teleguys retired when he doesn't
know the difference between morning evening or night if we were having services tonight
he would know what day it was joy it is good to have you back
we missed you let's open our bibles to exodus chapter twelve
for our scripture reading tonight exodus chapter twelve we'll plan
on having lunch this Sunday after the service. And we've got some
of our friends and brethren from Sarasota. They're going to be
here. And looking forward to that. Also, this coming Saturday, men,
we'll have our preacher's school class here Saturday morning at
10 o'clock. And I think a couple of the men
from Sarasota are gonna try to come, so that'll be good. All
right, you have your Bibles open to Exodus. Chapter 12, we'll
begin reading at verse 21. Then Moses called for all the
elders of Israel and said unto them, draw out and take you a
lamb according to your families and kill the Passover. And you
shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that
is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts
with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall
go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord
will pass through to smite the Egyptians, And when he seeth
the blood upon the lintel and upon the two side posts, the
Lord will pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer
to come into your houses to smite you. And you shall observe this
thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever. And
it shall come to pass when ye be come to the land which the
Lord will give you according as he has promised that you shall
keep this service and it shall come to pass when your children
shall say unto you what ye mean you by this service that you
shall say it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover who passed
over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote
the Egyptians and delivered our houses and the people bowed the
head and worshiped And the children of Israel went away and did as
the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. So did they. Our children, I hope, will ask
why we do what we do and why we believe what we believe, and
we'll have an opportunity to tell them. and hopefully in the
Lord's time and purpose that he'll be pleased to make himself
known to them. Two things about children. Answer
the questions they ask and don't try to go beyond that. Satisfy
their curiosity and don't feel like you need to carry them beyond
where they are. Second thing is familiarize them
with the stories and the characters of scripture. Children love stories
so familiarize them with that so that when they hear these
messages and these passages preached they will have some familiarity
with that and in the Lord's time he'll hopefully enable them to
make the connection between that story and the gospel. So, just
a little parenting advice. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we're so very thankful for the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We're thankful, Lord, for how you Pass over our sin when you
see the blood. We ask, Lord, that you would
cause that blood to flow freely tonight. Pray, Lord, that you would give
to us the grace to be able to set our affections on Christ,
to look to Him, to rest in Him. to be safe and secure in this
house knowing that we are protected by your mercy. We do pray for our children.
We ask, Father, that you'd be pleased to stir in their hearts
an interest in the things of God and that you would give to
us the wisdom to tell them who you are and what you've done.
Lord, we pray that in your appointed time that you'd be pleased to
open their hearts and to bring them to yourself. We ask it in
Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number 169 from the hardback tenor. 169. Holy Spirit, faithful guide,
Ever near the Christian side, Gently lead us by the hand, Pilgrims
in a desert land. Weary souls forever rejoice While
they hear that sweetest voice. Whispering softly, Wanderer,
come, Follow me, I'll guide thee home. Ever present, truest friend,
Ever near thine aid to Leave us not to doubt and fear, Groping
on in darkness drear. When the storms are raging sore,
Hearts grow faint and hopes give o'er, Whisper softly, wanderer,
come, Follow me, I'll guide thee home. When our days of toil shall
cease, Waiting still for sweet release, Nothing left but heaven
and prayer, Knowing that our names are there. Wading deep the dismal flood,
fleeting naught but Jesus' blood. Whisper softly, wanderer, come,
follow me, I'll guide thee home. Please be seated. I know you all aren't quite as
aware of this as I am, but we have a virtual church that's
an extension of this ministry, and there are groups that don't
have pastors that listen to and watch our services regular, and
there are individuals around the country that just can't simply
get to a a gospel church, and they rely upon us. I say that because I wanted to
tell you about a dear brother that's been watching our services
for many years now. He lives in Mississippi. His
name is Lowry, and today's his birthday. And so happy birthday,
Lowry. I texted him this morning. He
texted me back. He said, thank you, brother.
