Let us turn once more to God's
Word. In the portion we were reading,
the last part of that reading we read through much of the 18th
chapter here in Luke's Gospel but we read through to the beginning
of chapter 19 and I want us tonight to consider something of the
call of Zacchaeus as we have it recorded. here in the opening
part of Luke 19. So I'll read again the verses
from verse 1 through 10. 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, or the crowd, 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
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 is come to
seek and to save that which was lost. Considering then something of
the call of Zacchaeus. We read in the opening verse
how Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. The city was Jericho. It was
a city in fact that had been built under a curse. Remember what we read in the
book of Joshua concerning Jericho. How the Lord delivered Jericho
into the hands of the children of Israel by a miracle. They were told to go round about
the city for some six days and then on the seventh day they
were to encircle it to go round and about some seven times and
then we're told how the walls of the city fell flat and the
Lord God delivered that fortified city into the hands of His people. We read it there in Joshua 6
and at the end of that chapter we have those remarkable words
that were spoken by Joshua concerning any who would presume to rebuild
the city. And Joshua adjured them at that
time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up
and buildeth this city Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof
in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up
the gates of it. And so that word of the Lord
came to pass, as we read in 1st Kings 16 at the end of the chapter,
in the days of that wicked king Ahab. Mention is made of a man
called Ahab, and he built the city, and he did lay the foundation
in his firstborn son. and he set up the gates of the
city in his youngest time, just as Joshua had declared. And yet, when we come to the
Gospel, here we see the grace of God. How the Lord Jesus Christ
so honours the cursed city of Jericho. At the end of the previous chapter,
of course, we read of a a remarkable miracle that the Lord performs. Verse 35 in chapter 18, it came
to pass that as he was come nigh unto Jericho a certain blind
man sat by the wayside begging. Elsewhere we're told it's Bartimaeus.
It's Bartimaeus. And now the Lord asks the man,
what wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? He's begging and there
are those who who wants him to be silenced but he will not be
denied he keeps begging and the Lord commands that he be brought
unto him and asks that question what wilt thou that I shall do
unto thee and he says Lord that I may receive my sight and Jesus
says to him receive thy sight thy faith hath saved thee he
performs this great miracle of healing the man the blind man
and we're told how receiving his sight he followed the Lord
glorifying God and all the people when they saw it gave praise
unto God and then he entered and passed through Jericho and
then we come to this other man Zacchaeus and how the Lord deals
so graciously with him and it's this portion that I want us to
consider tonight how there was a determination here Christ says
to the man today I must abide at thy house remember in John
4 how he must needs go through Samaria because he must deal
with that woman of Samaria in God's eternal purpose it was
a work of grace to be accomplished in the soul of that woman and
so also here with regards to this man Zacchaeus today I must
abide at thy house and then how the Lord goes on to declare that
salvation is come to this house in verse 9 It's the eternal purpose
of God in election that is being accomplished in the soul of Zacchaeus. And I want us, as I say, to look
at this passage that we've read, these ten verses at the beginning
of the chapter, and to consider something of the character of
Zacchaeus, the sort of man that he was. First of all, we have
to observe that he was a sinful man. he was a sinful man well
we know that all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God but here is a man who is reckoned to be a notorious sinner
he's so sinful in the view of others and we see that in what
they say when the Lord calls him down out of the sycamore
tree and goes into his house, verse 7, when they sought it,
they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be guessed with
a man that is a sinner. No, he was accounted as a great
sinner, he was a publican. Now the word, I suppose, in a
certain sense, as we have it in our authorised version, can
be somewhat misleading. The word actually refers to one
who was serving the Roman authorities, the occupying Roman forces. He
was a servant of Rome. He was a tax collector, gathering
revenues for Rome. And these men were reckoned to
be notorious sinners because they didn't just do their duty
to Rome, they abused their position. and we might say were feathering
their own nest. They were taking advantage of
the people. And we see that in what Zacchaeus
acknowledges in verse 8. He says to the Lord, Behold,
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. Oh, this man was indeed such
a sinner. And it's interesting, isn't it,
how that was how he was viewed by the general population, but
in a sense even the Lord speaks of publicans as great sinners. in Matthew 18 where the Lord
is dealing with offences if a man offend his brother he is to go
and speak to him and if he won't be reasoned with he is to take
one or two witnesses and if he won't listen to the witnesses
the offending man is to tell it to the whole church And if
the man then will not hear the church, Christ says, well, let
him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Let him be
to thee as an heathen man and a publican. Even the Lord feels,
you see, this is a terrible judgment to be treated like a publican. Now this man, as we're told in
verse 2, was chief among the publicans. He was a chief publican,
a chief tax gatherer, and he was rich. Oh, he was rich. He had taken advantage of his
position and accumulated some wealth for himself. And we read,
didn't we, in the previous chapter, those words of the Lord in verse
25 of 18, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And yet, here we read of this
rich man. It's interesting, we read that
passage at the beginning, towards the beginning of chapter 18,
concerning those two men who go to the temple at the hour
of prayer. We're familiar with the parable.
