Let us turn again to God's Word
in that portion of Holy Scripture that we read and we read once
more at the beginning of chapter 19 in the Gospel according to
Luke. The 19th chapter in the Gospel
according to Luke and we read again the first 10 verses. 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 to-day 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 gassed
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. Jesus entered and passed
through Jericho. Jericho, remember, had been built
under a curse when the children of Israel came into the Promised
Land we read of how under Joshua they were brought to destroy
that city of the Canaanites, that city of Jericho and there
in the book of Joshua chapter 6 and verse 26 we are told 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. It was an accursed place. It was where God had visited
a terrible judgment upon the Canaanites. And that solemn word
that we just read, that word that was spoken by Joshua, all
those years ago did have its accomplishment. We see how it
was fulfilled in the days of that wicked king Ahab, in the
first book of Kings, in chapter 16. verse 34, in his days, that is
in the days of Ahab, did Ahab the Bethelite build Jericho. He laid the foundation thereof
in Abiram, his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his
youngest son, Seagop, according to the word of the Lord which
is spake by Joshua, the son of Nod. The word of the Lord does
not return unto him voice, but God's word must, it shall have
its accomplishments. And so it was. And yet, do we
not here see something of the remarkable grace of God? That that city that was so cursed
is the scene of a remarkable ministry that was exercised by
the Lord Jesus Christ during his days here upon the earth
how Christ honoured the city of Jericho and he does it of
course healing the blind man as we see there at the end of
the previous chapter in chapter 18 and verse 35 he came to pass
that as he was come nigh unto Jericho a certain blind man sat
by the wayside begging, blind Bartimaeus, as is identified
in the 10th chapter of Mark's Gospel. And Christ performs a
miracle and gives sight to the man who was born blind. And here, in this opening section
of the 19th chapter, we see how Christ also heals the man, Zacchaeus,
of spiritual blindness, how that salvation comes into the house
of this man who was such a notable sinner. Whether people be high
or low in their circumstances, do we not here see how that there
is suitable help and relief in the ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, I want us to consider something
of Zacchaeus this morning with the Lord's help and to say something
with regards to his character. He is described to us here in
particular in the second verse of this chapter. Luke chapter
19 verse 2 we read and behold there was a man named Zacchaeus
which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. You observe the text, the opening
words of the text, and behold, here is a scene to be considered.
Here is a man that we should look to and take account of. Remember the force of that word,
behold. When we meet it here in scripture
we are to look. to fix our eye, to gaze upon
this particular individual. Is there not some lesson that
we can learn from the character of Zacchaeus? And I want to mention
just three simple truths concerning this man. First of all, we see
that he was a sinner. He was a sinful man. Certainly that's how he was viewed.
by those who were about the Lord Jesus Christ at this particular
time. When Christ says he must abide
at that man's house, what do the people say in verse 7? When
they saw it, they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be
guest with a man that is a sinner. That was the opinion of the multitude
who were about the Lord Jesus Christ, that he had gone to be
guest with a sinful man. He was a publican, or more specifically
we would say now he was a tax collector. In other words he
was in the employ of the Romans, there in Palestine you see it
was occupied by the Romans, it was part of the great empire
of Rome and there were those who worked for the empire and
amongst them these men who were collecting revenues and so how
those people despised men that they would consider to be traitors
to their own nation, working for the occupying forces of Rome. And this was Zacchaeus. He worked
as a tax collector. But also these men were in the
habit, of course, of abusing their position to their own ends.
They didn't just raise the revenues that were required by the occupying
forces of Rome, but they would take more than was required,
they would feather their own nest, as we say. And so it was
with this man Zacchaeus. And he acknowledges it, he confesses
it when he speaks to the Lord Jesus 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. Many times he had abused his
position, he had taken more than he ought to have taken. He was
typical then of these publicans. They were men who were very much
despised. They were notorious sinners in
the eyes of the Jews. They were incorrigible sinners. They were men who were much hated. And again we see it in the words
of Scripture. Remember back in Matthew chapter
18, where the Lord is speaking of how one is to behave if there
is any offence between brethren there in Matthew 18 verse 15
following he says if thy brother shall trespass against thee go
and tell him his fault between thee and him alone if he shall
hear thee thou hast gained thy brother But if he will not hear
thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth
of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And
if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. An interesting
portion is because it's the first use of the word church in the
New Testament that we find here. You see if you're offended, or
your brother is offended, you go and speak to him. If he won't
listen to you, take witnesses. If he won't listen to them, well,
the next step is you go to the church, carry it on to the church.
