Good morning. I invite your attention
to Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. Luke 19 verse
one. Luke 19, verse 1, and Jesus entered
and passed through Jericho, and behold, there was a man named
Zacchaeus, which was chief among the publicans, and he was rich. We just read in chapter 18 about
a rich young ruler who went away from our Lord sorrowful for he
was very rich. We're told in another place that
he trusted in his riches. And then we saw what our Lord
said about how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the
kingdom of heaven. It's easier for a camel to go through a needle's
eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And right
here, the very next chapter starts with this man, Zacchaeus, who
was rich, all right? In chapter 18, we also read of
the Lord having mercy on a man who was a publican. He was a
publican who smote upon his breast, crying, God be merciful to me,
a sinner. Now, Zacchaeus here is also a
publican. He's rich and he's a publican,
but we do not read of Zacchaeus crying out for mercy. Chapter
18 ends with our Lord saving a blind beggar. Zacchaeus was neither blind nor
was he a beggar. He was a man of authority. He
was chief at his job. He was the chief publican and
he was very wealthy. He possessed many earthly riches,
okay? That's who this man is. Now look
at verse 3. 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." It seems likely that Zacchaeus' seeking of this man, Jesus, was
similar to that of another man's seeking. named Herod, turn over
just a couple pages to Luke 23. And I'll go ahead and tell us that this
account is not about Zacchaeus and how he was seeking the Lord.
That's not what this is about. Not at all. Look here, Luke 23,
verse eight. Luke 23, eight, and when Herod
saw Jesus, He was exceeding glad, and let me note, this is as our
Lord had been betrayed and was being led to the cross. This
is when Herod saw him, okay? He saw Jesus, he was exceeding
glad, for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because
he'd heard many things of him, and he hoped to have seen some
miracle done by him. Then he questioned with, him
in many words, but he answered him nothing." That right there
is all most people ever wanted anything to do with the Lord
Jesus. It was to see some miracle done
by him and or to question him with many words. It's telling of Herod's motive
in the fact that the Lord didn't answer him a word, didn't He?
Again, back here in our text, We don't read of Zacchaeus coming
to our Lord with a need. He did, however, have a problem. We just read it. He was short. This text came to my mind last
week because my daughter, who's three, said that she learned
about Zacchaeus in her Sunday school class. And I thought,
man, I would love to study that and preach from that one day.
And I hope the Lord's giving me a message. She said Zacchaeus
was a wee little man. A wee little man was he. Indeed
he was. That was his problem. He was
short. He was too short to see this
man, Jesus. He couldn't see over all these
people that were there. Now what a great picture this
is. What a great picture this is of our spiritual state before
God. Zacchaeus, he was rich. He was in charge, he was head
honcho at his place of employment, and yet he was small. He was small in God's sight. That was his problem. His problem
wasn't that he might have been five feet tall. No, his problem
was he was small in the sight of God Almighty, and that's our
problem too. Because of the fall, that's our
problem. We're too small. Zacchaeus, though
he had a problem, it was a problem he thought he could fix. He climbed
up into that tree, he thought, well, I'm short, I can do something
about that. I can do something about that.
Climbing that tree represents man's works. I'm short in God's
sight, well, time to get to work. It's just like that rich young
ruler, what shall I do? It's not what we do. Zacchaeus
climbing into that tree did not save him. No, not at all. We must learn, brothers and sisters,
that the way up to God is down. Again, I referenced that publican
who cried, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. The Lord said,
I tell you, this man went home justified rather than the other,
for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted. May God humble us. This is what
you and I need right now. And every day, we need God to
humble us. We need God to lay us low where
we belong. That's what we need. Verse five
right here in our text. And when Jesus came to the place,
what place? The tree. The tree where Zacchaeus
was. The chapter starts with, he passed
through Jericho. As he passed through Jericho,
this is where he was headed. He was headed to Zacchaeus' tree,
though Zacchaeus didn't know it. Zacchaeus, he said that he
was about to pass this way, but he had no idea the Lord was coming
here just for him. I tell you, this isn't about
Zacchaeus seeking the Lord, it's about the Lord seeking Zacchaeus. Now,
why would our Lord do this? There was a multitude of people
there thronging him, surrounding him. Why would he do this? I tell you, it wasn't because
of anything in Zacchaeus. And not only was he a publican,
and those were sinful men. They tricked people, conned people
out of hard-earned money. He was the chief. The other publicans
reported to him. He was a vile man, okay? Why
would the Lord be pleased to come to him? Why would the Lord
be pleased to come to his tree? Why didn't he just pass him by?