One was a Pharisee, the other was a publican. And the Pharisee
stands and prays with himself, congratulating himself as he
speaks to God, presumably. I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. He looks with
disdain at the publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. This is the language of the Pharisee.
He prides himself on the sort of man he is, the sort of life
that he's living. And then the Lord speaks of the
publican. Standing afar off, he cannot lift up his eyes to
heaven, but smites upon his breast and cries out, God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. And in those amazing words of
the Lord, I tell you that this man went down to his house justified,
rather than the other. Or, sinners are justified. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sinners
are accounted righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even those
who are publicans, their salvation for the worst of sinners. What does the Lord say here in
verse 10? The Son of Man is come to seek
and to save that which was lost We read on a previous occasion,
don't we, back in chapter 5 of the call of a man named Levi. He becomes Matthew. But he was
a tax gatherer also. And when the Lord goes into his
house they murmur against the Lord because he's gone to feast
with the man who was a publican but the Lord utters those words
there in chapter 5 they that are whole have no need of a physician
but they that are sick I came not to call the righteous but
sinners to repentance for sinners are high in his esteem and sinners
highly value him this is a sinful man this man Zacchaeus But as
William Gadsby says, the vilest sinner out of hell who lives
to feel his need is welcome at the throne of grace, the Saviour's
blood to plead. Here is a sinful man. And that's
the first thing we must observe with regards to him. That's how
he's certainly looked at and accounted by others. but let us look a little more
closely at his character in a sense we see him also as a man who
is seeking and two things motivate him first of all there's a certain
curiosity that's what seems to be suggested in what we read
in verse 3 he sought to see Jesus who he was and could not for
the press the great crowds because he was little of statue there
were so many around this Jesus of Nazareth he'd come through
Jericho he'd come through Jericho he'd healed the blind man, he'd
given him sight and as we're told at the end of the previous
chapter all the people when they saw it gave praise unto God There
are people crowding around Jesus of Nazareth. And are we not all
in a sense inquisitive? We see a crowd of people and
we immediately think, well what's going on there? And maybe we
want to go and inquire, what is it? What's drawing this great
company together? Why so many? Why so many in this
place? There's a certain sense in which
is moved by curiosity but there's something more really
than curiosity from what we read in verse 9 Jesus says unto him
this day is salvation come to this house for so much as he
also is a son of Abraham Zacchaeus is not only a sinner
in the view of others, but there surely is that that would indicate
to us that he also felt himself to be a sinner. He was troubled
in some way. What do we see in verses 7 and
8? We see really what we can only
say is the beginning of the fruit of genuine repentance. They are murmuring because the
Lord goes into the house and is a guest with this man and
Zacchaeus stands and says 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. Why does
he do this? Isn't this some evidence that
the man is troubled by the sort of life that he's been living
and he feels that he must see such a way of life and he must
seek to make amends for the wicked things that he had done, the
way he'd abused his position, the evil way in which he treated
people. He'd robbed them really. There
is surely in what we are told concerning this man the fruit
of repentance. When John is preaching repentance
he cries out that men must bring forth the fruits of repentance
and we see the fruits here in this man. We often sing that
line in one of Joseph Hart's hymns, there are only sinners
who repent. And this man is a repentant man.
