Greetings, friends, and welcome
to another broadcast of the Old School Primitive Baptist with
Elder Don Martin, Sr. Stay tuned for another gospel
message of God's free and sovereign grace. Well, in regards to what
Brother Buddy said, before we get into a scriptural text, I'd
like to say a couple of things. And one is, And a person has
come to the place to where they believe that the local body of
believers is their home away from home. And it is the fellowship
of God's people in the realm of the kingdom of God here on
earth. They give themselves to that
body, the church, here below, and say, I want to be a part
of it. They say that I am giving myself to the church as a physical
mortal body, as a lively stone to be added to the other lively
stones that we might all fitly be joined together, making the
habitation of God. Now we know that this meeting
house is not a church. For if we all was to empty this
building and go outside and stand and close the doors, all you
have is a building here. It is a meeting house. And it only becomes a church
when those who have professed a belief in the Lord Jesus Christ
enter in these doors here and come together in the unity of
the fellowship of the faiths of the Lord Jesus Christ. and
have committed themselves one to the other as a body. We are a body. Members in particular,
the Bible says, that are joined together here making up this
local small body of Christ here in South Hillsboro County. And
when we meet only once a month, That has been the tradition of
this church and many others. And we find that those who have
said in times past, I want to put myself in among you to be
part of you as a body, and then they do not find a priority time
to be there in attendance, that something seems to be amiss about
that. Now, all I'm saying is, is that
In the old Baptist church, when Brother Buddy said about there
would be a time when those were called to give an acknowledgment
of why they weren't in the last meeting, and like that brother
that would send a letter. Way before, if he knew he wasn't
going to be able to be there. Saying that, my dear brothers
and sisters in Christ, I'm not going to be able to be in attendance
there because of thus and so. In other words, he has such a
care for the body of that church and the believers there, and
the brothers and sisters in Christ to let him know that he wasn't
going to be able to be there. But it seems today, that we become
so individualized in this society that, oh well, if we feel like
going, we go, and if we don't, we don't. Now the Bible says,
to forsake not descending unto yourselves together as the manner
of some are, because as we see the day of God approaching. Brothers
and sisters, if there's ever a time we need to gather, it's
now. We're seeing some bad times in
our society. In every way. In morality, in
economics, in every other way. If there's a time we need to
bond, it's now. And so, I'm not going to hammer
on the matter any further, it's just the fact that it's beyond
my understanding why folks don't make it to a meeting once a month,
when many others make it every week. And you say, well, does that
make him a better Christian? I'm not saying that makes him
a better Christian, but I'm saying that it certainly indicates where
their heart and priority is. So may it be set forth as an
admonition, we need to be here when we have determined that
we're supposed to gather. Because that's what's happening
is that it seems to be that God in his determined purpose has
said, OK, OK, you individualistic, materialistic, worldly-minded
folks who profess to believe on me, go ahead and go your way. And just forget about the meeting
when it comes around on the first Sunday. And let just a handful
meet meanwhile while the rest are absent. Well, hey. You talk
about the sovereignty of God, God can certainly do that. But
I'll tell you one thing, those that are not here this morning
are missing out on a blessing. They're missing out, number one,
on the fellowship one with another. They're missing out, number two,
on the brothers and sisters praying for each other. as we are told
to do. They're missing out, number three,
on the singing of the songs of praise to adore the Lord our
God, who alone is worthy. And number three, they're missing
out, hopefully and possibly, on some Bible exposition and
preaching that may be to the edification of their heart, mind,
and soul, that they might be more equipped to go out the door
of this meeting house and to walk in the way of Christ. And so therefore, you know, maybe
we ought to talk about, in the conclusion of the meeting, about
re-establishing a time to have those acknowledged, if it so
is inclined upon their heart to stand before the church at
a conference meeting and say, well, here's why I wasn't in
attendance last month meeting time. It would certainly give
some accountability, which I believe everyone that has cast themselves
as a member of this church to be accountable to the church. And if they don't want to be
accountable to the church, to which they have said, I want
to be part of, then maybe they need to be counseled or dealt
with according to the scriptures as to what the church is and
what it's supposed to do and function like and what part they're
