him good master. And the Lord said, why do you
call me good? There's nothing good but God. And that went right
over his head. And after he walked away sorrowful,
the Lord told him to go sell all he had and give it to the
poor, come follow him. And he went away sorrowful because he's
very rich. And he was very covetous. And the Lord said, how hard shall
it be for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God? He said,
it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven. And the disciples
were like, well then who then can be saved? If a rich man can't
be saved, who then can be saved? Well, the Lord showed them, us,
here in this next chapter. He saves a rich man. You see,
with men, it's impossible. With God, everything's possible.
And He proves it by saving a rich man. And here in verses 3 and 4, Zacchaeus
was very curious to see the Lord Jesus Christ. No doubt he heard
of Him. Anyone who lived in that area
had to have heard of the Lord. But he heard about him, and now
he has the opportunity to see him. He wanted to see what manner
of man is this. What kind of man is this I'm
hearing all this about? You see, the Spirit of God will
create an interest in the heart of his elect to seek out Christ,
even if it's out of curiosity. God's a God of means, and he'll
use whatever means he's purposed to bring you to hear the gospel,
to cross your path. The scripture says, despise not
the day of small things. He uses even little things to
cross your path, the path of his elect. Zacchaeus did not
know that the grace of God was already at work for him. He didn't
have a clue the Lord was thinking upon him. You know, it is written,
his thoughts to usward cannot be reckoned up in order. I can't
imagine God, almighty God in all his greatness thinking upon
me as if I was the only one that existed. thinking about me, taking care
of me, watching after me. That's astounding. That's astounding. Then it also says in verse 3
that he was little of stature. For some reason I just seem to
identify with this man. He's short of stature. He had to climb up a tree to
see over that crowd. You'd think this was not on purpose.
Oh, God's hand is in this all the way. And he was little of
stature, he climbs up in this tree, for it says, for Christ
was who passed by that way. Christ must pass by that way,
just like he must go to Samaria. There's a woman at the well.
He's got a sheep there to save. Zacchaeus' shortness of stature
and that tree were not by accident. There are no accidents with God.
There are no accidents. Everything's on purpose. You
might leave here and die in an accident, but it won't be an
accident that you died. It'll be by the purpose of God. The Lord was going to purposely
cross his path, and God being a God of means, he used that
tree to hold Zacchaeus in until the time appointed for him to
pass by and effectually call him to himself. Zacchaeus didn't
even have a clue He didn't have a clue. I didn't have a clue
the day I went over to my parents' house to eat. I didn't have a
clue I was going to run into the gospel. I didn't have a clue
I was going to, my dad was going to say, that man's preaching
the gospel. And I sat down and I listened and I heard the gospel
in power. And I'm here today, almost 50
years later. I didn't know that. I wasn't
looking. I thought I had it. I thought I had it. The Lord
will use whatever means he has ordained to keep his elect in,
to keep them till time appointed to cross their path. Our meeting
of Christ will not be an accident. It will not be an accident. You
are not here by accident this evening. You're not here by accident. What I do know is this, and this
is very sobering. It's very sobering. In 2 Corinthians
2.16, to the one we are a saver of death unto death, and to the
other the saver of life unto life. Who's sufficient for these
things? God is our sufficiency. We're
not sufficient to handle matters of life and death and eternity
in God's glory. He makes us. He takes these clay
pots. He put this treasure in earthen
vessels. and put some of them in a pulpit,
and preach the most glorious thing there is, the gospel of
his glory, and calls out sheep. Calls out
sheep. Little did Zacchaeus know that
he was up that tree on purpose. He did have no clue that he was
up that tree on purpose. And little did we realize that
the things that happened to us was for the purpose of bringing
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Your whole life, from the time
you were born to the time the Lord crossed your path, your
life was guided by Him. It was guided by providence.
The providence of God is at work for you, God's children. It's working for us every day.
We ought to get up and not turn on TV and see what men are doing,
but get up and see what God's doing. What the Lord's doing. God does not save men by chance
meetings. God does not save men by chance
meetings. He doesn't do that. Listen to
2 Timothy 1.9. God who has saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. It was given to us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. God's a God of purpose. He created
this whole world, this earth. He created it with a purpose. He didn't create it, then lose
control of it, now he's trying to regain control. Calvary's
not, as I said, it's not a rescue attempt on humanity. It's God
saving a people that's gonna be just like his son. God's gonna populate an earth,
a new earth, and it's gonna be a people just like his son. That
doesn't mean we're all gonna look exactly like, in spirit. We're gonna love as he loves.