I'm thankful to have been given another year. You all are always
in my thoughts, and I pray for you daily. By God's grace, I
will at last meet up with you all, hopefully in this life.
All is well with my soul, and all God does is right. Thank
you for thinking of me today. I knew you'd be encouraged to
hear from Brother Lowry. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Luke chapter 19? Luke chapter 19. I've titled
this message, When the Lord Comes to Your House. I want the Lord Jesus Christ
to come to my house. I want Him to come to this house.
I want Him to come to your house. And my greatest fear My greatest
fear of all is that the Lord would leave us to ourselves,
that He would not visit us, and that His presence and His grace and
His mercy would depart from us. If that happens, all is lost.
All is lost. And if He's pleased to come to
our home, than just as Brother Lowry said, all is well. All is well, regardless of what
else happens. If he's there, then he does all
things right. The Lord Jesus Christ visited
the home of a man by the name of Zacchaeus. And in this story,
there are There are illustrations of what
happens when the Lord visits our home. And I just want to
try to draw some of those out of this passage. So if you're
there with me in Luke chapter 19, beginning at verse one, 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 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 he came
down and received him joyfully. Oh, if the Lord comes to our
house there'll be nothing but pure joy. And when they saw it they all
murmured saying that he was gone to be guest 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 any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This
day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is
a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to
seek and to save that which was lost." If the Lord comes to our
house, He will put into our hearts what He put in Zacchaeus' heart.
To seek after Him, to know who He is. And if we're to know Him,
He'll make Himself known to us from His Word. That's how he
reveals himself. He reveals himself through the
preaching of the gospel. He reveals himself through the
study of the word. We're not interested in just
learning stories or learning doctrine. We want to know the
Lord Jesus Christ. Look with me in verse five. And
when Jesus came to that place, I'm sorry, in verse three, and
he sought to see Jesus who he was. If the Lord comes to our house,
He will put in our hearts a desire to know Him for who He is. And He'll make Himself known
to us by His word as the sovereign Son of God. He'll make Himself
known to us as the successful Savior of sinners. He said, I
must go to your house today. He'll make himself known to us
as the substitutionary sacrifice for all sin that satisfies the
demands of God's divine justice. That's how he makes himself known.
He'll make himself known to us as the mighty God, the Prince
of Peace, the wonderful Counselor, that Passover lamb that we just
read about there in Exodus who in fact was slain by God before
the foundation of the world. That's who he'll make himself
known to us to be. If he visits us he will set our
hearts to know who he is. Paul said that I might know him. I have not yet apprehended that
which has apprehended me." Oh, to know Him. To know Him as the Lord our righteousness. To know Him as the one who is
the right hand of God and accomplishes all the work of God for the saving
of His people. To know Him as the rock of my
salvation. the branch how many titles we've
looked at several already and Lord willing we're going to look
at the one where the prophet refers to Christ as the branch
the root the stem of Jesse and how beautifully that depicts
who the Lord Jesus Christ is if you look to see who he is
it's because he put it in your heart And the reason that he
does that is so that he, when he makes himself known to us,
it'll be all of him. He looked, he saw, and he said. You see that in verse, look at
verse 5. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up. He looked directly at Zacchaeus. In all the press of all the people
there, he set his eyes on Zacchaeus. He saw him and he said to him,
Zacchaeus come down. He spoke to him by name. He said, I must abide at thy
house. Why must he abide there? Why
must he? He said, I want to go to your
house. Will you let me? No. He said, I must abide at
your house. God has ordained it. I have willed
it. No man can forbid it. This is my purpose and no man
can stay my hand. If the Lord comes to our house,
it will not be because we persuaded him. It will not be because we
deserved it. It will not be because we invited
him. It will be because he purposed
it and because he accomplished it. I must come to thy house. Look with me at verse 6. And
he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. If the
Lord comes to our house, it'll be an effectual call. It won't
be something that we'll say, well, let me think about it.
