Turn to Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. Some of you, I know, have heard
probably several sermons from this chapter on Zacchaeus. I gave a couple titles to this
message. a curious sinner and a seeking
Savior, and up a tree on purpose. You'll find out as you go along
here that God put that man up a tree on purpose, and Christ
is going to pacify that way. And that's what I want us to
look at. I'm going to read what the verses that I'm going to
preach from this morning. Luke 19, 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 by that
way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him,
and said unto him, Zacchaeus, 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, To 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, not try to save, but to save
that which was lost." Now, it says Zacchaeus was a publicist. I don't know what you know about
publicans, but I know this. A publican was one of the most
hated people among the Jews. They despised the publicans.
They were considered traitors. They were outcasts. They were
the lowest of the low among them because they worked for the Roman
government. They collected taxes. Nobody likes a tax collector.
And they hated publicans. They despised him. And sometimes
these publicans would charge people more taxes than they should.
And they'd even charge some of them, one writer said, with extortion,
trying to get some more money out of them. Trying to get bribery,
bribe money out of them. So when we read that one was
a publican, you know that he was usually, number one, a crook. And secondly, he was hated by
everybody. They all despised him. And then
it says here that he was a rich man, that he was a rich man. Now this caught my attention
because over here in chapter 18, look over in verse 18, in
chapter 18, it says here, Let me start in verse 21, and
he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. This man came
and said, Lord, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And
he told him to keep the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not
kill, do not steal. And he said, All these I have
kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things,
he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing, sell all that
thou hast, distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure
in heaven, and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was
very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that
he was very sorrowful, he said, how hardly, how hardly shall
they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. For it's
easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich
man to enter into the kingdom of God. So he's a publican, a
crook, despised of all, and he's a rich man. He's a rich man. And the Lord just told them that
it was hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,
but he also said on Dauphu there that all things are possible
with God. They said, well, Lord, then who then can be saved? He
said, with men it's impossible, but with God all things are impossible. And here he proves it. He turns
right around and he proves it. He proves it by saving a rich
man. He demonstrates His power to
save the crookedest of men and the richest of men at the same
time. None is so bad that the Lord
cannot save. He's able to save unto the uttermost
them that come unto God by Him. He's able to save. So He takes
this crook who's very rich, and makes him an object of his mercy.
Demonstrates his grace and mercy, mercy upon him. Now it's in verse
3 it says Zacchaeus was very, he was very curious here. Look
here in verse 3. And he sought to see Jesus, who
he was. No doubt he had heard something
about him. No doubt he had heard of the
miracles. He had heard of Jesus of Nazareth. And he had heard
that he was coming by that way. He said he wanted to see who
he was. He was curious to see Jesus,
to see who he was. He had heard about him, and he
wanted to see what manner of man this was. Like the disciples
said when he calmed the sea and the wind, they said, what manner
of man is this? And no doubt Zacchaeus, from
the things he had heard, he said, what manner of man, what kind
of man is this that raises the dead and heals the sick and the
lame and the blind? I've got to see what kind of,
I've got to see who this is. He wanted to see who it was,
what manner of man he was. Listen here, the Spirit of God
will create an interest in the heart of his elect to seek out
Christ, even if it's just out of curiosity at first. Some people
may have just came here, they may have just heard something
about the church here, or just heard something about the gospel
of this priest here, and they may have just came wanting to
see what's going on. They want to see, well, what is going on
up there? What is being preached up there? That's what they wanted
to see. But listen, despise not, the scripture said, despise not
the day of small things. Zacchaeus, he didn't know, little
did he realize at that time that the Spirit of God was moving
him to go and meet Christ. To be where Christ was and the
Savior and the sinner are going to meet. He didn't realize that
at all. God works in mysterious ways
his wonders to perform. He always works in mysterious
ways his wonders to perform. This is in verse 3, that he was
little of stature. Now, I'm not straining at a mad
here. I don't think anything's by chance. I do not believe that anything
just happens. Zacchaeus, it says here, he was
little of stature. He was not a big man. He was
little. Therefore, he had to climb up a tree to see who the
Lord was, because he was to pass by that way. So he couldn't see
him from the press. Everybody was taller than him.