Kind is His kind. Patient is His patient. We're
going to be like Him in His attributes. Perfect in them. Perfect in every
way. And it says in verse 5, when
Jesus came to the place, He came to the place. The Lord always
comes to where the sinner is. He always comes to where the
center is. He walks over to the pool of
Bethesda, and there's a bunch of lame folks there, a bunch
of impotent folks there. He walks up to one man, and he
heals him. He tells him to get up and walk.
And you know what's missing? To show you what grace is, and
God's electing grace is. That place was full, it says,
of impotent folks. No one else said, Lord, what
about me? Not one of them said, well, Lord,
what about me? They was all looking at that pool. That man, the Lord
has his attention. And he saves that man. They're
all standing there looking at the pool. Not one of them. Not one of them. Even that man, he said, I don't
have anybody to help me. When I start to go down to the
water, the others get ahead of me. And the Lord healed him,
and he walks away, and not one hollers at him, whoa! Sovereign grace. Sovereign mercy. And our Lord demonstrated that
time after time after time. The Lord always comes to where
the sinner is, for the sinner will not come to him. Christ
said you will not come to me that you might have life. You
and I have a will problem. We have a will problem, we will
not come. You know we have a natural enmity in our minds against God.
You know that word enmity means a natural hostility. We naturally
hate God. Now think about this. Arminianism,
which is anything, any other religion, it's just a religion
of works. That's Arminianism, it's a religion of works. That
God has done all he can do. I mean, God is, Christ has died
on a cross. He has suffered the hell of God's
wrath on a cross. And now God's leaving the end
result of that to a bunch of God-hating rebels. That is infinite
stupidity. That's not infinite wisdom. That's
infinite stupidity, if that were so. That's not so, that's not
so. Jesus Christ said, I'll not lose
one of them that the Father has given to me. I'll bring them
all home, every last one of them. Darkness never comes to the light
first, because the light, listen, light reveals what the, the light's
too revealing. That's why we won't come to the
light unless he comes to us and gives us light, makes us children
of light. Unless he commands the light
to shine into our hearts. That's when we come. That's when
we believe. When God saves us. When he saves
us. I didn't know I was dead until
God made me alive. I didn't know I was blind until
he gave me eyes. I didn't know it. I didn't know it. Christ
had to come into this world to get us. He had to come to the place where
the offense happened. He had to come to the place where
the offense happened in order to save the offender. Our representative,
our substitute, had to come to the place where the crime was
committed. He had to come to the place where
the crime was committed and take our place before God's law. And this just gets sweeter to
me as I get older. It's not repetitive, it's sweeter.
You know, I grew up, when I was a kid, I grew up on fried potatoes,
bento beans. I can still eat that every day
of the week. And I can eat this every day of the week, the bread
from heaven. He came where the offense was,
where it was committed, where the law was broken, and he took
our place. He magnified the law in our place. He was condemned in our place. He hung on a tree in our place.
And he went back to heaven to prepare a place. Because we didn't
have one. We lost it. He prepared a place
of acceptance. And he said, if I go and prepare
a place for you, He's talking to somebody. He didn't say, if
I go and prepare a place, and if you'd like to come, come. No, he said, I'm going
to prepare a place for you, and you, and you, and a lot of yous. And I'm coming back to get you.
And when a child of God dies, the Lord just fulfilled that
promise. I'm coming back to get you. That's what our representative
has done for us. Now, after coming to this place,
this ordained place where Zacchaeus is being held, he looked up. The Lord of glory looked up.