I'll tell you why. That the purpose of God, according to election,
might stand. Not of works, but of him that
calleth. That's why. That's always why. Verse five, and when Jesus
came to the place, the place he was purposed to be, he looked
up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and
come down. Again, Zacchaeus, it's most likely
he didn't even know what the Lord looked like. The Lord, he's
just up there trying to find this man, Jesus, and next thing
you know, the Lord is calling him by name. Imagine the shock.
How'd he know my name? Tell you how, he's God, that's
how. And in God's purpose and grace,
Zacchaeus' name was already written in heaven in the Lamb's Book
of Life. That's how he knew his name. And don't you love what
the Lord said here? He commanded him, Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down. Make haste and come down. I'm
telling you, this was not what Zacchaeus had in mind that day.
This was not part of his plan. He just wanted to see this man,
Jesus, who he was. That's all we read. He just wanted
to see who he was. He had no intentions of meeting
him. He certainly had no intentions of being called by name. But
in God's amazing purpose and grace, this lofty publican is
about to come down, and not merely come down from a tree. Verse five, 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. Not only was he coming down from
that tree, the Lord of glory was coming to his house. Now
there's multiple meanings here in I must abide at thy house. It's of necessity that the Lord
Jesus Christ abide in our house. I'm talking about me and you. We need him to abide in us. It's critical. Union with Christ
is essential. If a sinner is going to be accepted
by God, we must have union with the Lord Jesus Christ. We must.
We must. If he does not abide in us and
in our house, we have no hope, none at all. But it was also
of necessity that our Lord abide in Zacchaeus, house again. He was a chosen vessel unto our
Lord. He was a child of God. That's
why it was of necessity for the Lord to abide in his house. And
note this, Zacchaeus did not invite the Lord to come into
his house. But won't you let God into your heart? I've never
heard anything so ridiculous. Zacchaeus, he would have been
content that day if the Lord never came to him, and so would
I. I would have been just fine, or at least so I would have thought.
Would not have you been content just going about, living your
life, climbing your tree, doing whatever? He did not invite the Lord to
his house. The Lord said, I'm coming in. I must abide at your
house. He didn't ask. He didn't ask
for permission. We don't let God in and God doesn't ask us
and see what we think and we come to a conclusion. No, the
declaration goes forth. Today, I must abide at your house.
Done. Period. Brethren, that's the
way it is. That's the way it is. Aren't
you glad? Aren't you glad it's not up to us? I'm telling you,
if anything pertaining to my salvation was up to me, I'd ruin
it. I'd ruin it. I'm not just saying that, I believe
that, I mean that. Because God has revealed to me
what I am, sin. Sin ruins things. Praise God,
his grace is greater than all our sin. Verse five again, today I must
abide at thy house. He said, Zacchaeus, make haste
and come down. Verse six, and he made haste
and came down. and he received him joyfully.
Is it any wonder to you that Zacchaeus made haste and came
down?" Does that surprise you? It doesn't surprise me one bit.
Not one bit. Why? Because this is God. This is God we're talking about.
This is God who came to Zacchaeus in his tree. This is God who
he doesn't hope and want to have. He has whatsoever he desires.
He has whomsoever he desires. He always has. He always will.
He's God. It wasn't up to Zacchaeus in
this moment as to whether or not the Lord would have him.
