That's reading down through verse
10 of Luke chapter 19. The apostle Paul in his writing
to Timothy said in 2 Timothy 3.16, all scripture is given
by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
And of those four things that Paul mentioned, the first one
on the list was doctrine. Doctrine. What is meant by doctrine? It simply means the teaching
of the Bible, the teaching of God's word. And my question,
how important is that? Many in our day are saying, why
get into the finer points of doctrine, the difficulty of doctrine. After all, it's so confusing. It brings division. And so many
are saying we just encourage loving one another and you know,
everybody smile and just everybody worship Jesus. What Jesus? Which one? I promise you that
Jesus Christ according to this Bible, is not the Jesus that
most people claim to worship. The outward showmanship of the
religious world don't want doctrine. The kingdom-building so-called
evangelical churches don't want doctrine. They thrive own people's ignorance
of God's Word and they deliberately keep people ignorant of God's
Word because they're ignorant of God's Word. Even when the so-called old-time
religionists meet together, so-called Baptists, Pentecostals, Church
of God, Adventists can all sit together in a flesh-exciting
environment and give Jesus a hand. They have not the faintest idea
what Jesus they're applauding. Brother Don Fortner said, disregarding
doctrine is like the basketball coach telling his team, now boys
don't worry about making baskets. Don't worry about the ball. Don't
worry about all those lines drawn. on the court, all that means
nothing. Let's just play basketball. Let's
just excite the crowd, please the people. That's what basketball
is all about. No, that's not what basketball
is all about. And that's not what God's word is all about.
The study of doctrine is foundational. It is necessary for saving faith. If what you believe is not according
to God's Word, then what you believe is a lie. And what you
believe is worthless. The study of doctrine is absolutely
necessary for godly behavior, for true joy, and for real contentment
of heart. A little bit of religious involvement
with no understanding of God or His Word is nothing more than
a fleshly fad that people can live with or live without. And
that's about all most people want. Nothing too serious. Certainly no commitment required.
And certainly don't make any more of God than you do of us.
Well, what good is a God that's no greater than we are? I don't
need any such God, neither do you. But true doctrine, the teaching
of God's Word, magnifies Him in His glory, His holiness, His
power, His mercy, and His grace. I would not feel good, I do not
think it fair that I leave anyone in the dark as to what we actually
believe God's Word teaches and what we preach here at East Hendersonville. I'm extremely happy that you're
here. Don't anybody get the wrong idea? I'm glad you're all here. But it's not my intention to
deceive anyone deliberately concerning our position and our stand on
God's holy word. Some years ago, a certain preacher
claimed to be a sovereign grace preacher, went to pastor a church
and was asked sometime later, are you preaching grace? Are
you preaching the sovereign grace of God? And his answer was, well,
some, but I'm having to camouflage it. I ask you, what kind of devil
would I be to want to camouflage the truth? To want to speak the
truth without you knowing what I was saying? What's that word? Nothing. Nothing. That's absurd. So I want to speak plainly this
morning from this passage about a few points of doctrine. We've chosen this familiar story
of Zacchaeus to illustrate these truths on our heart. First, we
understand, need to understand, must understand, that man, by
nature, because of Adam's sin, is spiritually dead. That is,
dead as to spiritual life. Dead, Paul said, in trespasses
and in sins. Romans chapter 5 and verse 12
tells us, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered, well now we
know that one man was Adam, and death by sin, because of that
sin came death. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sin. The sin nature of our father
Adam was passed on to all his posterity. We were sinners before
we were born. by nature in Adam. Now, contrary
to popular teaching today, the unborn and the infants are not in a state of innocence.
