Luke 19, if you would. Tonight we're going to look at
the story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus. I took an interest
in this story. I was watching my daughter, Macy, who's five.
She was standing in the corner of our house and she was singing
that song, Zacchaeus was a little man. A little man was he. And
she said the song over and over and over. And I got to thinking,
if a little child can get something from that story. If she can kind
of understand it, maybe get something from it. Maybe I can get something
from that story. Maybe you can get something from
it. Luke 19, pick up in verse 1. 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 came down
and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all
murmured, saying that he was gone to be a 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, for so much as he also
is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to
seek and save that which was lost. The story of Zacchaeus. Now I love this story because
we get to watch the conversion of one of the Lord's elect in
real time. And there's three things I just
want to look at today concerning this story. Just three things.
First thing I want to consider is the character of this man,
Zacchaeus. The character of this man whom
the Lord called. What was his character? Second
thing I want to look at is the call. The call that the Lord
issued to him. The call that he received. The
call of irresistible, invincible grace. I pray, I hope and I pray tonight
that the Lord would give each and every one of us individually
the grace that we may know that we would leave here tonight and
we may know if we truly have been called of God. So if you
would pick up in verses 1 and 2, I'm going to reread it. It
says, 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. Now the first thing I notice
is the character of this man. These first two verses give us
a description of this man, some information about him, namely
his occupation. Zacchaeus was a publican. Publican. What does that mean? During this
period in time, The Jewish state, Israel, they were under Roman
rule, Roman dominion. And these publicans, they were
Jews. They were contracted by the Romans to collect taxes against
the Jewish people. They had sold out their countrymen
and they were collecting taxes for the Romans, against the Jews.
And the Jews hated these men. They were thieves, they were
extortioners. They would go to their own people, they'd say,
alright, your taxes, they're $100, but you're going to give
me $200. And if you don't, I'm going to
go back to the Romans, I'm going to tell them you've done something
wrong, they're going to come arrest you. These men were extortioners.
The Jews hated them. And when you look at this word public
in the scripture, it's oftentimes followed by the word harlot and
the word sinner. And so this is what I see first.
This man whom the Lord called, whom the Lord saved, he was a
sinner. Now that is a word we use a lot. It's a word we hear a lot. It's
a simple word, but what does that mean? What does it mean
to be a sinner? If you would, turn to Genesis
6, and we're going to look in verse
5. I think this is the most clear definition of what it means to
be a sinner anywhere in the scripture. Genesis 6, verse 5 says, And
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the faults of his heart was only
evil continually. Now, when the scripture speaks
of the heart, what is it talking about? Is it talking about the
organ in the chest that pumps blood? No. It's talking about
the whole man. Speaks of the actions, the works.
Speaks of the thoughts. Speaks of the affections, what
we love. Speaks of our intentions, our motives, and our natural
will. And when it says that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart is only evil continually, it is simply saying this. Every
work. Every thought, everything we
love by nature, every intention, every motive in our natural will
is only evil and is evil for one reason, because of its originating
source, the heart of man. Now I asked this question this
morning, I'm gonna ask you again tonight, is there anyone here who fits
that description? Are there any sinners here tonight? Because
if there is, there is good news. Turn to Mark 2 and look at verse
17. Mark 2, 17 says, When Jesus heard
it, He saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of
the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. My friends, this
is the good news. It's sinners that the Lord calls
to repentance unto a change of mind and a change of alliances. It's sinners whom the Lord saves. And he says, I came not to call
the righteous. Who are these righteous? What is he talking
about here? Well, the scripture says there's none righteous,
no, not one. So what's he talking about? These are men who are
righteous by their own estimate, men who believe that they can
accomplish their own salvation or who can contribute to their
salvation in some small way or most subtly. that if their circumstances
were just right, maybe, just maybe, they could work up a good
work. That's a righteous man. The Lord
says, I came not to call the righteous. Now, in light of knowing
that, I just want to show you something interesting from the
Scripture. Turn to 2 Timothy 1. We're going to spend some
time talking about this thing of being called. And I want to
show you something interesting. 2 Timothy 1, look at verse 8. It says, Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, and listen to this, this is very important, who hath
saved us and called us within 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. Note
the order there. He saved us. and then he called
us. You know what that tells me?