It won't be something that we'll weigh in the balance with other
considerations. No, like Zacchaeus, we'll make
haste. We'll come down and we will receive
him with great joy. For the Lord truly does make
his people willing in the day of his power. When He comes to
our house, He gives us a heart to receive Him, to rejoice in
Him. That passage that you go read
Sunday was such an encouragement to me. Go into the highways and
the hedges and compel them. The first call, the outward call
that was given to general public was an invitation and everybody
denied it. But then the servants were sent
out with an effectual call. You go and you compel them and
you bring them. Like Mephibosheth was fetched
by David. He didn't have a choice about
it. He was brought to the king. The Lord said, I know my sheep.
I call them by name. They hear my voice and they follow
me. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
a frustrated Savior. He's not looking to get into
people's homes and they're shutting the door on him. No, I must come
to thy house. And Zacchaeus was joyful. What
other response is there? What other response could there
possibly be? He is visiting me? He's coming
to my house? You know, one of the reasons
why the people were murmuring is because they thought that,
well, if he's gonna come to anybody's house, he'd come to my house. But not so when the Lord visits
the home of one of his children. They stand amazed. that he would come to their house,
of all the homes that he could go to. You mean he's going to
come to my house? He's going to visit me? He's
going to grace me with his presence? He's going to speak peace to
my heart? He's going to forgive me of my
sin? You mean he knows my name? Of
all the people of the world, he's going to save my soul? Salvation
has come, Zacchaeus, to thy house. Why? Because you're a child of
Abraham. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
three. Know what the Lord said? Said
that he's one of the children of Abraham. That's who I came
to save. I came to save the children of Abraham. And not one of the
children of Abraham is gonna be lost. And he's not talking
about the physical descendants of Abraham. Look at Galatians
chapter 3 beginning at verse 7. Know ye therefore that they
which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen, that's what Zacchaeus was, through
faith, preached before the gospel under Abraham saying in the shall
all the nations be blessed so then they which be of faith are
blessed with faithful Abraham Abraham was the father of the
faithful where we gonna get this faith from God's gonna have to
give it to us the Lord purpose to go through Jericho because
there was a lost soul there, a child of Abraham that he purposed
to save. And there's no other evidence
that he showed grace upon anybody else. Look at verse 9, So then
they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham, for as
many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for
it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. So now
he's contrasting and comparing faith to law keeping. I had a man call me yesterday. And as he is often the case,
religious people, they start out with a very humble, inquisitive
attitude. And I received it for that, hopefully
that it will continue. But within just a few minutes,
it was obvious that it was a facade. And he began criticizing friends
of mine. and then he told me that that
when the Lord saves you he takes you back to Sinai and that the
mosaic law becomes your rule of life and ended up I just had
to hang up on him but the law is not the rule of life
the Lord Jesus Christ himself Faith. And that's a gift of God. It's not of works. Lest any man
should boast. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall
live by the works of the law? No. By faith. By faith. by looking to, resting in, trusting
in the finished work of the only one who ever satisfied the demands
of God's law, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that what? Believeth. Now the children of Abraham were
chosen of God before the foundation of the world, and the Lord Jesus
Christ knew that there was a child of Abraham there in Jericho. And just like that woman at the
well in John chapter 4, when the Lord said, I must needs go
through Samaria, he must needs now go through Jericho. Why?