But, says Christ, if he neglects to hear the church, let him be
unto thee as an heathen man and a publican, even the Lord Jesus
Christ. accepts that common opinion of
the publicans, that they were notorious sinners, and if this
man will not hear the church, well, treat him not as a pharaoh
believer, but treat him as one who is heathen. Treat him as
one who is like unto a publican. These publicans, I say, were
men who were greatly despised. They were great sinners. And this man was chief. Behold there was a man named
Zacchaeus which was the chief among the publicans. And not
only that, what does it say? It says also he was rich. He was a rich man as well as
being chief of the publicans. And what did we read? in the
course of our public reading of Scripture this morning. Remember
the words that we have back in chapter 18. In verse 25 Christ
says, 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
they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said the things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. All we see how the
Lord Jesus Christ immediately demonstrates that that that seems
to be so impossible with men is possible with God. This man,
this publican, this chief of the publicans, this rich man,
the Lord Jesus Christ has a gracious purpose to fulfill in this man's
life. He was a publican, but the hope
publican Is there not salvation for publicans? Again, when we
look at the whole context here and what we read previously in
that 18th chapter, that familiar portion where Christ tells the
parable of those two men who go up to the temple at the hour
of prayer, and the contrast that Christ draws between a pharisee
and a publican. How the pharisee stands and prays
with himself, God I thank you that I am not as other men are,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers or even as this public. And the self-righteous man, you
see, looks so disdainfully at others. O come not nigh me, I
am holier than thou. He prayed thus, it says, with
himself. Now what's the significance of
those words? He prays God with himself when
he prays inwardly. He is not expressing himself audibly
it would seem, but there is more than that surely. His prayer
goes no further than himself. His prayer does not enter into
the ears of the Lord God of Surveillance, the Lord God of Hosts. He only
prays for himself as far as his prayers go. And he congratulates
himself and he despises the sinner. And yet, our Christ goes on to
speak of the prayer of the publican. And what a prayer it is. Oh God,
grant us grace to pray such a prayer as the publican prayed. God be merciful to me, a sinner. And you are probably aware that
there in the original, the definite article appears it says, God
be merciful to me, the sinner. That's how the man feels. He
is the sinner. He is the only sinner. He is the greatest of
sinners. And God hears the prayer, you see, of a publican, the vilest
sinner, out of hell who lives to feel his need is welcomed
to a throne of grace, the blood of Christ, to plead. And that's
what the man is pleading when he says God be merciful. The
word is propitious, God be propitious to me. And who is the propitiation
for our sins? The Lord Jesus Christ. He has
paid that terrible penalty. He has shed his blood for the
salvation of sinners. He has paid that awful debt that
the sinner owes to the Holy Lord of God. all their propitiation,
their God is satisfied. Their God is satisfied because
Christ has paid the price for his people's redemption. He is
a man then who is clearly seen to be a sinner, a great sinner. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
comes for such characters as these, they that are whole. have
no need of the physician but they that are sick says Christ
I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance we
have it here of course at the end of the portion that we just
read verse 10 the son of man is come to seek and to save that
which was lost or to feel that we are those in our very nature
who are lost undone by wicked works, and yet there is hope
for lost sinners, hope for the vilest of sinners, and we see
it, do we not, in the case of Zacchaeus. Behold, there was
a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans,
and he was rich. and salvation came to him, came
to his house but besides being a sinner I say in the second
place that we can see here that this was a man who was a seeking
man and two things moved him to seek
first of all there was evidently some curiosity we see that do
we not in what we are told concerning him in verse 3 he sought to see
Jesus who he was and could not for the press because he was
little of stature there were those who were obviously gathered
around the Lord Jesus Christ as he comes to and passes through
Jericho and he performs that remarkable miracle Remember what
we're told at the end of the previous chapter concerning Bartimaeus,
blind Bartimaeus, immediately he received his sight and followed
him glorifying God. And all the people when they
saw it gave praise unto God. There's people gathered here,
there's something going on. And what is it this man is moved
to seek to find out? Because he's curious. and this
is not the case with us friends if we are out and we witness
a crowd of people gathered around a certain spot we wonder what's