And the sense is this. He looked up on him in mercy
and grace. He knew where he was. He had
him up that tree on purpose, holding him there till he passed
by. Here is a sinner who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Here is grace unasked for and
unsought. Zacchaeus didn't even have a
clue. He was lost. He didn't have a clue. You see,
this is how grace comes to us at first. Christ passed by many there, but one found grace in his sight. Here's a room full of sinners
who have found grace in his sight. That's why you're here. That's
why I'm here. And then we have in verse five, We have in verse five, the Lord
gives this call. Now this is a perfect example
here of an effectual call. Here it is. Zacchaeus. He called him by name, didn't
he? Samuel, he went to Eli. He said,
go lay down. Samuel, he goes to Eli. He said,
go lay down. And he called him again, he said,
and Samuel said, now next time he's, next time you hear that,
say, speak Lord. He calls his children by name,
he calls his sheep by name. His sheep, and he always calls
them sheep, he never calls them goats. The Lord has never turned
a goat into a sheep. His sheep has always been his
sheep. Always been. Zacchaeus. Make haste. There's not a conversation going
on here. I'm telling you what, when the Lord calls you, when
he commands life, you're going to live. And when he calls you,
you're coming. And nobody's going to have to
drag you down an aisle. I've seen that way back in my early
years. Nobody's going to have to drag
you down an aisle. Donnie was pointing that out
this morning. Just get out of the way. That's
the work of the Holy Spirit. I'm just a messenger. My responsibility
is to stand here and glorify Jesus Christ. Saving is the Holy
Spirit's work. The new birth is His work. It's
not my work, it's His work. We need to stay out of His business. That's His business, not mine.
When the Lord calls a sinner, effectually that sinner is going
to answer that call. My sheep, hear my voice. And a stranger, they'll not follow. They'll not follow. And the first
call to Zacchaeus was to come down. He's got to call us down. You know how highly we think
of ourselves? You could take the biggest bum in the world
and he'd think very highly of himself. We just naturally think highly
of ourselves. We've got to be called down,
put in our place, stripped of all our righteousness. all of our false hope and lay
bare before God. Lay bare before God. When I heard
the gospel in power, the first thing that happened to me, I
remember it, I'm just gonna give you some of my experience. It
was the first time I was ever afraid of God. I was never afraid
of God before that. And I realized he might not save
me. He doesn't have to. Everybody's
been saying he wants to save you. I had people, I had, I had
people trying to witness to me and get me to, I thought that's
tough. I was holding out. And then I heard the gospel.
I thought he, he might not save me. He might leave me alone. I might die tonight. Who said
he's going to get up tomorrow? You know one of the downfalls
of youth is you always believe you got another day. God did not promise us another
day. When it comes to salvation, you know what he says? Today
is the day. I have now. I have now. I have now. I never have the
second past that unless God gives it to me. I don't have it. And he says this, and here is the purpose for the
haste. Today, I must. I love that. I must save you. I must save you, you're mine. I must, I must abide at thy house. You see, he takes over the house.
He's not a visitor. Salvation is Christ in you, the
hope of glory. It's a stronger man taking over
the house. Today, not tomorrow. Who said you had
it? With God it's always today. It's always right now. Always. Today I must abide at thy house. This is salvation. Christ in
you, the hope of glory. Christ taking up his abode in you. You who claim that God
has saved you, you know that Jesus Christ is in you. He's not way off somewhere. I know he's seated at God's right
hand, but at the same time, he's in you. And at the same time,
he's here in our presence. Do you believe the Lord Jesus
Christ is here? I mean, really here? You know, if you got on
the radio or TV and you said, Jesus Christ is gonna be here
at Todd's Road Grace Church at 10 o'clock in the morning. He's
gonna be here. Why, people would show up just to see if he's gonna
be here. But you and I know he is here. The Lord is here. That's why
when we sing songs, we don't sing about the Lord here. We
don't sing about the Lord at home. We sing unto the Lord.
There's a difference in singing about Him or singing to Him.
We sing unto the Lord. So when we sing here, the Lord's
here. He's here. Sing to Him. Sing to Him. Today I must abide at thy house. He takes over. He takes me over. Put it that way. He is my life. I said this yesterday. He's my
life. He's my everything. He's my everything. And Zacchaeus, in verse 6, Zacchaeus
made haste and came down. See, this is what happens when
God gives an effectual call. The sinner responds by coming
down. He responds by obedience. It's obedience. in faith. The power of God went with that
call. As Paul wrote to the Thessalonians,
he said, For our gospel came not unto you in word only. Some of you will hear the gospel
in word only. Now some of you, the gospel came
not unto you in word only, but in power and in demonstration
of the Spirit. You heard And you've not been
the same since. You have not, you cannot be born
of God and not be different. Just so. That's too radical. That's just too radical. To be
a son of God, to be born of God? You're still a sinner though.