supposed to play. For the church is made up of
members and when part of the body, listen to me a minute,
when part of the body of the human anatomy is missing, we
are handicapped. And when you take and cut your
arm off and you've got one arm, brother buddy, it's hard to do
things. I've got a dear friend of mine
where I live that was born with one arm. His arm is missing just
about three inches below his elbow. That guy ran and he was
a running back for a high school when he was a teenager. That
guy can do about anything that anybody else can do. He'll find
a way to do it. He's a determined man and has
never been limited in anything he can do. But the church of
Jesus Christ is not supposed to just take and make things
work. because of its being handicapped
or limited, it's supposed to function as a total body fitly
joined together with all of its members, with both of its hands
and arms and legs and eyes, and with all of its abilities to
function as a church. to do the things that God has
called us to do, and that's to be a witness of His grace and
loving mercy in this time world as His people, His particular,
peculiar people that are zealous of good works. And oh, when those
don't come because, well, we've got this to do or that to do,
oh, it's the body, in a sense, suffers from it. And God says,
OK, so shall it be. And I leave it at that. I'm going
to invite your attention this morning to the Gospel of Luke,
Chapter 19. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 19. If God permits, I'd like to speak
a little bit about Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus is an interesting character
in the New Testament. As recorded by Luke in chapter
19, as we will find in the text,
Zacchaeus is a publican, which is a tax
collector. And he was not only a tax collector,
but he was chief among tax collectors. He was a head man. He was the
manager. He was the one that ran all of
the other tax collectors around the city and region where he
was dwelling at. I want to start reading verse
1 of chapter 19 of Luke's gospel. 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. Now the tax collectors did not
have a want for anything, materially. Because a tax collector in some
instances, maybe more so than not, can take and put in his
pocket some of the tax money collected and not turn it in. They also give other things,
material things, to pay the tribute attached to Caesar that they
could have collected along the way also. So they had more or
less an open door to have what they wanted to have for what
they collected from the people for the tax. So here is Zacchaeus. The chief among the publicans,
he's a rich man, verse 3, and he sought to see Jesus who he
was. He sought to see Jesus. Now I'll
tell you what, first of all, that is a marvelous thing, for
someone to seek Jesus. to have an interest and a desire
and a longing to seek and see Jesus. Because that is a divinely
given work of grace for any man, woman, boy or girl to have a
desire to want to see Jesus. is divinely given of God. Because
by nature man does not want to see Jesus. Man does not believe
that Christ is who he says he is. They deny the fact that he
was deity and is deity. They deny the Bible as some just
old fireside watered-down record of Jewish history and write it
off as just a book for superstitious old folks. Well, I've got news
for you. There was a day in my life where
me walking as an unregenerate, unsaved sinner in this time world
had no time for the Bible. Though I believed in a deity
God, that's all the further I'd have any understanding about
the things of the spirit world. until Christ had got my attention
and caused me to want to see Jesus. And when He caused me
to want to see Jesus, He drew me to my knees and granted me
the revelation of my sinful nature and my wickedness as a 27-year-old
young man that was going a long life's journey satisfied with
self. until Christ revealed to me that
myself is a wretched, wicked person and that the only antidote
for myself and selfishness and my individualistic lifestyle
was to be redeemed by the blood of the crucified one, Jesus himself. The Bible says in the 19th chapter
as we go on, it says that he sought to see Jesus as to who
he was and could not for the press. In other words, he couldn't
because there were so many people. Let me tell you something, Jesus
was popular in his public ministry because of the signs and wonders
that he did. You can imagine, folks, if somebody
was to tell you, well look, over here in Wyomama, we got a, there's
somebody over there that's laying a hand on sick folks that are
dying, or even dead, and bringing them from the dead. There's a
guy over there that's making folks that's got withered hands
from the time they're born, that's making their hands whole and
able to function. There's a guy, there's a guy
that has taken a man who has been crippled up from the time
he was born for 30 some years that lay on a bed on the ground
begging for people's help and assistance and alms and this
man has touched him and told him to get up and take that bed
and walk and he did. And there was a man over yonder
that was blind that couldn't see from the time he was born.