They are sinners by nature. They are guilty before God from
the mother's womb. Contrary to popular teaching,
there is no such thing as the age of accountability. I grew
up hearing that. But I want to say every child
of Adam is fully accountable, born or unborn, for what we are
by nature. It's not that babies are born
in a neutral state. and live a few years in this
world, in that neutral state, and then decide whether to be
a sinner or a saint. That's false. Psalm 51.5, David
said, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity. In sin did my mother
conceive me. Some have tried to say that was
a reference to his mother's sin. No, no. Talk about the nature. In sin did my mother conceive
me. Psalm 58, 3, the wicked are estranged from the womb. They
go astray as soon as they be born. Speaking lies. Sinful nature is what we're born
with. Loving sin. Practicing sin. Spiritually dead and can never,
never in ourselves choose otherwise. Jeremiah 1323, can the Ethiopian
change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. The day that a black man can
decide to be white and change the color of his skin or vice
versa. The day that the leopard can
remove its spots Change its nature. That's the day you can do something
about your sinful flesh. No. Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can
know it? Matthew 15, 19, for out of the
heart proceed evil thoughts. murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies. All those things are in the heart.
The natural man does not understand, and because he's spiritually
dead, can't even desire to understand, let alone receive the things
of the Spirit of God. John 3.19, and this is the condemnation
that light has come into the world and men loved darkness
rather than light because their deeds were evil. This and this
alone explains why so many people in our world today, people of much learning, intellectual
people, have no interest in and no heart for the things of God. You see, it's not a matter of
us talking people into being saved. That's about all we've
heard in these mountains for the years we've been here. People
aren't saved that way. It's not a matter of persuading
people to go through a process, make a profession, be baptized,
Quit a few bad things, start a few good things. People aren't
saved that way. That'll never do the job. Now
it'll build religious institutions and great religious kingdoms,
but it'll never change a heart. What a dead person needs is life.
And all the professions and all the religious activity does not
give life. Salvation is of the Lord. Now this man Zacchaeus that we
read about in this passage, he was very much alive physically,
but dead spiritually. He's a successful businessman. There was nothing in him by nature
that made him want anything to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. the cursed city in which he lived,
Jericho. It symbolizes the curse of sin
that's on the human family by nature. It's the curse that has
the hearts of men enslaved and deceived. Said here, Jesus entered
and passed through Jericho. Jericho, you remember, was that
city in the Jordan Valley that the Israelites would first come
to upon crossing the Jordan, entering Canaan. Jericho was
an accursed city. Let me read you this, Joshua
6, 17, and the city shall be accursed, even it and all that
are therein to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live,
she and all that are with her in the house. Except for Rahab
and her family, the city and all that were therein was cursed.
The next verse said, And ye, in any wise, keep yourselves
from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed,
when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel
accursed, and trouble it. Of course, you remember the story
back there in Joshua. A man named Achan did just that. And he was found out. And he
and his family were stoned to death. And they took all that
they had, along with their dead bodies, piled up in a pile, and
burned it. You say, that's cruel. No, that's
what God said do. God said, cursed be the man that
rises up to rebuild Jericho. Now, of course, it was rebuilt.
A man did it, and that's in the Old Testament too. But here,
many generations later, in Luke 19, The Lord Jesus Christ takes
the initiative to pass through this accursed city. We make much of that and rightly
so the divine initiative, the divine initiative. The son of
God walks this earth and he does not make Jericho off limits. We could understand if he did. It was a curse of God. And yet
we read that Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Because of sin, our father Adam made us all,
by nature, residents of Jericho. accursed of God, cut off from
God with no ability, no desire to return to Him. The whole world
is a Jericho under the curse of sin. How very glad we ought
to be for this verse of Scripture. Jesus entered and passed through
Jericho. He took the initiative Nobody in Jericho had called
him on the phone. Nobody had sent him an email
asking him to come to Jericho. Nobody had sent him an offering. Contrary to the religious racketeers
today, nobody had seen $200 seed money. And he has to come through
Jericho to deliver them their $20,000 check. None of that. Wasn't like that. There was really
no earthly reason that Christ should bother to pass through
Jericho. Except that he had some sheep
there. And he passed through deliberately
to call them out. The point is this. What hope
do poor sinners have if Jesus does not pass through Jericho?