So he has to go and climb up in this tree and wait there until
the Lord passes by that way. That's no accident. That's his
shortness of stature, no accident. That tree being planted there
is no accident, and I'm not straining that a point here. It was no
accident. No accident at all. It's actually his shortness of
stature, and that tree was no accident. The Lord was purposely,
He was purposely going to cross his path. He was purposely going
to cross his path, and He was going to hold him up there in
that tree until he crossed that path that way. He was going to
hold him right there until it was time for him to pass by him,
until it was time for the sinner to meet the Savior. The Lord
will use whatever means that he has purposed to use to keep
his people until it's time for them to meet Christ. Whatever
it may be, he'll keep them until it's time for them to meet their
Master, their Lord. And I assure you this, that our
meeting of Christ, our hearing of the gospel, will not be by
chance. It will not be by an accident. It will be on purpose. It will—you'll
hear the gospel. When God has purpose for you
to hear Christ, to meet Christ, it'll be all purpose. It won't—it
will not be by chance. It'll be by purpose. And he'll
see to it by his providential dealings that are passed across
at the appointed time. The Scripture says in Ecclesiastes,
there's a time to be born, there's a time to die. There's a time
to be born into this life. And for the believer, there is
a time to be born again. And when that time happens, when
that time comes, then God providentially brings it all to a head, as he
does right here with Zacchaeus. He providentially guides and
directs the path of his sheep all the way. All the way. Little did Zacchaeus know, little
did he know, that he was up that tree on purpose. He didn't know
that. Christ knew that. Christ over
in that cloud knew there was a Zacchaeus over in that tree.
Just like it was Philip. He said, I saw you under the
tree before you ever came here. I saw you before you, long before
you ever came here. And little do we realize that
the things that befall us are for the purpose of bringing us
to Christ. And the things that befall us
now, even after believing on Christ, after believing the gospel,
the things that befall us now is for the purpose of conforming
us to the image of Christ. I don't care what it is, whether
it be the loss of a job or a heartache or what it may be. It's for the
purpose of forming us and creating us and making us into the image
of the Lord Jesus Christ. and bringing us to know more
of him, more of him. At Ethiopian eunuch, riding back
home, he'd been up to Jerusalem. Some people would think that
he accidentally got ahold of the book of Isaiah. God purposely
brought that man up there. He had heard of him, and he went
up there. He went up there to find out something about this
God that he had heard of. Somehow, he had heard of him.
He went up there to find out. When he was up there, he didn't
find out anything. But he did get ahold of Isaiah 53. And on
his way back, he was reading. And the Spirit of God says, it
felt down there, And he walked up by the chariot. You know,
he'd go over by the chariot. He didn't jump up on the chariot
and say, do you want to accept Jesus as your personal Savior?
He didn't try to drag a decision out of him. He just walked along
and asked him, he said, do you understand what you're reading?
And he said, how can I except some man teach me or show me?
And he got up in the chariot and took the Scriptures and preached
Christ to him. That was not by accident. That
was not by chance. God brought that to a head on
purpose at the appointed time. And I'm sure many of you can
give a good account of how the Lord brought you here to hear
the gospel. I remember I was attending a church that did not
preach the gospel, and I decided not to go that morning. I went
over to my parents' house, and there my dad was sitting watching
Henry on television. He said, This man's preaching
the gospel. And I said, I never listened to it. And the next
Sunday, I stayed home and sat down and listened to it again.
And the next thing I knew, I was going down there listening to
it. And the Lord taught me the gospel. There was no accident
that I got up and decided, well, I'm just going to go there today. I heard the gospel on purpose.
God does not save men by accidental means. It's always on purpose.
Look over at 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy. Chapter 1, in verse 9, it says, "...who has
saved us," in 2 Timothy 1, verse 9, "...who has saved us, and
called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began." God has saved us according
to his own purpose and grace, and that was given to us in Christ
before the world began, he says. Never by accident. No one here
has heard the gospel by chance. God has crossed your path on
purpose. He's crossed your path on purpose.
