Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 17. Hymn number 17. Come thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, Raise the mount, I'm fixed upon
it, Mount of thy redeeming love. Here I raise my nebenezer, Hither
by thy help I'm come. my good pleasure, safely to arrive
at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God, he to rescue me from danger. ? O to grace how great a debtor
? ? Daily I'm constrained to be ? ? With thy goodness like
a debtor ? ? And my wandering heart to thee ? ? How to wander,
Lord, I fear ? Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
228. 228. ? My faith has found a resting
place ? ? Not in device nor creep ? ? I trust the ever-living one
? ? His words for me shall plead ? ? I need no other again ? is enough that Jesus died and
that he died for me. Enough for me that Jesus saves. This ends my fear and doubt. Hey, sinful soul, I come to It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for our sins. ? My heart is leaning on the word
? The written word of God ? Salvation by my Savior's name ? Salvation
through His blood ? I need no other ? That Jesus died and that he died
for me ? My great physician heals the
sick ? The lost he came to save ? For me his precious blood he
shed ? For me his life If you have your Bibles with you
this morning, turn with me if you would to the book of Luke. I'd like to read a portion of
Luke chapter 18. Luke 18. Luke chapter 18, we'll begin
in verse 18. Read down through the end of
the chapter. Luke 18, 18, and a certain ruler
asked him, saying, good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life? And Jesus said unto him, why
callest thou me good? None is good save one, God. Thou knowest the commandments.
Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Honor
thy father and thy mother. And he said, all these have I
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, and 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 shall they
that have riches enter into the kingdom of God, for it is easier
for a camel to go through an eagle'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. Then Peter said, Lo,
we have left all and followed thee. And he said unto them,
Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house
or parents or brethren or wife or children for the kingdom of
God's sake who shall not receive manifold more in this present
time and in the world to come, life everlasting. Then he took
unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to
Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning
the Son of Man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto
the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and
spitted on. And they shall scourge him, and
put him to death. And the third day he shall rise
again. And they understood none of these things. And this saying
was hid from them. Neither knew they the things
which were spoken. And it came to pass that as he
was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side
begging. And hearing the multitude pass
by, he asked what it meant. And they told him that Jesus
of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus,
son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked
him, that he should hold his peace. But he cried so much the
more, Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood and commanded
him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he
asked him saying, what wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And
he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto
him, Receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately
he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all
the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God. Our most high and heavenly Father,
Lord God Almighty, Almighty and All-powerful God, we come before
you once more through your blessed Son, Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, as feebly we come into
thy presence, but boldly we come through your blessed Son. Lord,
we pray that you would reveal your word to us. Let us to hear, Lord, hear it
with our hearts. Give us understanding, give us
faith to see. Lord, we thank you for this gathering.
We thank you for Brother Cody who will stand before us and
proclaim thy word. Lord, we ask that you would give
him the grace and the ability to stand and do so boldly and
freely. Lord, we thank you for everything
that you've given us, most especially for salvation found in Christ. Lord, we ask that you may reveal
yourself to the blind here today. Lord, if it would be thy will,
have mercy on those who know you not. Lord, we ask for mercy and grace
for those who are weak and weary, those who are unable to be here. Lord, if they would be able to,
they would be. You know their needs and their
struggles. Father, we ask that you would
have mercy. We ask that that will be done
for Christ's sake. Amen. Hymn number 497. 497. When I can read my title clear
to mansions in the skies I'll bid farewell to every fear and
Wipe my weeping eyes. And wipe my weeping eyes. And wipe my weeping eyes. I'll bid farewell to every fear
and wipe my weeping And I can smell what Satan's
raging. Face a frowning world. And face a frowning world. And face a frowning world. ? Face it through me now ? ? Let
cares like a wild village come in ? ? Storms of sorrow flow
? ? May my boat safely reach my home, my home ? ? My God,
my heaven, my all ? ? My God, my heaven, my all ? ? My God,
my heaven, my all ? ? May I not safely reach my home ? Make my weary soul in seas of
heavenly rest, Let it not a wave of trouble roll up as my merciful
breast. We're pleased and honored and
thankful to have Brother Cody Henson with us once again. It seems you're here just every
few weeks, but I'm kind of glad for it. It's good to get to see
a dear brother, a dear friend. Certainly a blessing to hear
you preach the gospel. Come on and bring whatever the
Lord's put on your heart. Good morning. Go ahead and turn
with me to Luke chapter 19. Your brethren in Kingsport send
their love and greetings and I think I told you this last
time, but maybe not, but he told me this time. Kevin Thacker wanted
me to say hello. I talked to him pretty often.
