I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nibert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibert. The title, if you will, that
Christ gave him to himself, more than any other title, was the
Son of Man. That's how he referred to himself
most often, as the Son of Man. We know from Daniel chapter nine,
or Daniel chapter seven, that the son of man is the Messiah. So he knew exactly why he was
referring to himself as the son of man, the Messiah. Now I'm going to read a verse
of scripture where the son of man tells us why he came to earth. Now the son of man is the uncreated
son of God and he became flesh. And he tells us why he came to
earth. In Luke chapter 19, verse 10,
we read these words. For the son of man is come. to seek and to save that which
was lost. There he tells us the Son of
Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Now, this is the concluding statement
about the story of a man named Zacchaeus. In Vacation Bible
School, children love to sing the song Zacchaeus was a wee
little man. Perhaps the reason they like
that song so much is because he was a small man and he was
up in a tree. And they like to think of climbing
trees, but what a story, the story of Zacchaeus. Let's begin reading in Luke chapter
19, verse one. And Jesus entered and passed
through Jericho. He was on his way to Jerusalem
to be crucified. Jericho was about a day's walk
from Jerusalem. And on his way to Jerusalem,
he passed through the city of Jericho. The scripture says he'd
set his face like a flint. He knew exactly what he's doing. He was going to die on the cross. And behold, there was a man named
Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was
rich. A publican was a Jew employed
by the Roman government to collect taxes for Rome. And they could
add anything they wanted to the payment as long as they, Rome
got their money. You may owe $1,000 to Rome and
Zacchaeus would charge you 2,000. And he was protected by the Roman
government. There was not anything you could
do about it. Now can you imagine how that
would infuriate you? He was the chief among the publicans. He was the top publican and he
was rich. He was probably the most hated
man in Jericho. Public enemy number one. Everyone
had felt the sting of his unjust ways of extorting money from
you. He was a very rich man, and he'd
made his riches taking money out of your pocket. He was a
publican, the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. But
verse three says, and he sought to see Jesus who he was. Now this story of Zacchaeus begins
where every other story does, before the foundation of the
world. God is. He is eternal. He doesn't see in sequence of
events. With Him, there's no yesterday,
today, or tomorrow. Everything is in the eternal
present. God is. And God, before time
began, elected a people to salvation. He gave the Lord Jesus a people
to be His pride. Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him. Ephesians 5.25
says, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. Who
did He love? The church. And gave Himself
for it, that He might wash it and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blame before Him. Zacchaeus
was one of those people that Christ came to seek and to save. Now, if you are saved or if you
will be saved sometime in the future, it's because you were
saved in eternity. 2 Timothy 1.9 says, he saved
us and he called us. with a 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 was. God said in Jeremiah 31, 3, and
this is said to all of His people, behold, I have loved you with
an everlasting love, a love that had no beginning, a love that
has no end. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee." Well, Zacchaeus was one of those people that
Christ came to save. Zacchaeus sought to see Jesus
who he was. Now, did Zacchaeus just wake
up one morning and think, I'm going to start seeking the Lord. I'm going to see who Jesus Christ
really is. No, it didn't work that way.
There was something that precipitated this, that gave him an interest
and want to see who Jesus Christ is. And let me tell you this,
this is when salvation begins, when we want to know who Jesus
Christ is. All that other stuff is just human religion. When
we want to know who he is, that's when the Lord has spoken to us. We want to know more than anything
else who Jesus Christ is. This is the issue. Who is Jesus
Christ? Now, what was it that made this
covetous, greedy criminal A publican all of a sudden interested in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, in the chapter before this,
the Lord publicly gave this parable. Verse nine. And I'm sure some
publicans were listening to this when he gave this public parable. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous. and
despised others, two men went up into the temple to pray, the
one a Pharisee. A religious man. The word Pharisee
means separated one. He thought that there was something
that he had done that separated him from other men. A Pharisee. A religious man. A moral man.
And a publican. A dishonest, sinful man. These two men are polarized,
a Pharisee and a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. He thought God heard, but God
didn't hear. He was just praying to himself. Didn't get anywhere
past the ceiling. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. God, I thank thee. I'm giving
you the credit. I thank thee, not for your grace,
Not for your mercy, not for the blood of Christ, not for salvation. What do you thank God for? I
thank thee that I am not as other men are. He compared himself
to others and thought, I come out on top and I'm giving God
the credit for it. He says, I'm not an extortioner,
I'm not unjust, I'm not an adulterer, or even as this publican, this
unclean man that's here in the temple in the back. He says,
I fast twice in the week and I give tithes of all that I possess.
He's patting himself on the back for all the good things that
he did. And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes into heaven, but
smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me, the sinner. This man knew one thing, he was
a sinner. The Pharisee was not like other
men are. This man believed himself to
be the worst man alive. God, be merciful to me, thee,
sinner. Now, our Lord's comment on this. I tell you, this man, this publican,
this sinner, went down to his house justified. No guilt, no sin. If you go down to your house
justified, that means you've been declared to be not guilty,
innocent, sinless. And I'm sure that there were
Republicans who heard this parable and they were amazed. You mean
to tell me that somebody like me, a dishonest, sinful man,
can be justified? To stand before God without guilt? I'm sure this made its rounds
through the various publicans in the area. And I'm sure that
this came across Zacchaeus. There's a man named Jesus who
spake of a way that publicans could actually be justified. And this caught Zacchaeus' attention. Maybe he'd never thought of the
state of his soul before. He was so busy making money,
and he knew what he was doing was dishonest, but he had a way
of pressing it down because he was busy getting rich. But deep down, he knew that all
was not right, but he just pushed it to the back of his mind. But
now he hears of a publican being justified. He hears who said
this, and now he seeks to see Jesus who he was. Now, when he did this, we read
in verse three, he sought to see Jesus who he was and could
not for the press, for the crowd, for he was little of stature. Now, when I think of Zacchaeus,
I think of Danny DeVito, somebody like that. So I think of them
even having the same character. I can see that. A very short
man couldn't see over the crowd, and he wanted to see who the
Lord was, so what did he do? He ran before and climbed up
into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.