I know when I first made a profession, I told my brother, he said, well,
you're a sinner saved by grace. I said, no, I used to be, I'm
not anymore. Three years later, God saved
me and I've been a sinner ever since. That's so. And notice here in verse six,
and notice here, Zacchaeus received him joyfully. I have never, ever
met a sinner whom the Lord has saved mad because the Lord saved
him. I've never met one. I've never met one. I had a friend
that I ran around with in high school, a close friend. I had
a friend who said, I wish the Lord hadn't saved you. And I'll tell you this, if the
Lord does, the world will quit calling you. There's too much
difference. There's too much difference.
Your phone will quit ringing. The world has to be with the
world. It can't run around with God's
children. There's just too much difference.
Too much difference. When God makes his people willing
in the day of his power, they receive the gospel, they receive
Christ with joy. Joy. And look at the crowd's reaction,
though. And this is my friend's reaction. They murmured. They murmured. You know, people
like it when you get religious, but they hate it when God saves
you. The world's not your friend.
Not anymore. You have nothing in common. Not
a thing. They were upset because Christ
saved a sinner, a notorious sinner, one they hated. Oh, Christ saved a sinner and he
went to be guest in the sinner's home. That's the only home he's welcome
in, is the home of a sinner. A sinner is one who makes no
excuse for his sins. It's like David, against thee
and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
Most people are not sinners who claim to be sinners. They have
an excuse for why they do what they do. Well then, you know,
I can't, I'm not that bad. Well, Christ didn't die for you. He didn't die for you. He died
for sinners. And the evidence of a work of
grace in the heart is Zacchaeus opened his home and it opened
his pocketbook. He became totally different. He was so different. He was an extortioner. He was
rich because of the money he took off of people that he overcharged
them on taxes. But now he just opened up his
home and he says, I'll give back, what's it say, a fourth part
of all that I've taken? Or if I've taken anything, I'll
give it back? Oh, my. Now, how do we know that the
Lord saved this man? How do we know that? He says
in Luke 19, nine, and Jesus said to him, this day is salvation
come to this house. Oh, don't you wish, oh, don't
you want that to be said to you? This day salvation has come to
this house, this house, this day. He's taken over the house. And you know how you know he's
taking over the house? When he has the preeminence in preaching,
in singing, and even in our prayers, when he has the preeminence,
this day of salvation come to this house for as much as he
also is a son of Abraham. And then last of all, we have
the purpose for our Lord's mission. For the Son of Man is come to
seek and to save, to save, not attempt, to save that which was
lost, that which was lost in the fall. He came to save. You ever been lost? If so, I've got good news. Christ
came to save that which was lost. Christ died for sinners. He died
for the ungodly. He didn't die for anybody else. You know what? I learned what
ungodly is. When you think of ungodly, you
think of all kinds of acts of sins, don't we? It's unlike God. I'm as unlike God as I can be
by nature. God is light. I'm darkness. God is life, I'm death. I am
ungodly. I am unlike him as it could be. And he died for the ungodly.
I can raise my hand on that one. That suit fits me. He died for
sinners. No good against thee and thee
only have I sinned, done this evil in thy sight. Now if that
doesn't fit you, he did not die for you. He died for sinners. He died for the ungodly. Let
me be a Zacchaeus. Lord, pass by my way. Don't pass by me. Save my soul. You know, I really
want to be saved. I want to be saved. I want to
be saved from my sins. Not hell. I don't worry about
hell. You know, Arminianism has made the issue between heaven
and hell. It's not between heaven and hell. It's my sins. How can
God be a just God and have anything to do with a wretch like me?
How can I be made one with God and have fellowship with God?
It's not about heaven and hell. That's what the rich man, you
know the rich man said, Father Abraham, send somebody back to
what? Warned them about this place. Don't warn them about the place,
warn them about God, who can kill both soul and body and cast
it into hell. I asked a man one time, he was
tore all to pieces, some religious zealot got a hold of him, and
he was tore all to pieces. I worked with him. And I got
to talking to him and I said, let me ask you this question.
Who do you fear the most? What do you fear the most, God
or hell? And he said, hell, I don't want to go to hell. I said, well,
if you find favor with a judge, you don't have to worry about
prison, do you? I said, your fear is in the wrong place. A
right fear of God, a right fear of God, not hell. This is not about heaven and
hell. This is about God and how this center can be made one with
him. And that's what Christ prays
in John 17, that they may be one as we are one. All right,
I thank you. I thank you for your hospitality
and your kindness to me and my wife. We thank you. Thank you
for your lender. The supper we had was spot on. It was good. Thank you. All right.