He's preaching with Donnie at the conference down in Arkansas
today. And pray for them. Here in Luke
chapter 19, look with me at verse 1. Luke 19 verse 1 says, 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. I want to consider the story
of Zacchaeus this morning. I absolutely love reading passages
in the scripture where our Lord dealt with a particular individual. That's what he still does today.
And I can't help but notice right here verse 1 said that the Lord
Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. He passed through it. He passed through it. Now, whether
or not he saved anyone as he passed through, I do not know.
But I know this, he's about to save Zacchaeus. He's about to
save Zacchaeus. He passed through Jericho because
he was headed to Zacchaeus. In the previous chapter, we just
read, how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom
of God. We just read it about that rich
young ruler. How hardly. Did you notice it
said Zacchaeus was rich? Did you notice that? Tells us
he was a publican. Publicans were wealthy because
they were thieves. They were covetous. They stole,
extorted. He was a publican. In chapter
18, we didn't read it, but we see a publican in chapter 18.
He was a publican God had done something for. You remember two
men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the
other a publican. The Pharisee boasted of himself and his works.
The publican stood 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. You remember that? Zacchaeus was a publican, though
we do not read of him beating on his chest, crying for mercy.
We just saw the end of chapter 18, our Lord came to a blind
man, a blind beggar. Not only did he give him sight,
he saved his soul. He followed the Lord in the way,
and he glorified him and praised his name. Zacchaeus was not physically
blind, but he's spiritually blind. He doesn't know it yet. He's
about to find out. He was not physically a beggar,
but he's about to be a spiritual beggar just like that other publican. Fleshly speaking, Zacchaeus was
self-sufficient. And until Christ comes to us
and reveals himself in his saving grace to us, we're self-sufficient
spiritually, or so we think. We're good on our own, alright? But we do read here, Zacchaeus
has a curiosity. If you look at verse three, 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.
No doubt Zacchaeus had heard of our Lord's fame. Our Lord
went about doing good every day everywhere he went. And we read
time and time again that his fame went abroad. Perhaps he
heard of the Lord's mercy to that blind beggar. I don't know. We're not told. Maybe Zacchaeus
just wanted to see what the Lord looked like. I've read a lot
about this passage. I've listened to a lot of messages. I'm convinced he didn't have
a spiritual need. He wanted to see Jesus who he
was. That's what he was seeking to
do. I thought of Herod over in chapter 23 of Luke. Herod, he
said he was exceedingly glad to see the Lord, though the Lord
was being delivered to be crucified. Well, Herod was glad. He said
he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. And he started pressing
our Lord, asking Him many questions. Many questions. And if you read
the accounts of when our Lord would go here and there, that's
usually all anybody wanted from Him. Well, let's make him king,
and well, he fed our bellies, and let's ask him a bunch of
questions. Let's try to trap him in his
words. That's all most people wanted was to see something that
would wow their flesh. I pray God would give us a far
greater interest than just that. Now, again, I don't believe Zacchaeus
had a spiritual need, but he had a physical need. Do you see
his problem? We all know it, don't we? I told
the folks in Kingsport last week, when I first prepared this, that
my daughter came home from her Sunday school class. She's three.
And she told me she learned about Zacchaeus. And she started singing
the song, Zacchaeus was a wee little man. A wee little man
was he. He was short. My daughter, she
knows Zacchaeus was short. I pray in time, God will reveal
to her what that means, that he was short. Come on, tell us.
It's a great spiritual picture. Zacchaeus was too short to see
over all these people, so he ran, climbed up into a tree.
Wanted to get a glimpse of this man, Jesus. Do we understand
that by nature and by anything we do, we cannot see the Lord? Do we understand that? The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They are
foolish unto him, neither can we know them, because they are
spiritually discerned." We're carnal, fleshly, we're sold under sin.
