May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of Luke, chapter 19, and we'll read verse 5. The Gospel
of Luke, chapter 19, reading verse 5. 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." No doubt the little account of
Zacchaeus is well known, probably most of us can repeat most of
the detail in this short account. But it is a very wonderful account
because it shows forth to us very graciously the sovereign
grace of God. We must always be thankful for
the grace of God and thankful to read of it in the Word of
God in so many occasions and also to be concerned that we
possess the grace of God, that free unmerited favour Now, this
man, Zacchaeus, came into that category. We know he was a publican,
the chief among the publicans. That means he was a tax collector
and he was the chief tax collector and he was rich. And we may think,
well, how did he become rich? Well, it would seem not by honourable
means because the people spoke and they murmured when Jesus
went in to be with him and they said that he was gone to be a
guest with a man that is a sinner. So obviously the people generally
recognised him as not being a very good and a very upright man. But nonetheless we're thankful
for such accounts recorded in the Word of God to encourage
us to realise that the grace of God reaches to the very worst
of sinners. We're thankful to know in the
Word of God people like Manasseh, the grace of God came to him
and we only find that of course in the Chronicles where we read
of his repentance toward God and God's mercy toward him and
he was an exceedingly wicked king otherwise, but the Lord
had mercy upon him and so may everybody therefore be encouraged
by reading such accounts and may we be encouraged this morning
to realize that the Lord had mercy upon Zacchaeus and therefore
to be able to find in our own lives that the Lord has had mercy
upon us. Well the details of his little
accounts are very important to us because here was this man
Zacchaeus, he was a little man, he was short and he wasn't able
to therefore see Jesus. He wanted to see him and it would
seem he wanted to see him just in a natural way He'd obviously
heard about Jesus and Jesus of course was coming down now to
the last few days of his life. He'd been on the earth for all
those years and for the last three years had been manifest
as to who he was. And therefore we see this situation
here that this man Zacchaeus was desiring to see Jesus and
it would seem in a physical way. So what did he do? Well, we're
told what he did. He ran before the people and
he climbed up into a sycamore tree. He climbed into a sycamore
tree, why? To see Jesus. And because he
knew that Jesus was to pass that way. Well, Jesus did pass that
way. And Jesus came to the place where
Zacchaeus was. And Zacchaeus was in this tree. And what did Jesus do? He looked up and he saw him. And it wasn't just some haphazard
occasion that was ordained by Almighty God. Jesus knew where
Zacchaeus was. Jesus knew that Zacchaeus had
climbed up into that tree and that's why Jesus stopped at that
very place and looked up and saw him. Now we can conclude
from this very clearly that Jesus knows all about us. He knows exactly where we are. He knows we're sat in this chapel
this morning And it would be a great blessing if he looks
upon us as he did upon Zacchaeus. And it wasn't just a chance occasion,
it was ordained by Almighty God. And the appointed time had come
in the life of Zacchaeus not to propose but call by grace. He came to call him by the grace
of God and we should be exceedingly thankful therefore that we have
such an occasion to know that we have a God who is in every
place and knows where we are. Now in the case of Zacchaeus
it was a day that he would never forget. My friends, when God
comes and calls us and speaks to us, there are times that we
don't forget because it is the work of the Holy Spirit. And what a mercy it is when that
is so. So the Lord spoke to Zacchaeus
in these words. He said, Zacchaeus He called
him by name, he knew what his name was. He said, Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. It was a very specific word,
it was a very specific command to him and there wasn't any question
about it really. It was a very clear statement.