And the answer is we'd have no hope, no hope at all. Verse two, and behold, which
means look, take notice, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. Well, surely there's better prospects
than him. Somebody with a better religious
background? A more worthy subject of Christ's
interest than this fella? Surely there are better prospects.
Yes, in the eyes of men there were. But you see, Jesus Christ
was not prospecting. He's not a prospector. He wasn't hoping to find a people
he didn't know about. He was seeking out a people he
did know about. His sheep, his elect, whom he
had known from eternity, given him by the Father, chosen in
him by the Father before the foundation of the world. The
previous chapter, Luke 18, ended with the story of blind Bartimaeus. And now it's Zacchaeus. Of all
the people in Jericho, these were probably the last two they
would have thought Christ had any interest in at all. Zacchaeus was a Jew. He was considered
by his countrymen a traitor. He was lower down than a snake.
He had contracted with the Roman government to collect tribute
or taxes from the Jewish people. He was the IRS man. That's what
a publican was, a tax collector. And we read here that this man
was chief among the publicans. That is, he'd probably contracted
for a district larger than he was able to handle himself, so
he had other tax collectors working under him. He was the chief.
He was a successful man, and it says here he was rich. He
had a good thing going. The one thing most people live
for and strive for and dream of is to become rich. Well, this
man had accomplished it. He's rich. And you would think that he's
the last fella in Jericho who would be interested in seeing
Jesus. He don't have time for religion.
He's the chief tax collector. Well, verse three tells us he
sought to see Jesus who he was. What does that mean? He sought
to see Jesus. It means he had a desire. He wanted to see Jesus, who he
was. What gave him that desire? What
gave him that desire? What I'm saying is that the Lord
had already come to see Zacchaeus before Zacchaeus ever came to
see the Lord. Something was already working
in his heart. The divine initiative, the quickening
work of God moved in Zacchaeus' heart, stirred his heart, stirred
him with desire to go and see Jesus. For this man, Zacchaeus,
to make the effort he made with the determination he had, it
does not come natural. to any fallen child of Adam. The Spirit of God is already
moving this man before the Lord Jesus ever gets to town. And
every move that Zacchaeus makes in this story is not cause but
effect. He is responding to what God
is working in him. That's what Paul said in Philippians
2.13. It is God which worketh in you both the will and to do
of his good pleasure. You say, well, I'll never do
this, that. It's not up to you to say what you'll do. The Bible said in the book of
Proverbs that the king's heart, the president, if you please, is in the hand of the Lord, and
he turneth it whithersoever he will, like the rivers of water. I'm telling you, when God gets
ready, He can straighten out the Green River, and it won't
be crooked. He can change any heart, any
time. You say, well, I sure wish he'd
change the hearts of some of the higher-ups nowadays in our
guts. So do I. So do I. But I'm telling you,
he can. He can. And the garbage we're
experiencing in this country and the mess we're in, it's nothing
we don't deserve. I promise you that. We need mercy. We need God's
mercy. So this is working in this man's
heart, Zacchaeus. It's a desire to see Jesus that
Zacchaeus himself can't explain. He never felt like this before. But now there's a big hindrance
he can use as an excuse. He was little of stature. He was short. If he wanted an
excuse, he had one. Isn't that what we're all always
looking for, a good excuse for this or that? He had a really
good excuse here. He's too short. But you see, quickened sinners
want to get to the Lord. He could have said with a crowd
like this, I'll never be able to see I may as well go on to the house.
But you see, grace was working in his heart and he was determined
to see him. He was determined. And the secret
is not in Zacchaeus determination. The secret is in the Lord's purpose. Verse four, and he ran before
and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him. For he was to
pass that way. This man forgot who he was. He forgot he had on his business
suit. And just like an anxious child, he
ran ahead and climbed a tree. Knowing that Jesus was to pass
that way. He never really knew how very
sure it was. that Jesus was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place,
what place? It was the place predetermined,
foreordained by God for this very occasion. You see, when God called this
earth from the great deep, it was nothing but a dirt ball
to men. But to God, it was a roadmap. He saw every path, every step
that His Son would ever take in this world. He saw every place
He would set his foot down in the pursuit of his elect people. Some years before this time,
a little sycamore had sprouted up by the side of the road and
nobody cut it down. God saw to that. God saw to that. There was a predetermined day.