And this man named Jesus touched him. And the Bible says that
his sight was restored unto him. He could see for the first time.
Oh, the deaf and the dumb, they could hear and talk for the first
time. Let me tell you, Jesus had a following. But they were
following him for false pretense. They were following him to see
signs and wonders. We got folks today that are looking
for signs and wonders. The big tent meeting eras of
the late 40s and 50s. around the country when the big
roaming evangelists would set up tents and have meetings. They
said, oh, come out tonight. We're going to have signs and
wonders demonstrated by the power of God. The deaf shall be able
to hear and the blind see. And those in wheelchairs will
be able to walk again. Come to the tent meeting. And
they'd go there and have their big emotional hooray and hop-de-doo
and everything else. They would lay hands on a lot
of these folks and in the emotional trauma and the frenzy of it all,
many had thought that they were healed and got up and walked
in a frenzy of psychological trance. But let me tell you something,
when the trance wears off, they've still got the infirmities, they're
still afflicted. But when Jesus heals somebody,
there's no trance, beloved. It's a supernatural divine work
of grace, and it lasts. They don't tell you about those
that sneak back into the tent at about 11 or 12 o'clock at
night looking for their crutches and wheelchairs. But I'll tell
you what, when Jesus healed somebody and they had crutches, they left
them behind and they never went back to get them again. Because
they were made whole. They were transformed. They were
miraculously healed by the power of God. Zacchaeus, he wanted
to see Jesus, but there were so many people there, because
of the press and the multitude around about him, because he
was a little guy in statue. That's what it says. He was little
in statue. He was a little short guy. He
might have been, I don't know, five foot tall. And the rest
of the folks were a little taller than that. He couldn't see over
the crowd. But he wanted to see this man,
Jesus. And the Bible goes on to say
that in verse 4, And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore
tree to see him. For he was to pass that way. Now, me as a predestinarian,
old school Baptist, I'm persuaded, brother Buddy, that that sycamore
tree was planted by God at that particular location, and to be
at the height that it was, with the limbs outspread from the
trunk of that tree, to where that little short Zacchaeus could
grab a hold of it, and start climbing up it, and get up high
as he needed to be, to see the Lord Jesus Christ. God will see
that you get to where you need to be to see Jesus if he's calling
you by his divine grace. And the Bible says that when
Jesus came to the place, in verse 5, he looked up and he saw him
and he said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste. In other words, hurry
up. Come on, quickly. He said, come
now! For today I must abide at thy
house." Zacchaeus had no idea in this time world that Jesus
Christ, the Son of the living God, God manifested in the flesh,
the very image of the invisible God, the only Savior of sinners,
who came into this time world born of a virgin, was to go and
say to this man Zacchaeus, I'm going to abide in your house
today. Oh, I'm sure he was surprised when Jesus looked up in that
sycamore tree and saw that man of a small statue and said to
him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come on down from there. I'm
going to abide at your house today. And the Bible says in
verse 6, and he made haste and came down and received Him joyfully. Oh, he received the Lord Jesus
joyfully. He received Him as His person. He received Him as the one who
called Him to come down and to be with Him and to obey what
he said to do. You ever notice that when Jesus
had called any of the disciples, how that they responded? You
remember how he called Matthew, who was also a tax collector? In the Bible, in the Gospels,
it says that Jesus said to Matthew, who was a tax collector, he said
unto him, Matthew, follow me. Matthew left his place as post,
a tax collector, at the gate of the city and he followed Jesus
immediately. He didn't give no excuse. He
didn't say, I can't right now, I'll be with you shortly. He
left and followed Jesus. Do you recall when Peter was
called? He was fixing his nets. He was a fisherman. He was fixing
his nets and Jesus came his way with others. that were following along with
Christ. And he said to Peter, he said,
Peter, come and follow me. Peter didn't say, now look, I've
got to finish him in these nets and get things prepared. I've
got to go fishing here tonight. The Bible says that he dropped
his net and he followed Jesus. When Christ calls and says to
you in your heart and mind and soul by the supernatural work
of God's divine grace, let me tell you something, you're going
to kill him. You're going to follow. You say, do you have
a choice in the matter? No, because the choice has already
been made by God Almighty that blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causes to approach him to thee, the Bible says.