Now it says in verse 4, when Jesus came to the place, you
see, if we are to be saved, if we are to be saved, he will first
have to come to us. Salvation is not me going to
Christ. It's Christ coming to me and
giving me life. Life from the dead. Dead people
don't go anywhere. Dead people don't do it. Dead
people don't speak. Dead people don't walk. Especially
dead people don't do anything. Christ must first come to us.
He must come to where we are. He must come to where we live
and save us and call us by His grace. He's got to come to us.
And this is why He had to come into this world of sin and iniquity.
He had to come to the place. Now, He had to come to the place
where the offense occurred. He had to come to the place,
the place where the law was broken. That's where he had to come to,
the place where the law was broken. It wasn't broken in heaven, it
was broken on earth. And he had to come to the place,
and he had to come to the place where you and I were condemned
and get us. He had to come to where we are
and get us, take us out of the way of God's wrath and stand
in our place. He had to come as our representative
and keep the law that we had broken. He had to magnify, Christ
had to magnify the law and make it honorable in our place. Jesus Christ magnified the law
and he made it honorable in my place, representing me, impersonating
me. As far as the law of God's concern,
I've magnified it and made it honorable. in my substitute,
in my representative. That I did in Christ. He had
to come and provide us with a righteousness to cover our nakedness. He had
to come and shed his blood for the remission of our sins. He
had to come and die in our place. He had to. He had to. You know, whenever he was in
the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. He said, Father, if it be possible
for thine elect to be saved any other way, let this cup pass
from me. It didn't pass. That was the
only way it could have happened. That was the only way we could
be saved. He had to come and take my place before God's law. He had to take my place in order
to free me from the curse, in order to free me from condemnation. There is now, therefore, no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. Why? Why? Because he took my
place of condemnation. He died in my place. Christ took
our place, and now he's gone to prepare a place. That's why
he said in John 14, I go to prepare a place, a place of acceptance,
is what he's going to prepare. He says, I go to prepare a place
for you, and if I go, I'll come again for you. After I've prepared
a place, I'll come and get you. That's what he's saying. And
beside all this, had he not come to the place to get us, we would
have never, we would have never and could have never gone to
him. It could have never happened.
It could have never happened. And then in verse 4, after coming
to the place, the ordained place for him to meet, then it says
he looked up. He looked up. My, what grace. What grace and mercy here that
he looked up, that the Lord of glory, God Almighty, should look
up upon such a sinner as we are. Here's the sense of it. Here's
the sense of it. He looked upon Zacchaeus in mercy
and grace. When he looked upon him, he looked
upon him in mercy and grace. He looked upon him in love. This
is his. This is one of the sheep that
he came to save. This is one of the sheep that
he came to die for. And he looked upon him in mercy
and grace. Here's a sinner who has found
grace in the eyes of the Lord, and this grace was unasked for
and unsought for. Unasked for and unsought for.
I wasn't out looking for him. He was looking for me. He caused me to look to him.
He caused me to seek him after he had dealt with me. after he
had found me, unasked for and unsought after. Christ looked
upon him in love and tenderness, just as he has many of us. Just
as he has many of us. There was a lot of people around
him whom he could have called. There was a lot of them standing
around him, but he called Zacchaeus, because he was the object of
his love, the object of his mercy, the object of his grace. That's
who he called. He could have looked upon many
others besides you and me, but he's chose us. Those of you who
believe the gospel, he's chose us. He's chose us. He always looks upon the object
of his love. And I tell you this, listen,
Christ looked upon him long before this. He looked upon Zacchaeus
long before this. He looked upon Him back in eternity
before the world was ever created. He looked upon Him in the covenant
of mercy, in that covenant of grace. And if Christ looks upon
us now, if He looks upon me in mercy, and if He looks upon me
in grace, it's because He already did back in eternity past before
God ever created this world. He'd already looked upon me.
I was an object of His love. I wasn't someone He just happened
to see and say, well, I like Him. He looked upon me before this
world was ever created. I was an object of His love way
back then, way back then. And then He gives here an effectual
call. Now here's an effectual call.