When the tree will have grown to a certain size and the son of God will pass
that way. And it is predetermined predestined
that when the son of God passes this way, the chief tax collector
is going to be up in that tree. If you had asked Zacchaeus a
week before or even a day before, hey, you think you'll ever be
interested in climbing that tree? He'd have looked at you like,
what, are you crazy? I don't climb trees. I'm a businessman. But he climbed one that day. And I would say to you this morning,
if the Lord's on your trail, there'll come a time Well, it won't matter what you've
always thought. It won't matter what others think.
It won't matter what others say. You'll be so moved as this man
was. You'll do anything to get to
the Lord, even climb a tree. Now, here's the surprise. Zacchaeus
was determined to see the Lord But he hadn't counted on the
Lord seeing him. Is that how we are? I need you when I need you. And
the rest of the time you look elsewhere. No. When Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and saw him. This is the marvel of grace.
that while we think we took the right steps to get to the Lord,
it was He who took the steps, even in our hearts, to get to
us. It's a hard road to live all
your life trying to catch a glimpse of Him. Pushing through the crowds, climbing trees, trying to get
yourself in a position to see him. That's what most of us have
done for a long, long time. You see, it wouldn't have mattered
if Zacchaeus was up in that tree or not. It's a blessed hour. when you learn that it's not
about your ability to get to Him. All your struggling, all your
anxiety, all your pursuing Him is simply the effect of His pursuing
you. And all you really need to do,
all you really need to do is be still. Be still! If you can be still, And I said,
if you can, He'll get to you. But we can't even be still by
ourself. We can't even wait before Him.
We can't open our heart. They say, just open your heart
and come to the Lord. Well, I'm no surgeon. I'm a rebel. And that's what
you are. When Jesus saw him in verse five,
he said unto him, what did he say? Hey, you up in that tree?
No. The first word out of Jesus mouth
was Zacchaeus. He called him by name. Zacchaeus
never even knew that he knew his name. But you remember what our Lord
said in John 10 three. The good shepherd calleth his
own sheep by name. He knew his name. The Lord never asked him, what
are you doing up there? He knew what he was doing up there. Zacchaeus wasn't up the tree
collecting taxes. And he wasn't up there to get
a view of the town. He was up there to see the Lord.
And the Lord knew it because he's the one put him up there. He knows what you're doing here
this morning. I don't, but he does. If it's just to play a little
religion, he knows that. If it's to see him, he knows
that. So look at what he said, Zacchaeus.
Make haste and come down. Now, was that an invitation to
come down to the front of the church? No. That was a command. To cease your own efforts. To attain to an elevation where
you can see me. Come down. Trees don't grow that tall. To
be able to see him. Come down and realize that I
see you. I'm looking right into your heart.
I know all that's in there. This is grace folks. Come down
for today. I must abide at the house. Now, did I miss a verse where
Zacchaeus invited the Lord to go home with him? No, I didn't. The Lord Jesus invited himself. And Zacchaeus was saying, yes,
before he ever climbed the tree. Yes, yes. Note our Lord's words were not,
I may come. Or I could come to your house.
Or I'd like to come to your house. But no, it's I must, I must. How sure is that? It's very sure. And he, it's not when it's convenient,
but he said today, I must, this is the day drop by for a few minutes. No,
today I must abide. I'm moving in. I'm staying with you forever,
Zacchaeus. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Verse six, and he made haste
and came down and received him joyfully. What's the joy about? That I see him? No, that he sees me. David said in Psalm 139, verse
17, how precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God. How precious, how priceless.