We can't see, we can't know God or the things of God. We've come
short of the glory of God. We're small in His sight. We're small in the sight of the
mighty everlasting God. So what did Zacchaeus do? He
climbed a tree. Climbed a tree. He tried to fix his problem. It's what we all do. We try to
fix our problem. Yeah, yeah, I heard man fail,
but well, let's just, let's sow some fig leaves together. I heard
that this sycamore tree was a type of fig tree. Let's just sow some
fig leaves together. That'll make us acceptable in
God's sight. No, that's not sufficient. There's nothing we can do to
remedy our problem. We have a sin problem. Well,
I quit sinning. Well, God says we're lying. We're
not quit sinning. There's nothing we can do to
save ourselves. Working hard to get to heaven.
That's where we come from. Everybody, working hard. We live
in what's called the Bible Belt. Everybody's so religious. Everybody's
working hard to please God. We cannot please God. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well. Please hear ye him. May we hear him. Zacchaeus is
about to hear him. He's about to see him, and he's
about to hear him. Zacchaeus climbed up. And God's about to bring him
down. We need to come down. Again,
that rich young ruler, he, oh my, he was a lofty fellow, wasn't
he? Oh, I've kept all those commandments from my youth up. You love God
with all your heart, soul, mind, and being? All your strength?
Anybody? We've come short. We've come
short. And we need God to bring us down.
We can't bring ourselves to God. That's why Christ came, to bring
his people to himself. Look at verse 5 right here, and
when Jesus came to the place, you see most people take this
account of Zacchaeus and well look how he sought the Lord.
No, the Lord sought him. When he was come to the place, Zacchaeus
did what he thought he could do. The Lord came to the place,
the appointed place of the hour to save this man, to reveal himself
to this fallen son of Adam. He came to Zacchaeus. The Lord
saw Zacchaeus amidst a multitude of people thronging him. Our Lord went to Zacchaeus' tree. I pray God will cause us to see
His purpose in this. What a wonderful word, purpose.
Well, it just so happened, nothing ever has. Nothing ever has. Oh, do we see the purpose and
goodness of God here? Now, he didn't come to Zacchaeus'
tree because of any good in Zacchaeus. We'd be foolish to think that.
We just read Zacchaeus was chief among the publicans. He was the
head of that sinful bunch of publicans. He was an evil man. Despicable. Absolutely despicable. You ever known someone and you
just thought, oh, I can't stand them? That was Zacchaeus. And
that's me. Why him? Why Zacchaeus? There's
a lot of people here, why him? Based on the word of God, Romans
9, that the purpose of God according to election might stand. Not of works. It didn't save
him because he climbed into the tree. It didn't save him because
he ran up to see, no. No, he saved him according to
his, but it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. He was
running. It's of God that showeth. Mercy for his glory, for the
glory of God, the glory of the Son of Man. Verse 5, when Jesus
came to the place, he looked up. You know, Zacchaeus didn't
know what he looked like. Maybe he stood there for a while
and Zacchaeus thought he was just another man, maybe. But
when the Lord looked up, look what it says. When he looked
up and saw him, the Lord saw him, and he said unto him, Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down. The Lord God, God Almighty, came
to this man who climbed into a tree like a little boy, and
he called him by name. Can you imagine? Sometimes I
try to put myself in the shoes of the person our Lord is dealing
with. I try, but I can't imagine. I'd
love to know what he thought. How'd he know my name? Is this
Jesus? I don't know what he thought
at first. I don't know. No idea. But I love what he said here.
Zacchaeus. Make haste, this is urgent, and
come down. I guarantee you this was not
what Zacchaeus had in mind that day. When God came to you, was it
part of your plan? God saved you by his grace, was
that your intention? Or did it completely catch you
off guard? Was it something you did or was it something he did? Wasn't part of Zacchaeus' plan.
He had no intentions of meeting the Lord, being called
by name. He certainly didn't know his
name was written in heaven, written in the Lamb's book of life from
long before he was ever born. But in God's goodness and grace,
he came to where he was. And this self-exalted man is
about to come down. Verse 5, Zacchaeus, make haste
and come down. Why? For today I must abide at
thy house. Don't you love that? I must abide at thy house. Not
only is Zacchaeus about to climb out of that tree, The Lord's
coming to his house. The Lord's coming to his house.