going on we are interested, we are curious he was certainly
moved by curiosity but there was something more than curiosity
in the case of Zacchaeus curiosity is not enough wasn't there also
here some conviction of his sense or the outcome, the outcome would
indicate that there was something certainly much more than curiosity
with Zacchaeus. The Lord Jesus himself says there
in verse 9, this day is salvation come to this house for as much
as he also is a son of Abraham. Now, Zacchaeus knew himself to
be a sinner. Now why do I say that he knew
himself to be a sinner? Because in the way in which he
behaves, in his conduct, do we not see something of the fruit,
or the fruits of repentance? John the Baptist is the one who
comes as the great harbinger, preparing the way for the Lord
Jesus Christ, and John's Baptism was a baptism unto repentance. There is John in the wilderness,
proclaiming the word of the Lord, saying, Repent! The kingdom of God is at hand. And when they come to him, and
amongst those that come to John are those of the Pharisees. And remember how John speaks
kindly to them, that they should bring forth fruits, meat for
repentance. That's the expression that is
used back in the third chapter. In verse 7 then said John to
the multitude that came forth to be baptised of him, a generation
of vipers, it was warned you to flee from the wrath to come,
bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. And I say, in the case of Zacchaeus,
we see something of the fruits of repentance. When they said
in verse 7 concerning Christ, that he was gone, to be guessed
with a man that is a sinner. 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. What sort of a sinner is this?
What sort of a sinner is Zacchaeus? He is a repentant sinner. He
is a repentant sinner. We often sing that line in Joseph
Heart's hymn, there are only sinners who repent. And this
man is such a sinner. And we see it in the fruits of
repentance that is evident in his life. There were then these
two things that moved him. He is curious. He is curious
at what's going on. But in the course of events we
see that he is evidently brought under some sense of conviction.
He knows he has done those things that are wrong. He knows that
he is in need of God's forgiveness. and he brings forth the fruits
of repentance and so not only curious but also a convinced
sinner but as there were two things that moved him there were
also certain things that hindered this man in his seeking after
the Lord Jesus look at verse 3 he sought to see Jesus who
he was and could not for the press because there is such a
crowd around about the Lord Jesus He could not see him because
of the press, but also we are told because he was little abstraction. There are at least in these two
things that are a hindrance here. There's the press. There's that
that is outside of himself. There's something without that's
preventing him from seeing the Lord. But there's also something
about himself that prevents him, something within we might say.
And that is the matter of his stature. He is such a small man.
Well let us consider something of these hindrances. Be they
outward hindrances or be they inward hindrances that prevent
the people seeking the Lord Jesus or even seeing the Lord Jesus
Christ. There are outward hindrances
friends. And we need to be aware of that.
There are those things that would prevent you and prevent me from
seeking Christ or seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. Are they not
precious all about us in the world? It is a matter of time. There are many things that we
have to do. There are many legitimate duties
to be performed. and we have got to find time
then to be those who are seriously seeking the Lord and desire us
that we might see Him and see Him with the eye of faith and
there are those pressures that come because of family life responsibilities
in the home you see and there are those who are pursuing their
careers and it's good and right and proper their studies to be
attended to there are many outward things and many of them are quite
legitimate and they impose much upon us they take up our time
and our attention but they can of course be hindrances to us
in denying us that time that we need to be such as our truly
seekers after the Lord Jesus look at the words of Christ himself
Back in the 9th chapter of this Gospel, what do we see the Lord
saying there at the end of the chapter? Verse 57, 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. And
he said unto 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. and another also said Lord I will follow them but let me
first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house and Jesus
said unto him no man having put his hand to the plough and looking
back is fit for the kingdom of God now those who make these
various excuses they seem to be quite legitimate what are
they saying well here is one you see and his father is still
obviously alive but he wants to abide in his father's house
till his father is gone And so as a care for his father,
a concern for his father, which is right and good and legitimate
in many respects. But what does Christ say? We
must have our priorities right and man must have father and
mother and brother and sister for the kingdom of God, sir.