See, good religion is my thoughts of him. Salvation is his thoughts
of me. Good religion is me accepting
him. Salvation is Him accepting me. Got this thing all backwards
nowadays. Verse 7, And when they saw it,
they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be guessed with
a man that is a sinner. Well, he couldn't find anybody
that wasn't a sinner. He's the only one in this world that wasn't. I can imagine people saying,
We just don't understand it. He can perform miracles. He can
draw a crowd. He can speak wonderfully. But
he sure is not good at picking friends. Yes, he is. Yes, he
is. Because his thoughts are not
like ours. Our Lord was not thinking, what
can you do for me? But rather, what can I do for
you? He came. to befriend sinners. Not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance. They that behold don't need a
doctor, but they that are sick. Now in verse 8, the Lord has not asked Zacchaeus
for a report of his conduct. But yet out of gratitude, Zacchaeus
just opens up and tells his whole heart. He testifies right here
before the Lord. His heart is warm. He's moved.
He just opens up and tells his heart. Some of you used to do that,
but something's changed. It might be a hundred degrees
outside, but it's cold, cold inside the heart. Zacchaeus stood
and said unto the Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. He'd probably heard about that
10% business, I guess. Everybody else in the world has. The half of my goods I give to
the poor. By the way, this is what the
rich young ruler couldn't do. But this man can. Then Zacchaeus
thinks of his past. He goes on in verse 8 to say,
If I have taken anything from any man by false accusation,
I restore him fourfold. Now he doesn't say if he has
or hasn't done anyone wrong. People assume he had. That's
wrong for us to assume that. According to this, this man don't
know it if he has. Because he honestly says of the
Lord, if I have cheated anybody, I restore it fourfold. In verse 9, it's as if the Lord
says, that's all well and good, Zacchaeus, but that don't bring
salvation to your house. I do. Jesus said unto him, this
day is salvation come to this house. You see, salvation is
not in a plan. It's in a person. It's not in
what you've done or had. It's in a person, the person
of Jesus Christ. This day is salvation. Come to
this house for as much as he also is a son of Abraham. This is not about him being a
Jew. But what Christ is saying is
the same faith that I put in Abraham's heart to believe me. I put in your heart. Galatians
3, 7, they which are of faith, the same are the children of
Abraham. Probably most people listening
to this were Jews, natural sons of Abraham. But Jesus says this
is a spiritual child of Abraham. He has Abraham's faith. Verse 10, for the Son of Man
has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Not seek
and try to save, not seek and hope to save, but to seek and
to save. He gets it done. He gets it done. Save who or what? That which
was lost. Not is lost, but was lost. What was lost? God's elect, chosen in Christ
from eternity, then placed in Adam, were lost in Adam. But Christ came into the world
and successfully, totally victoriously, seeks and finds and saves. every single one of His sheep. That's what He said. That's why
He said He was here, John 17, 2, praying to the Father. He
said, I give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Me. That's what I'm doing in this
world, to give eternal life by His shed blood on the cross,
to purchase our redemption, to pay our sin debt, give eternal
life to as many as the Father hath given me." Not one more,
not one less, just that many. He finds everyone, whether it
be a poor blind man named Bartimaeus, or whether it be a rich tax collector
named Zacchaeus. He knows where they are, every
one of his. Whether a preacher, whether a
factory worker, whether a doctor or lawyer or school teacher, whether walking down the street,
whether laying in the gutter drunk, or whether behind bars,
he knows every place. And he searches his sheep out.
Ask Abraham. Jacob, Moses, David, Jeremiah. Ask Jonah. How did you lay hold
on the Lord? They'll all give you the same
answer. I didn't. He laid hold on me. And that's
the answer. Zacchaeus would answer the same.
So would Paul and all the apostles. And so does every true Child
of the King this morning. It's not about what I did. It's
about what he did. Oh, I want to tell you the truth
of this book makes it sound so shallow and so silly when you
hear people say, well, I'm doing the best that I can. I hope to
make it in. I hope that my good will outweigh
my bad. And I've heard people stupid
enough to say, I'm trying to live by the Ten Commandments.
Forget that. You was born too late for that. It's grace. It's grace. It's
sovereign grace. If any or all of us don't perish
and go to hell, it's grace. Bless his holy name. That's my
message. Let's stand together.