There are really two things that move him. There's certainly curiosity,
but there's more than curiosity. There's some conviction in the
soul of this man. He's troubled in some ways about
the life that he's been living. But as two things move Zacchaeus
so that he wants to see the Lord Jesus, there are also two things
that hinder him. First of all, there is that that
is really outside of himself. There's a great press of people.
There's a great press, a great crowd and he's a man of small
stature. The first thing though is that
that is external to himself. It's the great crowd of people
and then that that really concerns himself, that's his stature. is at a disadvantage because
of something with regards to himself. And we can think of
those two types of hindrances with regards to anyone who would
desire to see the Lord Jesus or come to the Lord Jesus. There
are outward hindrances to seeking, aren't there? There are pressures in the world,
many pressures in the world that would hinder us or hinder anyone
from coming to the Lord Jesus. Time. Or people might say, well
I haven't got time really for those things. I haven't got time
to consider what God's Word said or what the Gospel says concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. I have a family, I've got commitments,
I've got responsibilities. I have to work for a living,
I have a career to pursue. There are so many hindrances,
people would say. And the Lord speaks of those
who would, as we say, procrastinate. They put it off, they put it
off. Remember the language that we find previously here in chapter
9 at the end of that chapter the Lord speaks of certain people
verse 57 in that chapter, chapter 9 it came to pass that as they
went in the way a certain man said unto him Lord I will follow
thee with us however thou goest and Jesus said unto him foxes
have holes and birds of the air have nests but the son of man
hath not where to lay his head. The Lord's reminding this man,
you see, there will be a sacrifice. There's a cross to take up. The
Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head, if you're going to
be a follower of me. And then the Lord goes on, verse
59, and says to another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer
me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the
dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God. What is he saying here? Well,
when the man speaks of going to bury his father, it's not
that his father has just died and there's going to be a burial
service, a funeral. No, he has a father and why,
he wants to spend time with his father. And when his father is
no more, well, then he will follow the Lord. He's procrastinating.
and another also said Lord I will follow thee but let me first
go bid them farewell which are at home at my house and Jesus
says unto him no man having put his hand to the plough and looking
back is fit for the kingdom of God it's a commitment if you're
going to be one who is serious with regards to the Lord Jesus
one of these hindrances Oh, there are pressures in this
world, there are things that men feel are important, they
have to take up with these things, and some of them on the surface
are quite legitimate. But don't we have to have the
right priorities in our lives? For what shall a man profit,
says Christ, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? Oh, this sinful world, it's a
great hindrance. And it's a great opposer to any
who would want to be seekers after the Lord Jesus and have
that desire that they might see Him and know something of Him.
The whole world lieth in wickedness, says John in his epistle. And
again in that first epistle he says, love not the world, neither
the things that are in the world, all that is in the world, the
love of the flesh and the love of the spirit and the pride of
life. He's not of the Father but he's of the world and the
world passes away and the lost thereof. And believers are not
to be conformed to this world. All this world, how it presses
upon us, demands of us really. Even the
people of God, we have to live our lives in this fallen world
and make a way in this world. or be not conformed to this world,
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds, says
the apostle, knowing what is that good and perfect will of
God. There were outward hindrances. There's a great crowd, there's
a great press of people and it's preventing him from seeing the
Lord. But then there are inward hindrances
also. He was of little stature, it
says. Now, of course, his size was no real hindrance to salvation. That was just personal to him.
But there's a principle. Surely there's a principle. There
are little things, sometimes, that are a hindrance and prevent
a person from seeing the Lord Jesus Christ with the eye of
faith. What do people say? conviction
of sin is too little they might say well say that they say well
it says doesn't it that Christ has come to seek and to say that
which was lost and I don't really feel my lost condition as acutely
and as sharply as I should feel it I don't have that real conviction
of sin. They might say, well you speak
much of sin and the need to confess our sins, but I don't feel sin
as a burden really, like I should feel it, and that troubles me.