It ain't a man's choice. It's the choice of God, whether
he's chose you to come to him, ordained you to come, appointed
you to come. We need to get it straight. There's
a gospel being preached to where God has left it up to man to
do this making of decision whether he's going to follow Christ or
not. That's not the God of the Holy Scriptures. That ain't an
almighty God that's unlimited. I'm preaching to you today about
a God that is unlimited. He is not held back by any of
the creature's efforts or powers or the lack thereof. He is a
God that has determined what He shall do and shall bring it
to pass according to His divine decrees. Now the Bible says,
it says in verse 7, And when they saw it, they all murmured,
saying that He was gone to be the guest with a man that is
a sinner. This man, Jesus, who had laid
hands on the sick and made all these other signs and wonders
manifested to the crowds around about, who was one who walked
in holiness, now they knew this. They knew that there was something
about Jesus Christ different from any other man. Because of
what he said, the authority that he had when he said it, and about
the way that he lived his life. He came into this world and preached
the gospel, not having a bed to lay his head on, Brother Earl. He said, I, foxes have holes
and the birds of air have nests, but I, the Son of Man, have nowhere
to lay my head. And he went and he was out preaching,
ministering, healing the sick for some three, three and a half
years, and had nowhere to lay his head other than where God's
people had provided a place for him from time to time. Otherwise,
he laid his head on the earth of this low ground of sin and
sorrow. The Bible says, yeah, this man
Jesus, he's even told, he's told this man here, Zacchaeus, he's
told him that he's going to be a guest of this guy who's a sinner. I'm glad that Jesus Christ has
chose to be a guest of sinners. Ain't you brother Duddy? If he
hadn't chose to be a guest of mine and come and fill this empty
heart and soul of mine, I would have no hope today. And He's
chosen to be the guest of those heirs of grace of the family
of God. And He comes and He fills that
void up. And He comes and He takes us
abode within His Holy Spirit. his people and manifested as
the heirs of grace. And the Bible says that Zacchaeus
stood and he said unto the Lord. You notice he said unto the Lord? He didn't say that he said unto
Jesus or that he said unto this man that was supposedly of God. He says that Zacchaeus said unto
the Lord. It's just like when Paul was
on the road to Damascus, when Jesus spoke to him and he was
struck down and was made blind, and he called out and he said,
Who is it, Lord? Oh, let me tell you, when the
Spirit of God manifests to you who Jesus Christ is, you address
Him as Lord. He just ain't some other man.
He just ain't some prophet of God. He is the God Almighty. He is the Lord manifested in
the human flesh of a body. And so, therefore, Zacchaeus
said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, that half of my goods I give
I to the poor. And he says, And if I have taken
anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. He said, If I have taken anything.
Now, he has and he knew he had. His sins were revealed to him
when he saw Jesus, and he was in the presence of Jesus Christ. You see what's happened here
to Zacchaeus? His sins have become overwhelming
to him to where he says, Lord, I want to give my goods to the
poor, and if I've taken anything from any man by false accusation,
I want to restore it and give it back fourfold. Four times
he wants to restore. If he's taking a quarter from
the man, he needs to give it back to him four times and give
him a dollar back, or vice, whatever it may count to. Look at verse
9. And Jesus said unto him, This
day, excuse me, Jesus said unto him,
This day is salvation. Come to this house. For as much as he also is a son
of Abraham. For the Son of Man is come to
seek and to save that which is lost. Jesus Christ, he said,
he says today salvation has come to you. What a wonderful expression. for the Lord God, Jesus Christ,
the Savior, to say to them. And you know, to everyone that
has been given that blessed hope to call upon Christ as Savior
and to acknowledge Him as the only antidote for your sinful
condition. And that He alone is the only
one that can forgive you and redeem you from sins, dread,
curse, and from the state of depravity. Salvation has come to you. It's what the Bible teaches.
For Jesus Christ is salvation. Jesus Christ is the All-Sufficient
One. The Bible says Christ is our
sufficiency. Paul writes it in his epistle.