Well, he was told to make haste and come down, for today I must
abide at thy house. Now the reaction of Zacchaeus
again was something we should notice because he didn't dilly-dally,
he made haste and he came down and he received him joyfully. You see, he didn't have to think
about, well, what's in my house? What kind of state is my house
in? You know, can I receive Jesus into my house? And it's a good
thing, you know, with us today, in our lives, if we don't have
to kind of put everything in order in our house. If somebody should come and visit
us, We shouldn't have to rush around and put perhaps the Bible
in a prominent position and put other things away that we don't
want people to see. You see Zacchaeus didn't know
when he got up that morning that Jesus was going to come and to
visit him and to come into his house but he was pleased and
joyful at that situation. What a good thing it is. if you
and I should be like that and we shouldn't have to therefore
do a special preparation in our house. I remember years ago I
was on business and I was very near to a little village of Uffington
and there was a godly deacon there called Stanley Cooper and
I thought well I wonder if Stanley's at home and I'll pop in and say
hello to him because I could guarantee that we would have
some heavenly conversation. So I knocked at the door and
there was no response and I thought well perhaps he's in his garden
at the back and hasn't heard so I went round to the back of
the house and I know there was no sign of Stanley at all and
I looked in at the kitchen window and there was his kitchen table Now he didn't know anything about
me coming or anybody, but there on the kitchen table was only
one item and that was his Bible. It was a very good evidence of
what the Bible meant to him. And it was an open Bible, it
wasn't something he'd just gone up and read a chapter or so in
the morning and then shut up and put on the shelf. There it
was, to be read whenever he perhaps
returned. It's a good thing you see in
our lives when we don't have to make any preparation for anybody
turning up to our house. We don't have to be ashamed of
anything that might be seen but we can receive anyone. And so this godly man, he had
this Bible on his kitchen table. And so we may think of that as
well, not only of not being ashamed but also having the Bible ever
available to read and whenever opportunity affords itself and
when we have what we might term spare time or leisure time, that
we turn to the Bible. and read the Bible. Well, Stanley
Clifford was a godly man. He lived his religion. My friends,
you and I follow such an example and live our religion like that. So we don't pick it up and put
it on when we come to chapel. But it's with us every day, every
hour of the day, what a blessing it is. You see, we live in a
day and age of much lukewarmness, much carnality, much fleshliness. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised
at the state of our own souls, and at the state of the church,
and at the state of the nation. So may we be ready to receive
the Lord into our homes, and ready to receive any other godly
person into our homes. And so, Zacchaeus was commanded
to make haste and to come down. He didn't hesitate, he didn't
argue and we're told he made haste and he came down and received
him joyfully. It's a lovely statement, isn't
it? I wonder if we are all concerned that Lord might come and dwell with us and that we
are willing and desiring to receive
him joyfully. We do want Jesus. We do pray
for his presence. We do desire his fellowship. We do desire that union with
the Lord Jesus Christ and it's not something which is alien
to us but it's that which we long for. Well, what a blessing
therefore if the Lord should come and speak to us in words
like this and say, make haste and come down He didn't do anything
else. He didn't say I've got to do
this or I've got to do that. No. He made haste. What a blessing it is when you
and I make haste for the things of God and not make haste for
all the poor old things of time which perish with the using and
we give priority to the poor things of this world, rather
than priority to the things of God. And we make haste for the
things of God. We make haste to read the Word
of God. We make haste to join the people
of God. We make haste to go to the house
of God whenever opportunity affords itself. You know, the Word of
God tells us then They that fear the Lord, they often came together.
Yes, it is a good sign when the Church of God come together and
make haste to come together and don't start making excuses. They've
got this to do and they've got that to do, as though it's more
important than worshipping God. It's a blessing when the Lord
gives us haste in our religion to earnestly seek for the true
things of God and especially as in this case to come and meet
with the Saviour. You know the Word of God encourages
us and tells us the principal way of blessing is through the
preaching of the Gospel and we should never despise hearing
the Word of God And we should never turn away from the opportunity
of gathering together to hear the preaching of the word. And
we should never make excuses about something being more important. We should remember that Zacchaeus
made haste and he came down and he received him joyfully. What
a wonderful thing is these things go together, don't they? You
see, if we drag our feet coming to chapel, if we don't really
want to come and we want to do something else, want to just
finish off a job we're doing or think, well, I can just complete
this or give this a little priority. Well, of course, I go to chapel
mostly and, you know, just this time I can excuse myself. Well,
what a blessing when the Holy Spirit comes and gives us that
living desire to haste to meet with the people of God and to
hear what God the Lord will speak to us and to receive the Lord
joyfully. You know let us not receive the
things of time joyfully. Lord's given us many things to
enjoy in this world but let us always come back to that great
important consideration Jesus is the one thing needful all
the things of time will soon fade away all the things of this world
will perish but my friends our soul will live forever the great
god is eternal and you and i must either spend eternity with him
or eternity in hell It's a very stark position and there's no
grey areas in the Word of God. And may the Lord therefore give
us true desire to put first things first and to recognise this Word
that we might make haste for the things of God and not make
haste for the things of time and turn away and the things
of God. That's why, you see, we live
in an age of darkness, spiritual darkness, a lack of spiritual
conversation so often, a lack of carnal speaking. Tragic, isn't it? And the people
of God go to hear the Word of God and they hear the Word of
God and you would think after the service they'd been somewhere
else. You'd think they'd never heard
the Word of God. They'd been listening to something else because
there was no comment on what they'd heard. They went on their
way, perhaps satisfied, they ticked a box in their life and
yet there was no life. What a blessing it is when the
Church of God are healthy and lively and truly make haste for the
things of God and to the things of God. And it's not irksome. May the things of the world be
irksome. May they be a hinder and may
they be irksome to us that we might be freed from them. be
able to truly make haste to the Church of God and to hear the
things of God. Well, this man Zacchaeus, he
was ready to receive the Word of God. He wanted to receive
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord had come to him. The
Lord had seen him. The Lord had spoken to him. And
he said, make haste and come down. Don't start there, Zacchaeus. Come down, because I'm coming
to your house today. Oh, what a wonderful favour.