Or they might say, well my desire to know the Lord Jesus Christ,
it's too small. I don't really have that spiritual
appetite, that hungering and thirsting that you speak of. hindrance issues we make these problems for ourselves really
and they're no problems at all surely what we need is larger
views of God and larger views of the grace of God we've not got to look to ourselves
for anything we're not going to look to ourselves for faith
We have to look unto Jesus. The great need is the object,
the object of faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ is that one, you see,
who is able to overcome. O Lord, enlarge, ask antithought,
to know the wonders thou hast wrought, says the hymn writer.
God is able to save. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
one who is mighty to save. And to say to the uttermost all
that come unto God by Him, He can overcome every obstacle,
every hindrance. We have that lovely verse in
the Song of Solomon, Behold, He cometh leaping upon the mountains,
skipping upon the hills. These are not hindrances to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Why God has laid help upon one
that is mighty. He overcomes all the hindrances. He's the overcomer. And what
does He say there at the end of Revelation 3? To him that
overcometh will I grant a seat with me in my throne, even as
I overcame and am sat down with my Father in His throne. He is the overcomer. And so, with regards to this
man, yes, he's a man who's seeking. And yet, there are those things
that hinder him. Really, they're no hindrances
at all. And ultimately, of course, we see quite clearly that he
is a saved man at the end of the passage. In verse 9, Jesus
says to him, This day his salvation come to this house, for so 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. He was a lost man, but
he was a man found, a man saved. What did he experience? How did
he come to be saved? Well, he knew the efficacious
grace of God. He experienced the effectual
call of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Look at the language.
In verse 5, When Jesus came to the place, Here he is in the
sycamore tree, and he wants to see Jesus. 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. Oh, he willingly obeys the Word
of Christ. He willingly obeys the commandment
of the Lord Jesus. When the Lord bids him to make
haste and to come down, we're told, aren't we, how it was immediate. In verse 6, he made haste and
came down. The promise that's given to the Lord, of course,
back in the 110th Psalm, thy people shall be willing in the
day of thy power. He is made willing. This is the
effectual call of the grace of God. It's the word of the Lord
Jesus, how efficacious it is. The language of the book of Ecclesiastes,
where the word of a king is, there is power. and what power
in that word that the Lord speaks to this man sitting up there
in the sycamore tree or when the Lord says I must abide in
thy house why his word must be effectual and it is and Zacchaeus is one in whom
we see these two things we see faith and we see repentance and
of course those two always come together don't they repentance
towards God, and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith
has the preeminence, we know that. Because whatsoever is not
of faith is sin. And without faith it is impossible
to please God. Faith has the preeminence. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. But where there is true faith,
there will always be real repentance, and in a sense the two cannot
be separated, they stand together. And we see in this man the real
fruit of repentance in the language that he employs in verse 8, 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,
four times as much as he had cheated the person out he's going
to restore four times as much and these are not meritorious
works it's not that he thinks he's meriting something this
is the fruit of repentance this is the fruit of repentance he's
a penitent man just as that man that the Lord speaks of in the
previous chapter those two men who go to the temple at the hour
of prayer and the language that we have concerning the public
and so different or so different to the pharisee who's just full
of himself and full of all that he does I fast twice in the week I give
tithes of all that I possess his religion centers in himself
He thinks he's better than others. I thank thee that I am not as
other men. Oh, I'm a religious man. But the language of the
publican, it's a language of repentance, isn't it? The publican,
standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto
heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me,
a sinner. What do we see in this man? Well, we see real repentance. Look at his feet. Look at his
feet. We read of him standing far off. Oh, what penitential feet. How
can he come near to God? He is not worthy of the least
of God's favours. He feels he must remain at a
distance. but not just penitential feet,
but his penitential eyes. He would not lift up so much
as his eyes onto heaven. Oh, he's burdened. His eyes are
cast down to the ground. He feels what he is. He feels
himself to be a sinner and he cannot look up. He knows that
God is of eyes too pure to behold iniquity and God cannot look
upon sin and this man cannot look upon God. He's a sinful man, but he has