Well, my house is too dirty. We have no idea how dirty our
house is. We have no idea. And God doesn't
wait for us to clean it up. He says, make haste and come
down today. I must abide at your house. When it's time. When it's
God's time, when it's the appointed time of love, He's coming to
our house. Oh. Wasn't up to Zacchaeus. There
was no decision for Zacchaeus to make. The decision had already
been made. Whose decision is it for us to
be saved? It's God's. It's His alone. Salvation's of
the Lord from start to finish. I'll tell you what Zacchaeus'
decision was. Zacchaeus decided to climb into a tree. Zacchaeus
decided to do something about his minor problem. Just like
that rich young ruler, well, I've kept all those commandments
from my youth up. Well, that's too long. You're still lacking. What are
you lacking? We're lacking Christ. You leave
it all behind, you follow me, you'll have treasure in heaven.
Christ is the treasure. Do we understand that? We either
have the riches of this world, we either have a self-righteousness,
or we have Christ. Christ is all, it's one or the
other. Our Lord, what did he owe Zacchaeus? I love the song, Pass Me Not. Pass me not, O gentle, hear my
humble cry, while in others thou art calling, do not pass me by.
He could have walked right past Zacchaeus' tree. He could have
left him there. He could have let Zacchaeus never
see him. He could have never come to him,
never call him by name, never command him, make haste and come
down. Today I must abide at your house. Would God be right to
pass us by, to pass us, leave us alone? Would he be or does
he owe us something? Well, doesn't he know who I am?
I'm the chief publican. Well, I'm the rich young ruler. Well,
listen, if we're gonna be saved, it's gonna be according to his
mercy. All God owes us is justice and judgment, that's it. That's
what we deserve. It's all we deserve. But by God's
mercy and grace, he must abide at his house. According to God's
goodness and grace, Telling you, brethren, Zacchaeus was not looking
to be saved that day. I was not looking to be saved,
but according to his mercy, he saved me. That's just the truth. That's the truth. Seek ye the
Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he's near.
I wouldn't, and neither would you. Christ came to Zacchaeus. That's why he was saved. Christ
came to him. Why are we saved? Christ came
to us. And as a result of him coming
to us, we came down. We came to him. That's the only
reason Zacchaeus came down is because the Lord came to him
and said, come down and make haste. Notice it was urgent.
Today, today, today's the day. Now is the accepted time. Now's
the day of salvation. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? Did you notice how Zacchaeus
received the Lord? I love this. The end of verse six, joyfully. There's no other way the Lord
is received. And know this too, the Lord is not, if he comes
to us to be received by us, he's not gonna be rejected. He's not
gonna be turned away. No, he said, make haste and come down.
Zacchaeus made haste and came down. I told you, the decision
was made, made by God. We receive him joyfully. No one receives our Lord reluctantly. Well, yeah, I play pickup basketball
every week. Sometimes I'm a captain, sometimes
I'm last pick. Sometimes we're picking teams,
I'm not a captain. Well, I guess we have you. No
one receives our Lord like that. Our Lord is not a pitiful Lord.
He's the Lord God omnipotent and he reigneth. He has his way,
he does what he will. We're in his hands, he's not
in ours. We received him like Zacchaeus,
joyfully. Verse seven, and when they saw
it, speaking of the press, they all murmured, saying that he
was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. First, I want
to point this out. The Lord wasn't the guest. Zacchaeus
was. Well, it was Zacchaeus' house.
Well, who gave him the house? Who owns everything? Who's our
creator? The Lord is. I love how our Lord is referred
to as the Lord of hosts. He's the host. We're his guest. We're his guest. And what a sad
testimony it is here of these people, this press, Again, often multitudes followed
our Lord, but how rarely were people following Him who actually
needed Him. Usually the way it was is our
Lord would be thronged, like in this scenario, and then there'd
be one poor, pitiful person with a need begging to get to Him.
You recall the man with the frant, the paralytic, they couldn't
get to him, so they climbed up on the roof and dropped him down
at his feet. You recall the woman with the issue of blood, she
was just crawling through all these people trying to just touch
the hem of his garment. Our Lord constantly had people
thronging Him. Oh, but how precious it was when
someone came to Him with a need. And our Lord always gave the
need. If we find ourselves coming to
Him with a need, our Lord put that need in us every time. These
people here, they said, He's going to be guest with a sinner.