My friends, if I have not been called, this day, if I have not
been called with this call of irresistible, invincible grace,
this call that Zacchaeus received, and I have not been saved, that
means I still bear my sins. And with that in mind, I desperately
want to know something about this call, this call of irresistible,
invincible grace, because I want to know if I've been called.
I'm sure you want to know if you've been called. So if you
would, turn back to Luke 19. We're going to reread verses
3 through 6 and we're going to look at this call that Zacchaeus
received. It says, And he sought to see
Jesus, who he was, and could not for the press, because he was little in 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. Now verses 3 through 6 illustrates
the Lord's effectual call, the secret call, the call of irresistible,
invincible grace. But understand, this is different
than the general call. or the external call, the call
that the Lord issues to every man born in this world proclaiming
that He is and He should be sought. So someone may say, well, how
does the Lord issue that general call, that external call? It's
in many ways, but I see two ways very clearly in the scriptures,
and I want to show you. If you would, turn to Romans 1. Romans 1, and look at verse 20.
This is the call of the creation, the external call of creation. It says, for the invisible things
of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power
and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. The creation. How many times you walked outside
and you looked at the trees? You looked at the rolling hills
you all have out here. Maybe you saw a stream go by. Maybe you
go out at night and you look up at the stars in the sky. Perhaps
you witnessed the birth of your child. And you stand in awe knowing
that an all-wise and all-powerful being created all this. That's
a general call. Every man sees that. Every man
sees that through the creation, that God is, and that he should
be sought. But here's the thing. They won't. They will not. The natural man
is obstinate to seeking God. They should. They can't. They
lack the spiritual ability. And they don't. and the fact
that they don't. It is all our fault. The call
to creation. I'll show you another external
call. Turn over to Romans 2 and look at verses 14 and 15. This is the call of the conscience.
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature
the things contained in the law, these having not the law are
a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written
in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness in their
thoughts, that meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another."
Now this passage tells us that the Lord writes His holy law
on the hearts of every man born into this world. Every man born
in this world knows right from wrong. He knows it is wrong to
kill. He knows it is wrong to steal. He knows it is wrong to
commit sexual sin. And when we sin, our conscience
burns inside of us, bearing witness of our transgression. Now, if
you backtrack that thought, understanding that all men know the law, then
they must know that there is one who gave the law. And they
must know that they are accountable to him, and they should seek
him. But once again, they won't. They will not, by nature they
are obstinate to it. They should, they can't. They lack the spiritual
ability. And they don't. And once again,
my friends, it is all our fault. Now this general call, understand,
this general call has never been obeyed. No man has ever been
brought to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through
this general call. And understand this as well, there's no such
thing as an atheist. Not really, not deep down. I used to work
for a man who claimed to be an atheist. constantly saying there
is no God. There is no God. One day he came
into our office and he had a book with him, a big book. He was
very proud of this book. And the title of this book was How
Jesus Became God. And the sole purpose of this
book was to disprove the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. To
say he was just a man and he was not God. My boss is sitting
there and he's talking to this other guy about the book and
he's really proud of it. And as I'm hearing this conversation
unravel, just one thought came to my mind. For a guy who believes
there is no God, You sure do spend an awful lot of time thinking
about it. Right? If there is no God, why buy the
book? Why research the topic? Who are you trying to convince? But here's the thing. He knows
there's a God. He just doesn't like that there's
a God. He would dethrone him if he could. But before I'm too
hard on that man, understand this, that's you and me. apart
from the grace of God. Now, like I said before, the
call we see in verses 3 through 6, this is not the general call.
This is not the external call that's never obeyed. This is
the call of irresistible, invincible grace. The call that is issued
to every elect child of God. The secret call that is always
obeyed. And there's three things through this story I noticed
about this call. Just three major points. First
thing I noticed is this call was personal. It was personal. Second, I noticed it produced
obedience. And third, I noticed it was gracious.
It was gracious. So first, personal. If you look
at verse 3, verse 3 talks about the press that thronged our Lord
as He walked through Jericho. That word press is just another
word for crowd. And you have to understand that our Lord back
in these times was famous. The tales of His miracles had been
hailed throughout. He was very famous. Men had heard
tales of Him healing many, and perhaps that they needed healing.