penitential feet, he has penitential eyes, and he has penitential
hands. Because we're told, aren't we,
how he smote upon his breast. He takes his hand and he strikes
himself. Who is he? What is he? Here is
the evidence, you see, of real repentance. This man feels his
sin. And it's not that he has just
a penitential hand, he has a penitential heart. He strikes his breast. He feels where the sin is. It's
deep inside him. It's his heart. And he's smiting
at his heart. Here is the evidence, you see,
of real repentance. And we see the same, I say. Different
language, of course, but it's the same sort of character. This
is another publican, but the Lord Jesus Christ is dealing
so graciously with this great sinner. Oh, remember what he was. He
was chief among the publicans and he was rich. But what does
the Lord say? This is the great thing. What
the Lord declares there at the end of verse 9. For so much as
he also is a son of Abraham. Who are the children of Abraham? Well, I suppose we have to say,
don't we? Ethnically, the Jews are the
children of Abraham. The children of Abraham, of Isaac,
of Jacob. They're the descendants really
of Judah. The principal tribe. You know
how there was that division, the ten tribes were lost. But
there was Judah and little Benjamin. and that's the kingdom of Judah
and there we have the Jews are the descendants but they're not
the true children of Abraham they're not the true children
of Abraham they which are of faith the same
are the children of Abraham says the Apostle oh Paul you see that
man who was Saul who was such a Pharisee himself he was so
proud of his ancestry He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
He was of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Pharisee. He was a son
of a Pharisee. And yet this is the very man
who, though he would persecute the followers of the Lord Jesus
Christ, is called by the grace of God as Wasacchius. And of
course, as Paul, he becomes a great apostle to the Gentiles. And this man This Achiasi is
a son of Abraham. And what do we read concerning
Abraham? What says the scripture? Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. You see, that publican that the
Lord speaks of in the parable in chapter 18, he's the man who
goes to his house justified That means he's a counted righteous
in the sight of God, rather than the other, rather than the Pharisee.
And this man, Zacchaeus, he is also one who is counted righteous,
because he's a son of Abraham, and Abraham believed God, and
it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now remember what was counted
to him for righteousness. It's not faith. It's not faith
that's counted for righteousness. It's always the glorious, the
blessed object of faith. And we see that so clearly in
what Paul is saying there in Romans 4. He says later in that
chapter concerning the faith of Abraham, he staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief. but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he
had promised he was able also to perform, and therefore it
was imputed to him for righteousness." Now, the it is referring not
to his faith, but to the promise. He was persuaded that what God
had promised he was able to perform. What was the promise? The promise,
of course, historically, was that Sarah would have the son.
Abraham's a hundred years old. Sarah is well past the age of
childbearing, but she must have the son Isaac, the promised seed. But Isaac is a type of Christ. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who
is the true seed of Abraham. and Abraham's faith centers in
that centers in the Lord Jesus Christ and so he believes God and it's
counted to him for righteousness the object of his faith the Lord
Jesus and so it is here with this man Zacchaeus he's the son
of Abraham he has he has real faith But that faith, that is
true faith, is so united to repentance. And as I said just now, what
we have in verse 18, that's not meritorious works that are being
spoken of. And what he says to the Lord
he will do, 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. It's not merits. it's the fruit
of repentance he was a repentant sinner he was a saved man and
all his salvation is in this one that he so wanted to see
oh he so wanted to see 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 Or are we those who have
seen Jesus who He was, who He is? Who He is? Why is He the friend of sinners? He is the only Saviour of sinners. There is none other name unto
heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost. Who are we those who desire that
salvation? Sorrowing over sin, that godly
sorrow, that workers' repentance of salvation not to be repented
of, the sorrow of the world. It only works death. Oh God grant
that we might know that, that real religion that we see evidenced
in this man Here, just outside Jericho, the Lord had entered,
He passed through Jericho, but there was yet another great miracle
to be performed. He'd given sight to the blind
man, but now to this man also He gives spiritual sight. He
has such a view of the Lord Jesus that in Christ He finds all His
salvation. May the Lord be pleased to grant
that we might know that same salvation For the words it is
that the Lord speaks, this day his salvation come to this house
for so much as he also is a son of Abraham. Amen.