Because there's a child of Abraham there. There's a child of Abraham. There's one who's going to be
given the faith to look to me for all his salvation. And I'm
going to his house. I'm going to visit him. Now Jericho, you remember Jericho
in the book of Joshua. It was that first Canaanite city
that was walled. It was a walled fortress is what
it was. And there was one of God's elect
in that city, wasn't there? Rahab, who ended up being the
great grandmother of King David and the very lineage of the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. And Rahab was going to be saved,
but the walls, the city had to be destroyed. The city had to
be destroyed for Rahab to be delivered. And Joshua took the
children of Israel and you remember they marched around the city
for seven days and then they blew the ram's horn. It's a picture
of the gospel being preached. And when the gospel was preached,
what happened to the walls of that city? They came tumbling
down, didn't they? That city is a picture of the
walled fortress that men build in false religion. And when the
gospel, when the trumpet of the gospel is heralded, the walls
of that city come down for the deliverance of the people of
God that are there. Now that's Jericho. That's where
Zacchaeus was. Joshua, after destroying the
city of Jericho, pronounced a curse against Jericho and said, if
any man ever rebuilds this city, He will lay the foundation on
the life of his firstborn, and he will hang the gates of that
city on the life of his youngest. And if you go to 1 Kings 16,
verse 34, a man by the name of Hiel did rebuild the city, and
the curses were fulfilled in his life. He rebuilt the city
of Jericho, and in laying the foundation of the city, his firstborn
died, and in hanging the doors of the city, his youngest died. all this place is a it's a it's
a cursed place and yeah it's the place where the Lord delivers
his people from how many of God's people the Lord allowed to live
in Jericho for a while before he came brought him out and that's
most of our experiences just through one form of man-made
religion, building up fortresses, thinking that somehow we're going
to protect ourselves from the world or protect ourselves from
the wrath of God through our man-made religion. And then the
trumpet of the gospel is blown. And the walls of that city crumble. And the Lord delivers us. I must
go to thy house. The other thing I want us to
see in this passage is that the Lord is always passing through. He's always passing through.
He doesn't stay anywhere for a long period of time. The evidence
of that is that I don't know of a single church that's faithful
to preach the gospel that's more than a generation or so old. Does that mean that there weren't
any churches before a generation ago? No. It means that God passed
through. and he raised up a fellowship
and he saved some Zacchaeuses and he accomplished his purpose
and he showed mercy on his people and then he was finished and
uh... eighteen years ago he visited Apopka, Florida. He's passing
through, just passing through. Zacchaeus made great haste just
like Bartimaeus did when he heard that the Lord was passing through.
How many times do we read that about the Lord? He's just passing
through. He's on the move, isn't he? That
the Lord would give us the heart to seek Him in this brief time
of His passing. Where He is now, He won't stay. And where he's going to be, he's
never been before. God would give us the spirit
of Zacchaeus and teach us, as we saw last Wednesday night,
to number our days, to redeem our time, and to know our end,
and to seek his face while he may be found. How urgent is this
matter? And if he visits our home, he
will impress us with the urgency of it, and convince us that this
is not something to be taken lightly, and this is not something
that everybody's blessed with, and this is a rare thing that
I would pass through your town, that I would pass by your home. And unlike the Passover that
we just read about in Exodus chapter 12, this is a passing
to come and eat with us. Zacchaeus' name means justified. That's what his name means. And
I'm sure that prior to meeting the Lord, he lived up to his
name. He was a child of Adam, just
like you and I are. And what do the children of Adam
do? What do they do by nature? They
justify themselves, don't they? That's just what we do. That's what Adam did in the garden. He told the Lord the woman that
God had given him had made him to eat of that fruit. What was
he doing? He was justifying himself. And I'm sure that Zacchaeus,
in all of his greed and dishonesty, said many times, I'm only doing
my job. How do these people expect Rome
to take care of them if I don't collect taxes? These people need
me. I'm doing them a service. Or
like our politicians might say, I can spend their money better
than they can. You know, just justifying himself
He warmed his cold heart with the cloak of self-righteousness.