They were physically sick. They heard of Him feeding many,
and perhaps they were hungry. There were always men seeking
our Lord for temporal blessings, and they had a great interest
in Him for these temporal blessings. But notice, He had no interest
in them. He had come to a particular place
at a particular time to seek out and call a particular man
Zacchaeus the publican, Zacchaeus the sinner. Now it begs the question,
at least in my mind, why Zacchaeus? Why any sinner for that matter?
If you want to get more personal, why Aaron? Why D? Why Bob? Why any sinner? If you
look down at verse 9, of Luke 19, the Lord actually answers
that question. Why Zacchaeus? And Jesus said unto him, This
day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is
a son of Abraham. Son of Abraham. What does that
mean? Was he saying that Zacchaeus was saved because he was of the
Jewish nation? Because his mother and father were born in Israel
because he had pure Jewish blood flowing through his veins? No. No, absolutely not. The Lord
had passed by many Jews. You see the Pharisees. So what did
he mean? What does it mean to be a son
of Abraham? Turn to Galatians 3 if you would. Galatians 3, look at verse 26.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put
on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond
nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one
in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are
ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. If
ye be Christ's, if you be one who is in him, one he died for,
one of his chosen people. But who are those? Who are these
called and these chosen that are in Christ? Turn to Romans
8. Very familiar passage of Scripture. And look at verse 29. It said, For whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom He did predestinate, them He also called. And whom He called,
them He also justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. God's elect and God's called
are those whom the Father foreknew and predestinated. Two terms. What do they mean? Foreknown.
This word, know, as it's used in the scripture, you all know
this, I'm sure, it speaks of more than just being able to
identify somebody. I know that's Tommy. I know him. I can identify
him. But it speaks of something greater than that, such as Adam
knew his wife Eve. It speaks of an intimate relationship.
It speaks of love. And to be foreknown simply means
to be loved before. Before when? Before the foundation
of the world. Before the foundation of the
world, Zacchaeus was loved by God the Father as Zacchaeus was
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And every believer has always
been in an eternal union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I
can't explain that to you. I don't know how that works. But it's
written in this book and I simply believe it. But that truly expresses
all our hope, doesn't it? Our union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's this, we talked about this morning, but I'll
say it again. It's that when he lived, When he lived, when
he came to this earth and he walked all the paths of righteousness,
when he honored his Father in all things, when he kept the
law perfectly, every jot and tittle, that is when I lived. And that righteousness he worked
out, that is my righteousness. The only righteousness that God
the Father can be satisfied in is the only righteousness I can
be satisfied with. And when he died, when he went
to Calvary, and he bore the sins of his people in his body. It
was my sins he bore in his body. And the punishment that was dealt
out to him, it was the punishment that was reserved for me and
for you. And in him I bled, and in him
I died. And when he was resurrected,
signifying that full satisfaction had been made with God the Father,
that truly the work is finished. That's when I was resurrected.
And right now, and I can't explain this, I don't understand it,
right now as the Lord Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the
Father, in glory, sharing perfect communion, having perfect favor
with the Father, that's where I sit too. In Christ. If you're a believer, that's
where you sit as well. It was the eternal love of God the Father
that had directed this call to Zacchaeus this day. He foreknew
Him. It says He predestinated him.
Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate. What does that
mean? It means to be determined beforehand to an exact end. Before when? Before the foundation
of the world. Before the foundation of the world, God the Father
looked at the Son and He said, Zacchaeus is yours and he's mine
and you're going to return him to me safe and sound. And the
Son said, I will. We're talking about election
here, aren't we? And like we talked about this
morning, the world hates election. They despise it and they have
all kinds of misgivings about it. And one of the more popular
ones is, it's unfair. It's unfair. How could a loving
God save some and pass by others? To answer that, I would invite
you for a moment to look to the cross. The one time God walked
on this earth, holiness, righteousness walked on this earth, And the
Lord removed the restraints, and men were allowed to do what
they wanted to do with God. They nailed him to a pole, they
shoved a spear in his side, and they mocked him as he bled and
died. And my friends, here's the truth
about me and you. If you want to know the truth, if I would
have been there, and the Lord would have removed his restraints,
I would have shoved the spear in his side myself. That's the truth about me and
you. I don't marvel that he could pass by some. I only marvel that
he saved any of us. What if it was your child? Would
you have any mercy reserved for them? In and of myself, no. It amazes me he saved any of
us. This call was personal. It was
personal. Second thing I noticed is that
the Lord's call to Zacchaeus produced obedience. The Lord
came to Zacchaeus where he was. He said, Zacchaeus, come down. What was Zacchaeus' response
to that command? He hung out in the tree and said,
that's an interesting offer. That is certainly intriguing.