How would we receive the Lord today? As we've come together this morning,
I hope we've all come prayerfully. I hope we've all come very prayerfully. The Lord would indeed come and
meet with us. The Lord would encourage us.
The Lord would speak to us. Well, this man, Zacchaeus, he
was blessed with this wonderful favour of Jesus coming to him. And he received him joyfully. And of course, we know of those
people that murmured against him. Murmured against the fact
that Jesus had gone to be with him. You and I will find opposition, especially in the things of God.
The devil will do all he can to distract us. He'll bring many things into
our hearts and minds to turn us away so that we don't make
haste. But let us be on our watchtower
and be concerned that our souls are healthy and our souls are
lively and we're not lukewarm in the things of God and the
things of God are the priority in our life. They should be.
What a blessing if they are. They should be my friends. And
so here was Zacchaeus in this condition and there was the people
murmuring and Zacchaeus stood And he said unto the Lord, I
remember what he'd probably been, what Zacchaeus had probably been.
He hadn't been an honest man. He'd been a dishonest man. He'd probably robbed many people.
But now we see the situation. And what is it? He says, Behold,
Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have taken
anything from any man by false accusations, I restore him fourfold. Well, of course, that was would
appear to be a complete change from what he had been. And you
know the grace of God changes us. The work of God in our hearts
moves us so that we are a different person. There is a great change
in our life. And what a blessing it is when
there's the evidence. There was the evidence here in
the life of Zacchaeus. You see, he came and he stood. He stood before the Lord. Yes, there he was. We might say
he was desirous to bow down before that great God and to acknowledge
him in a right way. And so he came and spoke in this
way and told the Lord what he was doing. And what was the response
of the Lord Jesus? It was a very glorious response. This day, not tomorrow, not in
a week's time, not in a year's time, this day. We desire us that it might be this day in our life. Things
of God are important to us. This day, said the Lord, wonderful
words these, this day is, no doubt about it, this day is salvation
come to this house for as much as he also is a son of Abraham. Wow, what a confirmation to this
man. This man Zacchaeus, this man
who was a publican, this man who was rich, but this man who
the Lord had come and graciously spoke these words to. Salvation
has come to this house. Now, my friends, all of us need to hear such words from
the Saviour to our hearts. that this day is salvation come
to this house. You may say, well, why is that
important? Because we may not be here tomorrow. We may not be here tomorrow.
Oh, bless God, if our religion is important and we desire to
make haste, we desire to call upon the Lord, we desire that
he will come and speak to our souls and speak in light terms
as this, this day of salvation come to this house, the saving
of our souls. It would be a great blessing
for all of us if we come within such words as this, that we have
a true desire that the Lord would speak to our very souls, even
today This, though, is salvation come. Well, we may ask ourselves,
has salvation come to our souls? Has the Lord come and convinced
us of our need as a sinner? This man Zacchaeus was a sinner. Clearly the Lord had convinced
him of his condition and directed him to speak to the Lord about
how he would revise his life and change his life. You see,
when the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts, there is a change,
there is an effect. We recognise, in some measure
at least, what we are. We're an undone sinner. We're
a lost and ruined sinner. Naturally, there's no hope. We're lost. We're ruined. But the good news is, there's
hope. There's hope for such a sinner. That's why the Lord Jesus tells
us in these words, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save
that which was lost. Well, have we passed through
a time? Perhaps we're there today when
we feel we're lost. There's no hope for us. We feel
perhaps cast out. Well, we all deserve to be cast
out. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We
all deserve to be passed by. What an amazing blessing it is
if the Lord comes to us like he came to Zacchaeus. He saw
where he was. He came where he was. Has He
seen where you and I have been? Has He come to us? Has He spoken
to us? And have we hasted to Him, pleading
for His mercy, seeking for His grace, praying for His love to
be shown to us, giving us the evidence that we are those for
whom He has died upon the cross at Calvary? Well, the Lord told
him, this day of salvation come to this house. My friends, what
a blessing if you and I know this. Now, every one of us needs
to know it. There's no exceptions. If we
don't know it, we are eternally lost. We may feel lost now. That's
a good thing. What a blessing if we come to
know the salvation of our God and to realise what our salvation,
how it came about and the cost of it. Nothing trivial to save
our soul, nothing trivial to redeem us from our sinful condition. But my friends, it involved the
death of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ. And my friends, that
wasn't just an easy death, it was the most painful death that
anybody would have to pass through. And the blessed Lord, the eternal
God, the ruler and creator of the universe, was gloriously
willing to suffer that sin-atoning death so that you and I might