He justified his greed by occupying the moral high ground of obligation
and responsibility. Oh, the things that we can convince
ourselves of when we're trying to quiet our wailing conscience. But that's what we do, isn't
it? justify ourselves, the lies that we can embrace when trying
to avoid the conviction of the truth. Oh Lord, don't let me
justify myself. The Lord said if you know the
truth, the truth will set you free. We embrace things that
aren't true and then we justify the existence of those positions,
don't we? The lame arguments and excuses
that we come up with to justify ourselves. That was Zacchaeus. But now he was about to find
out the joy and freedom of being justified by God. Oh, what great hope there is
for Zacchaeuses, who by nature would justify themselves to be
justified by God. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? Let
the accuser of the brethren accuse me all he wants. If I'm justified
before God, then I'm justified. It is Christ that died. The death
of the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied the demands of God's justice
for me. I'm in faith as a child of Abraham
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for all my justification. He's
the one who justifies and he said the justifier and they who
are justified are all as one before God. It is Christ that
died, yea rather is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Justified before God, I've got
an intercessor. I've got an advocate with the
Father. Now Zacchaeus doesn't have to come up with lame excuses
for justifying himself. Now he can joyfully know that
he's justified before God. How do you know when you've been
justified by God? Well, you lose your need to justify
yourself. Job, if you read the book of
Job, Job said some horrible things. I mean, Job You know, after at
the beginning of the book of Job, when it said that Job did
not sin against God by accusing Him of wrongdoing, and then the
rest of the book of Job, Job saying, God, let me bring my
case before your counsel, and I'll prove to you that I don't
deserve this. I'm innocent. You're wrong. I'm right. And
he spent the whole book of Job justifying himself, and God just
let him talk. God let him talk. And then the Lord spoke. Who
is this that darkened my counsel without knowledge?" Brace yourself,
Job, like a man. I'm going to ask you a few questions.
And the Lord began to interrogate Job, didn't he? And after that
interrogation, Job said, I uttered that which I understood not. things that were too wonderful
for me which I knew not wherefore I abhor myself and I repent in
dust and ashes Lord there's no more justifying before you we know we've been justified
by God we know that we've lived up to our name as Zacchaeus when
we quit justifying ourselves and rest in the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ as all of our justification before God. Oh, that we could. If the Lord
visits our house, he will cause us to follow after him even as
he has followed after us. Zacchaeus, you know, he overcame
the press. in order to follow after Christ.
Now if you go back just a couple pages to Luke chapter 15 you
read the story that the Lord told. Let's go back there because
I want you to see something at the beginning of that chapter.
The parable of the lost coin, the parable of the lost sheep,
the parable of the lost son, picturing the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit in their relentless, successful pursuit
of that which is lost in order to cause them to be found. That's
what this parable is about. It's God pursuing His people.
Look at verse 15, verse 1. Then drew near unto him all the
publicans and sinners, for to hear him. And the Pharisees and
the scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and
eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto
them. This parable was told to the
publicans, I mean to the Pharisees, as a condemnation against them.
And the end of this parable was the elder son, wasn't it? The
elder brother. Look what he says in verse 28. And the elder brother was angry
and would not go in, therefore came his father out and entreated
him. The younger son had gone his
way and now he'd come back and the father received him and rejoiced
and the older brother wouldn't have it. He wouldn't have it. He was angry, would not go in,
therefore came his father out, and entreated him. And he answered
him, and said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve
thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment. And
yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with
my friends. Never transgressed your commandment? This was the attitude of those
that murmured over the fact that the Lord went to the house of
Zacchaeus. They thought if he's gonna come
to anybody's house, he'll come to my house. Surely he wouldn't
go to that person's house. All such self-righteousness. Zacchaeus had to overcome. Go back with me to our text. Zacchaeus was a publican. He
was rich. Rich in his own righteousness. And that's where God finds every
one of us. There's nothing, nothing inherently
evil about being rich. Nothing inherently virtuous about
being poor. The rich and poor, distinctions
that are made in scripture in order to illustrate spiritual
wealth and spiritual poverty. And here's a man like the church at Laodicea who said,
we're rich and increased in goods and in need of nothing. And the
Lord said, do you not know that you're poor and miserable and
blind and wretched? But that's how we come, don't
we? We come with the richness of our own self-righteousness.