To the believer in Jesus Christ, the professor of the hope in
Christ Jesus, for the forgiveness of sins and for a home in immortal
glory, Christ is our salvation. He is not only our salvation,
He is our Redeemer. He is our mediator. He's the only one between God
and man. He is our perpetuation, which
is very synonymous with mediator. He is not only the redeemer,
mediator, perpetuation. He is our redemption, the Bible
says. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians
1.30 that Jesus Christ has become our wisdom and our righteousness
and our sanctification. He has become all and all. Wisdom, righteousness, redemption
and sanctification. Christ is all and all. And the
Bible says, for this day, Jesus said to Zacchaeus, salvation
has come to this house, for as much also is a son of Abraham,
for he also is much as the son of Abraham. For the son of man
has come to seek and to save that which is lost. Another body
said that he's got a friend he works with who found Jesus. I know what these people mean
when they say that. And they say it in ignorance.
I say that not begrudging the individual, but I say that unless
spiritually God gives men to see and understand the truth
of it, they walk around with limited understanding of what's
happened to them. There was a time when I would
have said that I had found Jesus. And like Buddy said, you didn't
know that Jesus was lost. I didn't either. I preached a
sermon one time some years ago, and it got a lot of attention
on the beginning of the service when I said, I'm going to preach
about the time when Jesus was lost. And the people looked at
me, and boy, they looked at me and their eyes began to open
up wide. They said, wow! And they paid attention to me
for a short time. But what I was talking about
was when he was 12 years old, and he was with his mother and
his daddy, and he was going into Jerusalem. You remember the time? And he went into Jerusalem, and
he got away from mom and daddy, and he went into the temple.
And he was around 12 years old. He was talking with the chief
priests and the scribes in there. And he was talking to them about
the things that God the deep things of God that the chief
priests and scribes were totally amazed by the understanding this
young man had about the things of this kingdom of God. And the
Bible says that Jesus was lost. They could not find him. And
that's a time when Jesus was lost physically. But let me tell
you something. He had never been lost spiritually
because he is salvation. And there's no way possible.
So therefore, when somebody says they found Jesus, it does make
you kind of chuckle because nobody ever knew that has any understanding
that he was ever lost. And he never was lost. You see,
the truth of the matter is, folks, Christ comes to seek and to save
them which are lost. We are the ones lost. We are
the ones that need to be found, unless you're found by God. according
to his divine decree appointed, ordained, and predestined purpose,
unless he comes and he finds you as a lost needy sinner, a
sheep of his flock, and picks you up by divine sovereign and
free irresistible grace, and saves you and gives you that
blessed hope of salvation by him and him alone through his
shed blood on Calvary's cross, you shall in no wise have any
hope at all of sins forgiven or a home in heaven. Unless God
the Savior, God the Lord Jesus, seeks and saves you, you shall
in no wise find salvation to be your experience. Because as
I read to you earlier, I believe it's in Psalm 64, where David
wrote, he says, Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, then
causes to approach unto thee. Unless God has chosen you, and
he causes you to approach unto him, you ain't coming. You ain't gonna believe. I don't
care how many preachers try to persuade you. I don't care how
many prayers you say on your knees trying to become a Christian
unless God calls you by divine grace and the voice of the Son
of God rings true in your heart, mind, and soul that you're a
needy sinner, poor in your destitute situation, and need help and
need hope. You ain't coming. Because the
Bible says, unless you realize that you are needy, you're not
going to have a desire to come. Jesus said, I didn't come for
the well and the folks who don't have a need. I come for sinners
who are sick with sin. He said, I come for those who
need a physician. And brothers of the human race,
depraved by the curse of Adam's curse, and we are sinful by nature,
we need a physician to spiritually heal us and to give us what we
need to make us well. And that is the blood, the red,
rich, purple blood of Emmanuel. flow from his veins on Calvary's
cross that cleanses sinners from their sin and makes us whole
and makes us acceptable to God the Father and cleanses us from
all unrighteousness. Oh what a glorious good news
that is to me today. I hope it is to you as well.