Today I must abide at thy house. It's critical. It's absolutely
critical. Do we understand what it means
for Christ to come to our house? He physically went to Zacchaeus'
house. But there's a lot more to it than that. I must abide. at thy house." We need the Lord Jesus Christ
to abide in our house. We need Him to come to us, come
to our tree, and abide in our house. We need Him to. If He does not come to us and
abide with us and abide in us, we have no hope. Colossians 1.27
says that Christ in you, this is a mystery that God must reveal,
and it's this, Christ in you, the hope of glory. What do I
have in me? Sin, sin, and more sin. What's the wages of sin? Romans
6.23, death. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. You've heard that, haven't you? It's in the scripture multiple
times. We need Christ in us. We need
Christ to abide in us. We need him to live in us, to
dwell with us. That's what we need. And I love this too. When our
Lord said, today I must abide at thy house, was there any way
that that was not going to happen? No. If you ever had someone invite
themselves over to your house, I'm sure I've done it many times.
If I've done it to you, please forgive me. The Hardmans aren't
here. I'm sure I've done it to them. We don't like when that happens,
do we? Oh, my house is dirty. I don't have any food ready.
You think Zacchaeus' house was dirty? Is our house dirty before God? And he says, I'm coming in. He
doesn't say, well, you go home. I'll give you a couple hours,
get it cleaned up, and cook up a fine meal, and then I'll meet
you there. No. No, he said, it's time. I'm coming. This doesn't hinge on us, brethren. God's not waiting on us to clean
ourselves up. That's what the Pharisees, that's
all they tried to do was clean up the outside, not knowing the
inside was full of corruption, dead man's bones, death, rot. Zacchaeus did not invite the
Lord to his house. The Lord invited himself over.
He said, I'm coming over. God does not ask us for permission.
Well, would you like to be saved? He saves us. Who hath saved us
and called us, he saves us, then he calls us. The gospel is not an invitation.
It's a declaration of what God has done. It is finished. Come, for all things are now
ready. Verse 5, Zacchaeus, make haste
and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he made
haste. He didn't think about it. He
made haste. He made haste and came down. Is it any wonder he
made haste and came down? When our Lord speaks to us, he
causes us to know it's urgent. There's no time to mess around
here and, well, let's think about this. No. Paul said, I conferred
naught with flesh and blood. This was no mere man talking
to Zacchaeus. When our Lord asked his disciples,
who do men say I am? Peter said, thou art the Christ.
Flesh and blood didn't reveal it to you, Peter. It wasn't flesh
and blood. It wasn't just flesh and blood
talking to Zacchaeus. It's God. That's why he came
down. You know, a man might convince
another man to walk down an aisle. A man might convince another
man to reform his life. But a man cannot convince another
man to believe God. Can't do it. Faith is the gift
of God. It's His work, the faith of the
operation of God. God works it in us. And He's
going to get all the glory for it. Oh, was that Keyes? You sure
have a nice house. No. He was a rich man. His house might have been nice.
But I'm telling you, it's this house that we're talking about.
The house of his heart, the house of his soul. Christ said, I'm
coming in. Zacchaeus made haste and came
down. There was no decision for him to make. The decision belonged
to God. Well, I decided to get saved. Well, you're not saved.
Not if it was your decision. If it was God's, yeah. Yeah. No decision for us to make. The
decision has been made from eternity. I mentioned the names written
in heaven, the names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. It's done.
It's done. It's all done. What decision did Zacchaeus make?