And then when the Lord visits our home, he causes us to, Lord,
give away the things that we had. Verse four, he ran before and
climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass
that way. I'm sorry, verse 3, and he sought
to see Jesus who he was and could not for the press because he
was little of statue. He had to overcome the press.
If the Lord's pleased to come to our home, he will cause us
to overcome the press. The truth is that's what you've
done this evening. You've overcome the press of
your life in order to be here. Some of you have driven an hour
and a half to get here. And I know your lives are filled
with obligations and responsibilities. There's so many pressing issues
placed on us by men. Your boss wants his pound of
flesh. Your children put demands on
your time and energy. The creditors demand to be paid. Politicians would drain our emotions
with frustration over their corruption. The entertainment industry would
exhaust our enthusiasm with foolishness. The stuff that we have to maintain
would fatigue us with a never-ending need. We're pressed on every
side, aren't we? And like Zacchaeus, we are of
little stature. We get trampled by the press. So what do we do? Well, if the
Lord's pleased to visit us, we'll do what Zacchaeus did. We'll
get into a vantage point above the press. Zacchaeus got into a sycamore
tree. Now we have trees around here we call sycamore trees,
but I don't think it was the same kind of tree that we call
a sycamore tree. For this sycamore tree translated
means sweet spice or perfume. So whatever this tree was, it
had an aroma about it that was very pleasing. Isn't that the way it is when
we go to the garden of prayer when we come and meet with the
people of God where the Lord Jesus Christ is passing by and
enables us to get above the press and the sweet perfume of His
grace takes us above the press. I like what Luther said one morning. He woke up, he said, I have an
exceptionally busy day today. I better spend an extra hour
in prayer. Isn't that the way it is? Oh, if the Lord would
enable us. If He visits our home, He will
take us into the sycamore tree. He'll put us in the garden of
His grace. He'll cause us to seek His face
in prayer. And He'll bring us to the place
where He's pleased to make Himself known. And there, though we be
like Zacchaeus of little stature, And we're unable to deal with
the press of all of our worldly circumstances. He gives us a
vantage point above it all and enables us to see Him. And then
He speaks from there. When the Lord was pressed beyond
measure, what did He do? He went to the garden, didn't
He? He got into the sycamore tree. He went before the Father
in prayer, in agonizing prayer, sweat as it was, great drops
of blood, and yet the battle was won in the garden. Death was accomplished for us
at the cross, but the battle that the Lord Jesus Christ wrestled
with in drinking the cup of God's wrath was fought and won right
there in the garden. That's where the Father gave
him the strength to go to the cross. They all murmured, if the Lord's
pleased to visit our homes, we will suffer the contempt of those
that the Lord had not shown grace toward. They murmured, he's going to
a sinner's house. What were they saying? They were
saying what that elder brother was saying in the 15th chapter
of Luke. They were saying, surely if anybody
deserves the Father's love, it's me, not him. They were expressing their contempt
for the Lord choosing Zacchaeus, of all people, Zacchaeus. And
Zacchaeus was thinking all along, you come to my house? Isn't that the way it is? When
we talk to men about Christ and about God's electing grace and
God's sovereign mercy, what do they say? What do they say? That's not fair. Why would God choose some and
not others? But what do those say whom the Lord has visited
their house? They say with Zacchaeus. They
come down, they make haste, they receive him joyfully, and they
just absolutely cannot believe that God would have mercy upon
them, upon all people. What a contrast! The self-righteous are always
jealous towards those that receive mercy. The believer considers himself
to be the most unlikely candidate for salvation. The believer is
more surprised than anyone that the Lord would come visit them. If the Lord visits our homes,
he will put into our hearts an importunity. An importunity. Notice what Zacchaeus did. He
was pressed in the crowd, he couldn't see the Lord, so he
ran ahead, got up in a tree. He sought to see Jesus who he
was. The word sought here in verse
3, you see that word in verse 3? It's a strengthened form of
the verb that we find in the scriptures to seek. In other
words, it means to follow after with great desire. If the Lord is pleased to visit
our homes, that's what he'll put in our hearts. Importunity. He'll make himself to be the
most important thing to us of all. This word can also be found in
Matthew chapter 6, where the Lord tells us, don't fret over
what you're going to eat, or what you're going to drink, or
what you're going to wear. He said these things the Gentiles
seek after. You see the passionate pursuit
of unbelievers in their attempt to accumulate worldly wealth? That's what this word seek means.