Here's an effectual. There's no pleading going on
here. You won't hear one bit of pleading going on here. Here's
a, he spoke to, it says here, he spoke to him as he does all
his sheep when he calls them. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
and they follow me. They follow me. When he speaks,
I tell you this, when our Lord speaks, something happens. Something
happens. Now the Jesus that's being preached
in most pulpits, he can speak all he wants to and nothing's
gonna happen. But when the Lord of Glory, when Jesus Christ,
God Almighty speaks, I'm telling you, something's going to happen.
When He walks up to that grave of Lazarus, and He says, Lazarus,
come out of there! Lazarus is going to come out
of there. You don't have to stand there begging to come out. He's
coming out. Now when He speaks, something's
going to happen. And He spoke to him, and He spoke
to him personally. He called him by name. He calls
him by name, just like he did Landis, and just like he did
Samuel. He calls him by name. And note what he says to him.
Make haste, hurry up, and get down here. He says, Landis, hurry
up and come down. Well, it's not only an effectual
call, it's a humbling call. You gonna come down. The first
thing a sinner experiences when God effectually calls him is
coming down. We think so highly of ourselves.
We think we're something else. And God has to call us down first. We have, we have, we must come
down. He says to him, make haste and
come down. The sooner, the sooner we fall
at his feet, The sooner we will enjoy his salvation, I tell you,
it's a shame we take so long in coming down. If only a sinner
knew what awaits him, full salvation, full pardon, full justification,
when we fall down at his feet. That's what awaits us. Life eternal. That's what awaits us. But the
sense that I get out of this is this. Today is the day of
salvation. Now is the accepted time. You
come down now. Today is your salvation. Today,
he says, is your salvation. He's not going to hang around
for us to make up our minds. He's not inviting—listen—he is
not inviting him to come down. He's telling him to come down.
It's a command to come down. And he's not waiting around for
us to just come— There's no debate going on here either. There's
no debate at all. I remember the place I used to
attend. I mean, we'd literally drag people
down the aisle. At the end of the service, the
preacher would give the altar call, and they had an altar up front,
and people, you'd see them go out of their seats, and they'd
go back and talk to this one and this one, and then before you know
it, here they'd get them up. If the gospel's preached, God
gives an effectual call, the best thing we can do is stand
out of the way, because they're coming. Just like that woman
with the issue of blood, for 12 years she had that issue of
blood, that woman was so weak. I mean, she was so weak she couldn't
even get out of her house. But when she heard of Christ,
when she knew that this man could save her, she made her way, that
weak old woman, made her way through that crowd. She said,
if I can just touch the hem of his garment. And it says in Mark,
she kept saying, in other words, she kept saying within herself,
if I can just touch him, if I can just touch him, if I can just
get to him, it's going to be all right. When God calls a sinner, just
move out of the way. Because he's coming. He's coming. I know this. I would rather be
brought down by grace now than by sin at the judgment." And then verse 4, here's the
purpose of coming down now. Today, I must abide at thy house. This is the purpose. Today, I
must abide at thy house. When the Lord saves a man, he
saves him. He saves him. When it is the
decreed time for him to manifest himself to a sinner, he'll do
it now. It'll be today. When it's that
decreed time. And, Brandon, here's the salvation.
Listen, here's the salvation. I must abide at thy house. There's
the salvation. We read it in Colossians, the
mystery of the Gospels. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ said, I must abide at thy house. Salvation is not Christ
in our presence. It's not Christ in our presence. Salvation is not Christ in the
crowd. Salvation is Christ in you. That's salvation. It's not in
my presence. It's not in the crowd. It's in
me. To me, Christ is in our presence
now in His Word as I'm preaching. He's in our presence. Christ
is in the gospel that we preach. Christ is in His Word, but unless
He's in you, you're lost. Unless He's in you, you're lost.
And notice that curious reaction here in verse 6. He made haste. He made haste. When the Lord
gives an effectual call, His people are made willing in the
day of His power. He's willing to come down. He
hurried up and got down. He hurried up and came down.