I'm going to sit up here in this tree and I'm going to mill that
over and perhaps as an act of my free will I'll come down.
I may choose to do that. Is that how the story goes? Said
Zacchaeus, come down. And Zacchaeus came down. This call always produces obedience. And when I hear this call, all
I can do is come down. Come down from lofty thoughts
of a personal righteousness. Lofty thoughts of a good work.
Lofty thoughts of a salvation in any way conditioned upon what
I have done. Come down from all that. I have to come down. I
have no choice. But I can tell you this, just the same. I have
no choice. I want no other choice. I've
got nowhere else to go. Where am I going to go? Go to
law? Law that condemns me? It says I've got all the evidence
against them right here and what a case they could make. No, I've
got nowhere else to go and I want nowhere else to go. I come to
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, the place of safety and the place
of security. And notice it says he received
him joyfully. This is good news, isn't it?
You're telling me the only prerequisite to coming is to being a sinner?
That I can come just as I am, without one plea, except thy
blood was shed for me? I can come just like that? I
meet that requirement. I'm a sinner. And I've got nothing
to offer. And if you're a believer, that's
joyful news. The call was personal. It produced obedience. And the
third thing I noticed in this call was gracious. The Lord said,
Zacchaeus, come down. But he didn't stop there. He
told him why he had to come down. He said, for today, I must abide
at thy house. Let me ask this question. Had
Zacchaeus done anything to earn our Lord's favor up to this point?
Is there any reason in and of himself that the Lord would come
to Zacchaeus and bestow anything upon him? Any reason inside Zacchaeus? Zacchaeus was a publican. Zacchaeus
was a sinner. He hadn't earned anything. There
was nothing commendable about Zacchaeus in and of himself.
But yet the Lord says, I must abide in thy house. What an act
of grace. Is that not how he came to you?
And while I'm absolutely sure that the Lord dwelled in Zacchaeus'
physical house that day, I think the greater application here
is the fact that he dwelt in Zacchaeus' heart. Let me give
you a scripture here, turn to Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36, and look at verse
26. It says, A new heart also will I
give you. And a new spirit will I put within
you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit
within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall
keep my judgments and do them." Now, I have a personal interest
in this thing of the Lord giving me a new heart, because I am
so incredibly tired of the old one. See, when the Lord gives
a man a new heart, that is where the Lord rules. and where he
reigns. And where he rules and reigns,
there's peace. There's love. There's love for
Christ. There's love for his people.
There's joy. Joy in the gospel. Joy knowing
that he sits on the throne. There's contentment. There's
faith. There's belief. What an act of
grace that the Lord would come to this man, this sinner, Zacchaeus,
and he would do a work of grace in his heart. So we saw this call that it was
personal, that it produced obedience, and it was gracious. I hope that
the question that is lingering on everyone's heart and mind
right now is, has he called me? I think we can know. If the Lord
will bless us this evening and visit us, I think we can know.
I think we can walk out these doors and know. I'm going to
ask you two questions. First question is this. Are you
a sinner? Is every imagination of the thoughts
of your natural heart only evil continually? Is all you do sin? Is it sin because you do it?
Is your sin all your fault? You're not blaming Adam. You're
not blaming the sovereignty of God. Are you a sinner? That's the first question. Second
question is this. Do you call on His name? Let me give you a scripture.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. Let's make good on that statement through
the scriptures. I'm going to wait for you all to turn there
because I want you to see it for yourselves. 1 Corinthians 1, look at verse
1. Paul, called to be an apostle
of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother,
unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are
sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in
every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both
theirs and ours. The called call. Are you calling
on his name? Right now, are you calling on
Him to save you with no help from you, in a manner to where
He gets all the glory in your salvation, and you are simply
a trophy of His power and His grace? Are you calling on His
name? The answers to the questions,
my friends, are yes, and yes. Leave this day and be of good
cheer. You are son of Abraham. You are Christ. You are one he
lived for. You are one he died for. And
you are one that he was resurrected with. You're saved. Stop there.