It means they've cast their whole life and soul into just getting
more. And that's what we do. More of Him. Your Heavenly Father knows you
have need of these things. You seek, and it's the same word. First, the Kingdom of God and
His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto
you. Seek and you'll find. knock and it will be opened up
unto you, ask and it will be given thee." If the Lord comes to our home,
He'll cause us to seek Him, to seek Him first, to seek Him with
importunity even as Zacchaeus did. Verse five, and when Jesus came
to the place, he looked up, he saw him. He said unto him, Zacchaeus,
make haste, come down. For today I must abide at thy
house. He made haste, and he came down,
and received him joyfully. And when the others saw it, they
all murmured, saying that he was gone to be the guest with
a man that is a sinner. They couldn't rejoice. Oh, God's
people rejoice in the salvation of sinners. They just do. And God's people know. You know,
sometimes we think about a person or look at a person and we think,
boy, I just don't see any way. I mean, they're so set against
the gospel and they're so far away. How could the Lord save
them? And then what's the Lord do?
I saved you. I say to you, you know what every
believer believes? Every believer believes this.
If God saved me, He can save anybody. Anybody. For every believer believes themselves
to be the chief of all sinners. Zacchaeus, his heart was opened,
his hands were opened. Look at verse 8. 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 any man by
false accusation, I restore him fourfold. All his greed had been
turned to liberality, wasn't it? That's just what God does
when He comes to your home. He just opens your hands. He
turns takers into givers. That's just what happens when
He comes. Why? Because He's given everything. And when He comes to your home,
you acknowledge the fact that everything you have, He gave
you. It all belongs to Him. It all belongs to Him. When the Lord comes to your home,
this is what he says, verse 9, this day is salvation come to
this house. He gives assurance of salvation. Assurance of salvation. Now that's
what I want. I don't want to just understand
how it is God saves sinners. I don't want to just have doctrine
straight and believe what the Bible says. I want God to speak
peace to my heart. I want Him to convince me that
He saved me. I want Him to give me His Spirit
and enable me to cry from my heart, Abba, Father, to call
upon Him, to fellowship with Him, and to feel the sweet peace
and relief of knowing that He's taken my sins away. Not that
He's just a successful Savior of sinners, but He's the successful
Savior of this sinner. If he comes to your home, you're
gonna pursue him until he speaks that to your heart. I can't do it. You can't do it
to yourself. Nobody else can do it for you,
but he can. And if he's visited in your home, you're not gonna
let him go. You're not gonna let him go until
he blesses you. You're gonna be like Jacob. Brother
Burke, your scripture reading the other Sunday. You're not
going to turn him loose until he blesses you, changes your
name. This day, salvation has come
to your house, for you are a child of Abraham. How do I know I'm
a child of Abraham? Because I do believe, and faith
is the evidence of things hoped for. I believe. I just believe. I believe God. I believe Christ. I believe the
gospel. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we're thankful for your mercy towards Zacchaeus. And we're thankful, Father, for
enabling us by your Spirit to relate to Zacchaeus. and to see
your work of grace and mercy toward us in the details of this
story. We ask, Lord, that you would
put to our hearts what you did in Zacchaeus, causing us to get
in that vantage point where we can be above the press We can set our eyes on thee and
then hear you looking, speaking to us, bringing salvation to
our home and to our church. Lord, don't leave us to ourselves.
We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 64 in the Sop Actemna
lit stand.