He climbed into a tree. We go to work, don't we? But God. But God. I must abide at thy house. According
to his mercy he saved us, but God who is rich in mercy." Though
our Lord physically went to Zacchaeus' house, it doesn't mean he's going
to go live with him from now on. But this was no temporary abiding. The Lord physically going to
his house was a picture of what the Lord spiritually did for
him. Spiritually, he was going to live with him. He caused Zacchaeus
to live in Him. I think Donnie just preached
on this last Sunday night. Galatians 2.20, Christ liveth
in me. The life we're living in the
flesh is by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave
himself for us. He lives in us, and we live in
Him. Live, move, and have our being
in Him. He's our life. We're one. You know, our Lord
prayed that in John 17, that they may be one in us. You notice how Zacchaeus received
the Lord at the end of verse six? Joyfully. He made haste, he came down,
and he received the Lord joyfully. I heard this recently, God saves
us against our will with our full consent. Well, that don't make any sense.
Oh, but it does. Has that been so with you? God
saved us against our will. It's His will. Our will is contrary
to His will. And yet we all receive Him joyfully,
don't we? Against our will, with our full consent. We weren't
looking for Him. I'm found of them that sought
me not, that asked not for me. And yet the moment He comes to
us, we're so glad He did. So glad he did. Verse seven,
and when they saw it, they all murmured, saying that he was
gone to be guessed with a man that is a sinner. I told you I love the accounts
when our Lord saved a certain person. I think with the blind
man, it said a certain blind man, a certain blind beggar. And yet, when our Lord would
save somebody, We always seem to read that there were people
standing by who could not rejoice. It's a sad, sad testimony from
their own lips of these people. And it was a lot of people. They
had a problem with the Lord for being gracious to Zacchaeus.
Well, I just can't understand why you'd go be a guest with
such a man. Kind of like that Pharisee in the temple praying,
well, I thank God I'm not like this man. That's what they're
saying. Do we find fault with God for
being gracious and merciful to whom he will? If so, got two questions. First, who are we to question
God? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replies against God? Are we going to say to our Creator,
what are you doing? Nebuchadnezzar learned. He learned
better than to think such a thing. He doeth as he will, with whomsoever
he will. Second question is this. Who
are we to look down on somebody else? Who are we to say, well,
how could God save this person? It's like, I forget exactly how
the story goes, but someone said, do you hear God save so-and-so?
I'll never despair of anybody since God saved him. And the
man said, I'll never despair of anyone since God saved me.
You see the difference? How can it be, how can it be
that God should love a soul like me? Oh, how can it be? Who made us to differ from anybody
else? All cut from the same line. God's sovereign mercy. God's sovereign grace is the
only hope of salvation for anybody. Anybody. Now, praise his glorious name. He's been pleased to show mercy.
if he didn't, and he doesn't owe it to us. But were it not
for the mercy of God, we'd all perish. All of us. There'd be no hope. Praise his name. He delights
to show mercy. And he delights to show it to
everyone that needs it. I pray we'll cry out to him for
it. And newsflash, if we do, it's the evidence that He saved
us. It's the evidence that He's been merciful to us. You know,
in another account, the religious, the scribes and Pharisees, they
tried to demean our Lord by saying He eats with publicans and sinners. Aren't you glad He does? We looked
at that a little bit last time I was here. I'm so glad he's
the friend of sinners. You see, none of us are worthy. The people that found fault with
the Lord, they always thought they were worthy. And that the
people that the Lord did something for were unworthy. We're all
unworthy. Christ alone is worthy. The Lamb,
he is worthy. He alone. I pray that we will
receive this news of who Christ is, what He's done, who He's
done it for. I pray we can receive that news
joyfully. I pray God will cause us to come down. Receive Him
joyfully. Now, I want to point this out. These people, they knew Zacchaeus
was a sinner. The problem is they didn't know
themselves to be a sinner. But there was no mistake. It's like
in Luke chapter 7, there was a woman that was a sinner. She
was a renowned sinner. And our Lord saved her. I think
Simon, a Pharisee, he just was so mad, he just couldn't understand
because he thought he was worthy. But know this here. Our Lord having something to
do with Zacchaeus does not mean that he was condoning sin. It
doesn't mean that at all. No, our Lord doesn't condone
sin. I already mentioned, I quoted a couple verses to you. God will
have nothing to do with sin. He hates all workers of iniquity.
Hates the sin, hates the sinner who's in his sin. In order for there to be fellowship
with the Lord Jesus and Zacchaeus, something had to happen. Substitution needed to take place. That's why Christ came. to trade places with his people. Zacchaeus was in a tree. Our
Lord came here to go to a tree. He must be lifted up. Zacchaeus
is just like Barabbas, the man that went free, because the Lord
hung in his place. Aside from Christ's substitutionary
death on the cross, God will have nothing to do with a sinner.