We must seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. There are, you see, those things
that prove to be a hindrance. We must have our priorities right.
What is a man's profit if he shall groan the whole world and
lose his own soul, says Christ? What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? Let not legitimate things then
be a hindrance. We ought to have our priorities
right. We must see that that is the one thing needful and
the one thing needful shall is that these other things do not
so press upon us that they prevent us seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. But besides those legitimate
things there are also sinful hindrances in this world. Do
we not, all of us, have the fallen natures? None of us can say with
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of this world cometh and hath
nothing to merge. There is so much in our fallen
nature that Satan can take advantage of. Why do we have such exhortations
as we find so often in the scriptures, not the world? It says, John,
neither the things that are in the world, all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the pride
of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. to be those
who would go after the ways of this world. We're not to conform
to the ways of this world. Be not conformed to this world,
says the Apostle, but be ye transformed. Or that we might be those friends
who are not ignorant of Satan and his devices, how he would
seek to hinder us, how he would take up the things of this world
and seek to allure us by these things. that we do not seek the
Lord Jesus Christ as we ought to seek him. There were then
with this man outward hindrances, there were those things that
were preventing him. There was the great press that
was all around and he could not see the Lord Jesus. But then
also I say there were certain inward hindrances if we might
use such an expression. He was little of stature, little. And it may be, you know, that
little things prevent us from seeing Christ with the eye of
faith. Little things. Little foxes. We might look to ourselves and
say, well, my conviction of sin is too little. I don't feel sin
as I ought to feel it. or my desire for the Lord Jesus
Christ is not all it should be. It's too small, you see. We look
to ourselves and we see things in ourselves that we think are
a hindrance to us. And yet, isn't the Lord Jesus
Christ that One who is spoken of as the Great Overcomer? That's
how we see Him there in those letters to the seven churches
in Revelation 2 and 3. He overcomes. Behold Him. He cometh leaping upon the mountains,
skipping upon the hills. We looked at that verse only
recently in the second chapter of the psalm. The Lord Jesus
is able to overcome every hindrance. And we make, you know, great
things of little things. And they prevent us. And we see
it with this man Zacchaeus. There were those things that
were a real hindrance to him. And yet What determination we
see in this man? Oh, he is bent upon this one
object, he will see the Lord Jesus Christ. He sought to see
Jesus. He was a seeker, 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 line
is he not a great thing when the Lord Jesus passes out line
we see this man he was a sinful man I say chief amongst those
despised wicked publicans who only sought to feather their
own nest a rich man and yet a man who would see the Lord Jesus
And so in the third place this morning we observe that Zacchaeus
is a man saved. He is a man saved. Verse 9, Jesus
said unto him, He is died. 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. I'm observing
here the response of Zacchaeus. And then the reformation of Zacchaeus. First of all we see something
of his response. When Jesus came to the place,
we're told in verse 5, he looked up and saw him and said unto
him, Zacchaeus, make haste, come down. For today I must abide
at thy house. And what does he do? What does
Zacchaeus do? He willingly obeys. He willingly obeys the word of
the Lord Jesus. Christ said make haste, come
down. And he made haste and came down. Oh, where the word of the King
is there is power. And then we see it here, you
see. In this man, he is made willing. It's the day of Christ's
power. We see it then, his response.