be numbered amongst those who are saved. We're not lost, we're
saved from our sin, we're delivered from the wrath to come. Do we
have the evidence of it in our hearts? I'll be making haste
to know for ourselves that we are safe, that we are safe in
the arms of Jesus, to know that it is well with our souls. Many people seem content to just
jog along. They seem content to be satisfied
with a mere outward form of religion, an outward profession without
any possession. You and I, my friends, must know
Christ. This man, Zacchaeus, knew the
Saviour. And my friends, it's only when,
by the grace of God, the light shines into our hearts and reveals
Christ at Calvary, then you see there is the blessed evidence
of the life of God in our souls. Well, have we come? Have we been
brought to Calvary? Has the Holy Spirit brought us
there and shown us that Lord Jesus Christ, suffering upon
Calvary's cross, enduring all that agony in order that you
and I might be blessed with eternal life. And my friends, it culminated
of course in his sin atoning death. When he was able to utter
those wonderful words, it is finished. The work of salvation
was completed. Yes, the devil was defeated. And my friends, bless God for
that today. Because the devil is on the stretch
after us and you will never give up but you know we can tell him
Christ has died yea rather he's risen again he's conquered sin,
death, hell and the grave for such a sinner as me. Bless God if the Holy Spirit
has directed us in such a path to know that therefore These
words are true. Salvation has come to our house. And we've heard the words of
Jesus speaking to us. And they directed us. They directed
Zacchaeus, didn't they? In this way, Zacchaeus, he was
called by his name. Zacchaeus, he knew his name.
My friends, the Lord knows your name and my name. Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down. Oh, the blessed God gives us
the power and the will to come down from our high perch, as
it were, to come down to be nothing and to receive the blessed Saviour.
Oh, when they saw it, they murmured, and Zacchaeus stood and said
unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to
the poor, etc. And Jesus said, This day is salvation
come to this house for so much as he also is a son of Abraham. Well, do we know that in our
hearts? Real religion is something known
and felt. It's not just a theory. My friends,
many people today subsist on a theory. Bless God if the Word
of God has had an effect upon our hearts and our souls just
like it did upon Zacchaeus. Yes, he didn't hesitate. He made
haste. Bless God if you and I don't
hesitate and that we receive the Lord joyfully. That's the wonderful evidence,
isn't it? It's not something that we hang back But it's joy
in our heart. It is joy. So now the Lord has
cast us off. Must be joyful, mustn't it? It's
good news from a far country. May we truly thank God for such
a wonderful Saviour and to realise that the Lord is gracious and
the Lord is mindful and the Lord does deal with us in love to
our souls. You know the 116th Psalm tells
us, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications
because he has inclined his ear unto me as long as I live. What
a blessing if you and I can trace that out to realise the Lord
has come and he's called us. The Lord calls everybody who
he has saved. He called Zacchaeus, He called the Apostle Paul. The
Apostle Paul tells us he was called by the grace of the Lord
God. And my friends, every true child
of God is called by God. We hear his gracious voice. It may be in a different way,
one to another, but there is that gracious and blessed call
and say, may we know it and may we rejoice in it and truly praise
God for it. Because the psalmist said, I
said in my haste, O men of liars, what shall I render unto the
Lord for all his benefits unto me? And if you and I have been
saved by the Saviour, what a benefit that is. It's an eternal benefit. It's far greater than anything
this world can offer us. He says this, I will take the
cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord, I will
pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.
You see the Psalmist made haste, he got something to say, he got
something to tell and the Church of God have got something to
say and they have got something to tell. The devil wants to shut
our mouths, the devil doesn't want to hear about what God has
done, My friends, the Church of God want to hear what God
has done for unworthy sinners and rejoice in his salvation
and it's so strengthening and it's encouraging. And so here
was this statement, this day salvation come to this house
for as much as he also is a son of Abraham for the Son of Man
is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Well This account
is a familiar account and I'm very aware of that. My friends
may we enter into the truth of it and recognize the relevance
of it to our case, to our life and not say well it's just Zacchaeus
of course. No it's not. It's recorded here
specifically for the whole Church of God so that we may recognize
the truth of it and the pattern that it sets before us and when
the Lord comes and speaks to us and calls us he may give us
that grace to make haste to make haste to come down and to receive
him joyfully I'm sure when the Lord speaks to our hearts and
shows us himself as our saviour our heart rejoices we are so
thankful that God has not cast us away
as a cumber of the ground which we deserve but he looked upon us like he
looked upon Zacchaeus he's found us as he found Zacchaeus and
he's spoken words to us all as he did to Zacchaeus this day
Salvation has come to this house for as much as he also is a son
of Abraham. Amen.