Nothing at all. You know, on the cross we see
our Lord was dying for the sins of His people. We see a man who
died in His sin. That's what we all deserve. The
thief who died railing on Him, that's what we all deserve. That's
what we all are by nature. But then we have a thief who
died free from his sin because he had a substitute. All three
of those men died on a cross. One had no sin of his own, but
the other two did. We need the Lord to die for our
sin. Clearly from that account, we
know he didn't die for everybody. He died for one of them. That's
the only way. The blood of Jesus Christ cleansing
us from all sin, putting our sin away forever as far as the
East is from the West. That's the only way God could
have anything to do with you or me. As if he died in our place,
if we're in him, if God chose us in him, put us in him. I mentioned
what Donnie preached from. I'm crucified with Christ. Must be one with Christ. They
said this man's a sinner, but not in Christ he's not. Not in
Christ he's not. I love this, bless my heart so
much. I just saw this a few nights ago. I looked up the name Zacchaeus
to see what it means. You're gonna like this. Two things. Pure and innocent. Well, I thought he was a sinner,
yeah. Not now. Not in Christ. Not in Christ. That worm Jacob. No. Israel,
you're a prince with God. That's what we are in Christ. No sin. No sin. I told you Christ traded places
with us. He who knew no sin was made to
be sin. The sin that we are to make us
the righteousness of God in Him. We're righteous. Zacchaeus. In and of himself, oh, he was
nothing but a vile sinner. But in Christ, he's righteous,
pure, innocent forever. Oh, and we are too if we're in
Christ. God forbid we leave this place
trusting in ourselves that we're righteous. Oh, may we look to
Christ. Verse seven, when they saw it,
they all murmured, saying that he's gone to be guessed with
a man that's 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've taken anything from any man by false accusation,
I restore him fourfold. He called him Lord. He climbed
into the tree to see Jesus. He saw the Lord, the Lord of
glory. Now, what about these words he
spoke? Is he defending himself? Well, see, I'm not really that
bad. No, no. God worked repentance in him. He stole from people and didn't
give it a thought. Now he feels bad about it. You ever feel remorse, whereas
you didn't before? I do. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. It wasn't me becoming good, it's
God working in us, both to will and do of His good pleasure.
And notice this too, the Lord didn't command Zacchaeus, alright
now, Now, if you're going to be saved, you better start giving
all this stuff away. Now, the rich young ruler, he
wanted something to do, so the Lord said, well, you know the
commandments, keep them. He said, I kept them. He said, you lack
one thing, sell everything. No, I can't do that. He wanted
to do something. The Lord didn't tell Zacchaeus
to do this. He did it because he wanted to.
You see the difference? There's a difference. He didn't
do it in order to be saved. God saved him. And he said, this
is just right. This is just right. When God
saves us, I love this, he gives us a new want to. Now how to perform that, which
is good, I just find not, like Paul said. But the want to's
there. It's there. He gives us a new
heart, a new mind, a new spirit. He said we're new creatures in
Christ. That means something. It's not for our glory, it's
for His. It's all for His. Whatsoever you do, do all to
the glory of God. And this too. Zacchaeus didn't
speak these words to those men that were looking down on him.
He spoke these words to the Lord. That's who we've sinned against.
That's who we've wronged. The Lord. Now, this giving, alright? He said,
I'm going to give to the poor and restore fourfold. It was
out of abundant thanksgiving to his Lord. That's it. That's
it. He was no longer motivated by
the love of money. That's what he was motivated
by before. That's what you and I are motivated by until Christ
comes to us. The love of money, love of self,
love of this world and the things in it. He's now motivated by
the love of Christ. He's saved by the love of Christ.
And he's constrained by the love of Christ. It means the love
of Christ moves us. That's what God's Word says.