And it says that He received Him joyfully. He was glad to
receive Him. I tell you, sinners whom the
Lord has given life to are glad to receive Him. They are glad
to bow at his feet. They're glad to bow at his feet.
They're glad to sit at his feet. Glad to sit at his feet. This
is different than the way the Pharisees received him. Remember
Simon? He went to Simon's house. He
didn't even give him the common courtesies that he gave to those
who came to his house. Didn't give him the common courtesies.
But this sinner was glad to receive. And you know what the reaction
of the people was there in verse seven? They murmured. They murmured
and complained. I had a guy tell me one time,
he said, I wish you hadn't got saved. That was before I was. He didn't even know the difference.
That was back when I was just religious. is a friend of mine
that I went to school with, but they murmured. They murmured
here, it says, they said of all the people he could have gone
home and eaten with, he chose a sinner. That's what they're
saying. That's what they're saying. What
they're saying here, Stan, is all the people that he could
have gone home with today, he goes home with Stan. Yes, that's
what he said. They said, he's going to be with
a man that's a sinner. That's the only place where he's
welcome. That's the only place he's welcome, is the home, the
heart of a sinner. Only place he's welcome. Those
self-righteous Pharisees didn't welcome him. Religious people
are the meanest people this side of hell. They are. They're mean. They're mean. Only a sinner can
appreciate and love Christ. All others despise him. All others
despise him. It was for sinners that he came.
It was for sinners that he died. And it is sinners whom he eats
with and fellowships with. That's it. In verse 8, Zacchaeus was so
overwhelmed that he became a giver instead of a taker. He was so
overwhelmed here that he became a giver instead of a taker. And
Zacchaeus stood, and he 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 forthfore. My what grace does for a person. What grace does for a person. The taker now becomes the giver. And he says, I'm going to give
to the poor. Those who can't give back to me. Those who I
can't receive anything from. The giver becomes the taker.
Well, the taker becomes the giver. And I tell you this. We have
never given in proportion as he's given to us. He says, Lord,
I give half of my goods. You could give all your goods
and never out give what he's given to us in Christ. Never. Never. And then in verse 9, our
Lord confirms the blessing. He says, This day is salvation
come into this house. This day is salvation come into
this house. Here's a sense of it. Where Christ
is, salvation is, because he's salvation. Salvation is not just
something he gives me, it's him. It's him. He's salvation. And
he confirms in verse 9, he confirms that Zacchaeus is a promised
seed of Abraham. Who would have believed that?
And Jesus said unto them, This day salvation comes to this house
for so much as he also is a son of Abraham. He is a spiritual
son of Abraham, is what he's saying. He's one of those I came
after. He's one of the sheep. Because
you notice he says there in verse 10, and I quote him, For the
Son of Man is come to seek and to save. that which is lost. He gives the reason or the purpose
of his mission here. He says, I came to seek and to
save the lost. Just like when he said, I must
needs go through Samaria. Well, those disciples did not
know what he's talking about. They had no understanding of
why he had to go through Samaria. There was a sheep there. There
was a woman at the well. that was going to be there at
that appointed time, and he's going to get her. He came after
his sheep. Now, he came on a mission. He
didn't come down here in an attempt to save anybody. He came down
here to save. That's what he says. Notice there,
he came to seek and to serve. He will not stop until that last
sheep is brought home. When he brings that last sheep
into the fold, then it'll be over. But until then, until then,
he's going to seek and save that which was lost. Okay, Joe, you
have a closing song? You know, I was thinking the
sun's not shining bright on the outside, but the sun of our holy
and sovereign God is shining in this place. And I'm very thankful
for that this morning through His servant, and I appreciate
it. It's been a blessing to be here. Let's stand and sing number
187. Let's be the tithe advised. Let's sing the first, second,
and fourth stanzas. Remember the service at six o'clock
this afternoon. Six o'clock. I'll hear what the angry man
is lying to them. Our fears, our hopes, our aims,
our wants, our hopes, and our cares. When we are stranded far, it leaves us in despair. Thank you, and you're dismissed.