Do we have a problem with that? Do we take issue with God making sinners his company? Is
that problematic to you? Do we find fault with God for
being merciful and gracious to whom he will? Well, that's not
fair. What did the scripture say? Nay,
but O man, who art thou that replies against God? What are
we gonna say to our creator? It just may be the Lord may put
us in the field like a beast, like Gabe just told us about,
for us to learn who the most high is. Thank God he has mercy on sinners.
Praise God he delights to show mercy to all who need it. Thank
God he said I will have mercy. Thank God he's the friend of
publicans and sinners and eats and has fellowship with them.
Praise God. Praise God Christ came to save
sinners of whom I'm chief. See Zacchaeus, he was going from
being a lofty chief to I'm the worst of the worst chief. Christ came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Do we rejoice in this? Is this
news that we can receive joyfully? Or do we murmur and complain
at the thought? And I want to point this out.
How could God have something to do with Zacchaeus? How could
God have anything to do with you and me? We're sinners too. We've sinned against God, too.
That's what we are, our brethren. We're sinners. How could God
have to do with us? How could He have fellowship
with us? How could He eat with us? God does not condone sin. He doesn't. He doesn't. He doesn't
wink at it and sweep it under the rug. He does not be it known
unto us. He does not. Well, you know,
God, He hates sin but loves the sinner. Is that right? Well,
Psalm 5, verse 5 says, he hateth all workers of iniquity. The
foolish shall not stand in his sight. Then how does he have
fellowship with sinners? In order for God to have anything
to do with Zacchaeus, you know, they found fault with it. One,
they thought that they deserved his company. Well, they were
mistaken. In order for God to have anything
to do with any of his fallen creatures, he must come down
trade places with us, bear our sins in his own body on that
curse, he must get in the tree. He must die on the tree in our
place. That's the only way he could
have anything to do with Zacchaeus. That's the only way he could
abide in Zacchaeus. You understand that? And the
same is true for you and me. They said he's a sinner. Not
in Christ he's not. Not in Christ, he's not. In himself,
yes. In Christ, he's perfect. In Christ,
he's righteous. He's a just man, no sin. Oh,
to be in Christ. It's no wonder after the Lord
saved Saul of Tarsus, Paul said, oh, that I might win Christ and
be found in him. And he said, not having my own
righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith, Christ. I'm telling you, this is all
about Christ. It's not about Zacchaeus. I pray we can see ourselves in
Zacchaeus, the sinful man that he was, and I pray that we can
see ourselves in Christ. Oh, may we go home today in Christ. Verse seven again. They saw it, they murmured, saying,
He's gone to be guessed 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. These
are the only words we read of Zacchaeus speaking. And they're
wonderful words. The first thing that jumps out
at me, he stood up, that implies that he was down, doesn't it? He just stood up. He made haste
and came down. The Lord will cause us to stand
in him. And what did he say? First word
out of his mouth, Lord. He came here this day to see
a man named Jesus, but he saw the Lord. Does that bless your
heart? Lord. Now, the words he spoke here
about restoring to those he'd stolen from and giving to the
poor, he's not saying this by means of defending himself and,
well, I'm actually not that bad. No, he's owning up to what he
was. That's all it is. And know this
too, God worked repentance in this man. He does. He works repentance
in his people. Here's a difference that I see
right here that did not exist at the beginning of this text.
He's now ashamed of himself and the things that he's done and
the way that he is, the sin that he knew was in him. Whereas he
wasn't before. Has that been your story? Do
we find ourselves now ashamed of ourselves, whereas before
we just flat out didn't care? Now notice, notice who he spoke
to. They said, he's a sinner. He
stood up and he talks to the Lord. His only concern was the
Lord. That's who he had sinned against.
David said, "'Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done
this evil, and Thyself.'" Our sin is against God. Yes, we wrong
each other, but our sin is against God who made us, and God who
will judge us. That's who we need to be concerned
about. That's who we need to be confessing
our sins to, is God. Not men. It matters not what
men think about us. You know, the scribes and the
Pharisees, the religious people, all they ever cared about was
what men thought. That's all they ever cared about.