It's in 2 Corinthians 5. Because Christ made him come
down, he now realizes he can part ways
with his earthly goods because he has Christ. And Christ is all. All in all. Take the world but give me the
Lord Jesus Christ." Brethren, his earthly riches were meaningless
from this day forward. Absolutely meaningless. He's
now poor in spirit. That's what God makes His people
to be. We're high and lofty, lifted up in pride and self-righteousness,
but when God saves us, when He reveals to us what Christ went
through to save a wretch like us, it makes us poor in spirit. And He also causes us to know
that we're rich, rich toward God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, the unsearchable riches of Christ, wealth that can never
be told. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you
through his poverty might be rich. Verse nine, and Jesus said
unto him, this day is salvation come to this house for so much
as he also is a son of Abraham. Salvation came to him. Here's
what that word means right here, deliverance, preservation. and safety of the soul. I love that. You need to be delivered
from your own sin. You need to be preserved until
the end. Do you need to be kept by Him? Who said I've kept all of them
to the end? You need safety. You need a hiding place. You
need a rock to hide under. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Salvation. came to Zacchaeus, the Savior
himself came to Zacchaeus and to never leave him. I told you
it was going to be a permanent abiding in his soul. Never leave
nor forsake. Now, I like thinking about this
too. Perhaps Zacchaeus had a family and the Lord came to his house
physically and saved them too. I especially love the accounts
of Scripture where that happened. When the Lord saved a man and
his household. Don't you like that? Those of us that have children,
oh Lord have mercy. Have mercy. But did you see what the end
of verse nine says? Here we see why the Lord came to him. For
so much as he also is a son of Abraham. He's a son of Abraham. He's a child of promise. He's
a child of promise, an heir of God, a joint heir with Christ. Let me read you this verse real
quick. You can turn if you want. It's Galatians 3.28. For time's sake,
I'm just going to go ahead and read it. Galatians 3.28. There's
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there's
neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise." I tell you this, if we're in Christ,
He's coming to our house. He's coming. Ain't no stopping
Him. Nothing's going to hinder Him.
Never has and never will. He's coming. Verse 10, for the Son of Man,
back in our text, verse 10, for the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost. Zacchaeus, he didn't know he
was lost. He didn't know he was blind. He didn't know. Until
the Lord came to him and revealed to him, you're lost. You're blind. But salvation has come to your
house, Zacchaeus. I've done something for you,
Zacchaeus. The Lord, though despised and rejected of men, came to
seek and to save in spite of our wanting nothing to do with
Him. You remember at the cross, if thou be the Son of God, come
down and we'll believe you. He couldn't come down because
He came to save. That's why He came. That's why He was there.
He was there to save. Now, if the Lord's willing, I
want to pick up where we left off and look at verse 10 tonight.
The Lord's willing, but my prayer for us is that Christ, the Son
of Man, the Son of God, might be pleased to come to our house,
save us by His grace. For Christ's sake, amen. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord God Almighty, we come once
more through your blessed son. We thank you for this message.
We thank you for the message of mercy and grace. Message of thy power. Message
of thy will. Lord, we're so thankful that
thy will is perfect and that it shall come to pass. that you
have the power to accomplish it, the power to accomplish grace. Lord, for a multitude that no
man can number, Lord, we pray that you would bless this message
to our hearts. Lord, that you would plant your
seed, cause it to grow forth. Ask that you would allow us to
meet again this evening. Lord, we ask that you would bless our
fellowship together today. Cause us to do thy will. Cause
us to remember thy word. Cause us to grow in grace, increase
our faith. Lord, we ask once more thy will
be done for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's all stand together
and sing the hymn of the day in the bulletin. The Hymn of the Day in the Bulletin. O what shall we do Our Savior
to praise So faithful and true So strong to deliver, so good
to redeem, The weakest believers who rest upon Him. How happy the man whose heart
is set free, The people who can be joyful in Thee, Where joy
is to walk in the light of His face, And sweetly to rest in
His comfort and grace. Their daily delight shall be
in His name. They shall by His grace, His
righteousness claim. This righteousness, wearing and
cleansed by His blood, O shall they appear in the presence of
God Our Savior alone, the Lord let us bless Who reigns on His
throne, the Prince of all ? Forsakes us by shedding his blood
? ? O hail, blessed Savior, our Lord and our God ?