It's indicative here that the efficacious grace of God is at
work in the soul of this man. He's a saved man. He's a willing follower after
the Lord Jesus Christ. None of those who follow the
Lord Jesus Christ come unwillingly. No one comes unwillingly. We
know that the very notion of man's free will is simply that. It's a foolish notion. Man's
will is not free because Man is a sinner and if the carnal
mind is enmity against God and not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be so. That is true of every faculty
of the soul. Not just the mind, the understanding,
it's also true of the will. Man's will is in bondage to sin
because that's his nature, he's a sinner. But those who come
to the Lord Jesus Christ, though their wills be in bondage to
sin, they don't come unwilling. The Lord Jesus makes his people
a willing people. When thou sayest, Seek in my
face, my heart said, Thy face, O Lord, will I seek, says the
psalmist. When God says it, you see. when
God speaks his word home to us with power. Oh friends, this
is how we should desire that God's word comes to us. It doesn't
just come to inform our minds, to instruct us, it comes to move
us in our very souls, to make us an obedient people. And this
was the case with Zacchaeus. There is that response of faith,
he is made willing, he is obedient. And then we see also in the second
place here, the reformation we have already remarked on this
here is the fruit you see of real repentance 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
he has repentance but remember in scripture that these are twin
graces really, faith and repentance. Faith and repentance they stand
together. When the Lord Jesus Christ begins
his public ministry in the opening chapter of Mark, what do we read? He comes preaching the gospel
of the kingdom, saying the kingdom of God is at hand. Repentance,
believe the gospel. How these two come together you
see, faith and repentance. And what God has joined men are
not to put asunder. Where there is repentance it
is the evidence of saving faith. It must be so. Because whatsoever
is not of faith is sin. There must be faith without repentance. And we see it, I say, with this
man He is, says the Lord Jesus Christ,
the son of Abraham. This day his salvation comes
to this house for so much as he also is a son of Abraham. He is the true son of Abraham.
There were those who were coming to John's baptism and all their confidence of course
was in the fact that they were the physical seed, offspring
of Abraham. John says there in his preaching,
Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. Begin not
to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father. For
I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children
unto Abraham. Now this man Zacchaeus, he is
not just A physical descendant of Abraham is part of Abraham's
spiritual seed. Remember, Abraham is the father
of all them that believe. Abraham is the father of the
faithful. They which are of faith, the
same are the children of Abraham. Oh, and what faith it was that
Abraham had. It was that faith that was ever
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ who is the true seed of
Abraham. Remember the words that we have
there in the fourth chapter of Romans? What's after scripture? Abraham believed God and it was
accounted to him for righteousness, he believed God. He was justified
by faith. 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. And so this man, you see, this man, Zacchaeus, as a son
of Abraham is one who also is in possession of the faith of
Abraham. What did Christ say to Bartimaeus
when he restored sight to him? He restored more than his physical
sight of course. That man also knew salvation When he says at the end of chapter
18, Lord that I may receive my sight, Jesus said unto him, Receive
thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. He is not just healed in
his body, this man is saved. This man is saved and so too
was the case with Zacchaeus. Salvation came to his house.
He was saved and he was saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
and the faith that is married to a true repentance as we see
so evidently here in the 8th verse. He has had godly sorrow
and it works repentance to salvation not to be repented of. But the
sorrow of the world says the apostle worker there. For this man you see, the character
that is set before us here, in the case of Zacchaeus, we are
to consider him. We are to consider something
of the sort of man that he was. Behold there was a man named
Zacchaeus. which was chief among the publicans,
and he was rich. Or we consider him then as a
man who was a sinner, but a sinner who is desirous of seeing the
Lord Jesus Christ, who seeks Christ, seeks to see Christ in
spite of every hindrance, and he is one whom the Lord is pleased
to come and to visit with his great salvation. Well, I want
us if the Lord will, to consider something more of that remarkable
call that we have in the words of the Lord Jesus in verse 5.
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and
said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, come down, for today I
must abide at thy house. The Lord willing we'll consider
something of that remarkable word, that call of Christ in
the evening hour. The Lord bless his word to us. I'll ask him this, number 527 The tune is Southwell, 239. What
a divine, harmonious sound the gospel trumpet gives. No music
can with it compare the soul that Moses lived. The gospel from the east. No
music can with it contain the soul that grows in me. Endless is His context, divinely
rich and free, For helpless, wretched, ruined man, Though
vile and base as we. and free through Christ the Lamb
once slain, whose blood can cleanse the foulest soul and take away The pious sinner, out of hell,
who lives to feel His name Is welcome to a throne of grace,
the Saviour's blood and cry, and walk at mercy's
door. His praise that makes them feel
their need, and pray to him. they empty back, nor frighten
from the door. The Father has in Jesus stood
all blessings for the poor. the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you
all. Amen.