About pleasing men, being justified before men, being seen of men
and praised of men. I ask this question. Do we seek
to please men or God? Interested in having man's praise
or being found accepted by God? That's what matters. How we stand
in God's sight. Zacchaeus was not giving to the
poor and restoring money to those he'd stolen from in order to
please these men. No, I'll tell you why he did
these things. It was simply out of thanksgiving, abundant thanksgiving
to his Lord. Lord, thank you. You've come
into this world to make yourself poor in order to make a sinner
like me rich toward God. This is the least I can do to
say thank you. He wasn't doing it to be saved. He did it because
he had been saved. That's the difference. Again,
this is not written for Zacchaeus' praise and glory, but for Christ,
only Christ. Zacchaeus confessed his sins
to his Savior, and by God's grace, we will too. By God's grace,
we will too. He had no desire to continue
in sin that grace may abound. God forbid we do too. God forbid we just, well, God
saved me by grace. Let's just live like hell. No, let's desire to please our
Lord. Let's desire His glory. With all that we do, may we seek
him first and seek his praise and his glory. Lord, help us,
help us. Verse nine, and Jesus said unto
him, this day is salvation come to this house. For as much as
he also is a son of Abraham, this is not an account of a sinful
man turning over a new leaf. This is an account of eternal
salvation from sin. by the sacrifice of God Himself,
God who came down. Salvation came to Zacchaeus's
tree, the person. Salvation Himself came into Zacchaeus's
heart and he came into Zacchaeus's house. Perhaps he had a family
just like many of us. Perhaps he had little children
just like I do. And perhaps our Lord revealed salvation to all
in His house." He often did, you know that? He often did.
He often did. Why is that, Kius? Again, there
were a lot of people here. Mentioned earlier, our Lord passed
by tons of people. Why did so few come to Him? Why
did so few come to Him with a need? Well, we just read in verse nine,
the end of the verse, for so much as he also is a son of Abraham, he was a son of Abraham. He was
a Jew, not merely outwardly, but one inwardly. They which
are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. The children
of Israel, all Israel shall be saved. It's not talking about
the country, in the Middle East that's currently at war. The
war for Israel's already been fought. The war for Israel's
already been won. Israel, all Israel, all children
of Abraham shall be saved, the children of promise. That's what
Zacchaeus is, a child of promise. That's why Christ came to him
that day. And that's the only reason Christ will come to us.
if we're a child of promise given to Christ in the covenant of
grace before the world began. Pray it might be so. Verse 10,
for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was
lost. Oh, praise God, he came, the
Son of God, the Son of Man. He came down, he who is high
and lifted up, came down, condescended, became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross, that we might be saved from our sin
forever. Zacchaeus was lost and he didn't
know it until the seeking and saving Son of Man came to his
tree. It goes without saying that many
people, dare I say most people, dare I say most people who profess
to be a Christian Many shall say unto me, Lord,
Lord, and He'll say, I never knew you. Many who profess to
be saved, profess that glorious name, Jesus, who do not know
the Christ, the Son of the living God, who's the Son of Man, are
lost and do not know it. May God reveal that to us. May
God get us lost that we might be found. You ever heard someone declare
from the pulpit, may God get us lost? Everybody's saved, just
like that rich man. Oh, he was too good. That's his
problem. He was too good. We need to understand
we're too bad. The Lord said, why are you calling
me good? There's only one good. It's not
us. It's Christ, the Son of Man. You know, it's not our sin that'll
keep us from Christ. It's our self-righteousness.
I'm telling you, the way up is down. We need to be brought down.
We need to know our sin. Look to Christ, and Christ alone,
the Son of Man came. Praise God He came, and He came
for this reason, to seek and to save. He does the seeking,
He does the saving. What was Zacchaeus' story? That
God be the glory, I'm only a sinner saved by grace. He did it all. Oh, what a glorious day this
was for him. The whole reason Christ came
into this world was to become a man and trade places with His
people and for the glory of Him, for the glory of the Son of Man,
that we might be saved to the praise of His glory, to the praise
of the glory of His grace, the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that
He might be pleased to come to us, just like He was pleased
to come to Zacchaeus this day. May He be pleased to come to
us, abide in our house, and may He abide in our house with our
family too. Lord, abide in us, abide with
us. For Christ's sake, for His glory,
amen.