But that's a good news message to you. The Bible says that,
blessed are they that know the joyful sound. I hope this morning
that you might know the joyful sound of the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Like Zacchaeus had heard when
Jesus said to him, Zacchaeus come down from there, make haste. I've got to abide in your house
today. I'm going to tell you about what
is going to happen to you. I'm going to tell you about salvation. I'm going to explain to you that
you shall have life and life everlasting by the work that
I have provided in your behalf. That's what he told him. He preached
the gospel to him. And just like those who were
sent out in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, they went out
after the day of Pentecost, after the Holy Ghost had come upon
them, and they testified every place they went. And they preached
to the priests the places that they preached to them Jesus.
They didn't preach church. They didn't preach denominationalism.
They didn't preach any kind of doctrinal issues and matters
and speculations and assumptions. They preached unto them Jesus. That's the message that needs
to be preached today, is Jesus and His all-sufficiency. For
He alone is the only one that can change a man and woman, boy
or girl's life and cause them to have that blessed hope of
forgiveness of sins and life eternal. I hope that that is
your experience today. And if it's not, I can't change
it. But I know one that can. His
name is Jesus. The same one that calls Ikeas
to come down from that sycamore tree by the Spirit's power can
call you to come to Jesus and see Him today and He can abide
in your house, your physical body, and take His abode in you
and make you a new creature in Jesus Christ if He so sovereignly
desires. For salvation is of the Lord,
the Bible says. It ain't of man. It ain't of
the preacher. The gospel is not what saves
people. The gospel is a message that
brings life and immortality to light. It brings it to the revelation
of truth. Jesus Christ by His Spirit alone
seeks and saves sinners as supernaturally as it works upon the heart and
mind and soul of an individual. But the gospel is a good news
message that rings true in the ears and hearts of those who
already have experienced that transformed work of grace upon
the heart and mind. And we get it backwards today.
In most Baptist churches, they preach it backwards. They preach
it that you've got to hear the gospel, for that is the means
of which transforms men's hearts. That is a lie. The gospel doesn't
transform hearts and minds and make them fit for heaven and
forgiveness of sins. The gospel brings to light It
brings to the revelation and understanding of that one that
has already been quickened by the Holy Spirit of God to receive
that message of the gospel. For you see, men by nature, depraved
and sinful, don't have ears to hear the gospel. How can deaf
men spiritually hear the gospel if they don't have ears? Their
ears are deaf to the spiritual things of God. And until they
are made alive by the quickening power of the Spirit of God, they
shall never endorse the gospel, and never embrace it and love
it as the truth. So therefore, salvation is an
operation of God upon the heart and mind and soul of a person,
and the gospel is that which reinforces that which has already
occurred, It's so simple and yet people make it hard. They
say, go out and bring them in. Go out to the highways and byways
and bring them in. That we might be able to preach
to them the gospel. That they might be saved. Oh,
brothers and sisters, it's backwards. The thing about it is, we're
to preach the gospel. And as many as believe the gospel. The Bible says in the book of
Acts, that when they went out and preached Christ, in the various
cities and regions, as many as believed that gospel, you know,
were those which were ordained to believe it. That's what the
Bible says, as many as were ordained to life eternal believed the
gospel. And upon believing it, it was
sweet and good news to their hearts. And so may it be today. Even sweet and good news to your
heart today is my humble and my sincere prayer. May God bless
us. Would you pray with me? My Father
and my God, in the blessed name that is above every name, yea,
even Jesus Christ, Lord, I come thanking you for the privilege
we've had, Lord, to meet, to sing, to adore thee, O God, with
song. And then, Lord, to open the Word
of God and take a little gleaning from the 19th chapter of Luke's
Gospel and look at Zacchaeus. And so, Father, I pray to this
day that we might be encouraged, edified, that we might be admonished
to walk in this way of which you have placed us in. That as
our paths are determined of Thee and our steps are ordered of
God, that, Lord, may it so be as we walk continually in this
low ground of sin and sorrow with a society that's against
what we believe and what we preach. May we be those who stand out
as peculiar people, zealous of good works, to love and serve
the Lord Jesus Christ with all of our heart, mind, and soul.
And so God bless us all today, in Jesus' wonderful name, amen.