He just wanted to get a glimpse. Now whenever you seek to see
who Jesus Christ is, you find out, like Zach is, that you can't. You're unable to see who he is. You can't, by searching, find
him out. We're completely dependent upon
revelation. I'll never know him unless he
is pleased to make himself known to me. Zacchaeus found out that
he couldn't see him, So what does he do? He runs ahead, and
I love to picture this in my mind, this little short man in
a robe and sandals running ahead of the crowd and climbing up
into a sycamore tree, hoping to just get a glimpse of this
man, Jesus Christ, to find out who he really is. He knew he was to pass that way. Verse five, and when Jesus came
to the place, there was an exact place at the
intersection of a longitude and a latitude that he had ordained
that Zacchaeus was gonna be. You see, Christ goes after his
sheep. Remember, he came to seek and
to save. that which was lost. Zacchaeus is one of his lost
sheep. The Lord said, I'm not sent,
but for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Zacchaeus is
one of them. And there he is in that tree,
just as God ordained. And Christ came to the place.
He knew he was there. And he looked up and he said,
Zacchaeus. You reckon Zacchaeus was amazed,
he knows my name? I've never met him. Zacchaeus,
make haste, come down, for today I must abide at thy house. Now this is what is known as
the effectual call. You see whom he did predestinate?
Romans 8, 29, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And here we have the calling
of Zacchaeus, the effectual call of his grace. Now, when the Lord said, Matthew,
follow me, Could Matthew have said no? Of course not. This is an all-powerful call.
He arose, forsook all, and followed him. Lazarus, come forth! Could Lazarus have said, I don't
think I'm gonna do it? No. This is the call of invincible,
life-giving, irresistible grace. He that was dead came forth. Zacchaeus. Make haste and come
down for today I must abide at thy house. Now let me bring out
a few things about this call. First of all, it was an effectual
call because Zacchaeus did make haste and come down and he received
him joyfully. Zacchaeus didn't say no, he wasn't
able. God's grace had conquered him. He made haste and he came down
and he received him joyfully. And it was a most gracious call.
Zacchaeus, the chief among the publicans, the most wicked man
in town, the most despised man in town. You see, Christ came
to save sinners. He didn't come to save good people.
He said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
The Apostle Paul put it this way. This is a faithful saying,
and it's worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, not good people. not religious people,
sinners of whom Paul said, I am the chief, the worst man to ever
live. And this was a personal call.
Zacchaeus, make haste and come down. You see, he calleth his
own sheep by name. Zacchaeus, make haste and come
down. And it was a hastening call.
Zacchaeus, make haste. Don't wait on anything. Do this
right now. Don't wait till you get better. Don't wait till you're
able to give up some sin that you think's keeping you from
Christ. Don't wait till you improve your life. Don't wait for anything. Don't wait till you learn more.
Don't wait till you have more feelings. Don't wait till you
have a better experience. This is the command of the gospel
right now. Make haste. If you don't make haste, you're
trying to do something in order to gain God's acceptance. You're
waiting until you can do this and you can do that. That's salvation
by works. Make haste. And it was a humbling
call. Come down. The biggest problem
you and I have is too high an opinion of ourselves. The biggest
problem you have is not your sin, it's your righteousness. Your sin won't keep you from
Christ, but your righteousness will. Come down, come down from
your high thoughts of yourself and your own experience and your
own religion and your own morality and your own works and all the
good things you think about yourself. Come down, see your righteousness
as it is, filthy rags, come down. I don't care if you struggle
with insecurity and have no self-confidence. Don't mistake that for humility. You can be as proud as the devil. Come down as the chief of sinners. Come down. And it's a necessary call. Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down for today. I must abide at thy house. Now why must he abide at his
house? Because this was a sinner he
came to seek and save. God purposed this man's salvation. Saved he must be. Christ says,
I must abide at thy house. And it was an abiding call. He
didn't say, I must drop by there and leave. He was there for good. You see, it's Christ in you,
the hope of glory. And when he saves you, he's with
you eternally. Today, I must abide in thy house. And what did Zacchaeus do? It says he made haste. Oh, would
to God that me and you do that. Don't try to do something first.
Don't try to improve yourself. He made haste and he came down. and he received him joyfully. Joyfully. Oh, this was the best
news Zacchaeus had ever heard. And he made haste and he came
down and he received him joyfully. Verse seven. And when they saw,
the religious fellows, the Pharisees, and when they saw it, They all
murmured, saying that he was going to be a guest with a man
that's a sinner. Does he realize who this is? He's going into
their home? Why, this will ruin his testimony. He's saying what
this man is doing is okay. He's putting his approval on
his lifestyle by going to his house. This man is a wicked,
evil man. He ought not have anything to
do with him. They murmured at the Lord. They found fault with
the Lord. Now, these men obviously were
blind to who they were. If they knew who they were, they
would be rejoicing that he'd gone to be guest with a man that's
a sinner. You see, this man received with
sinners. He's the friend of sinners. Oh, thank God for the sinner's
friend. They murmured, but look what
Zacchaeus had to say. Verse eight, and Zacchaeus stood
and said unto the Lord, he wasn't speaking to anyone else, he was
speaking to the Lord, Lord, behold, the half of my goods I give to
the poor. And if I've taken anything by
false accusation, I restore to that one fourfold. Now, Zacchaeus, there's two things
we know about him. Number one, he was a greedy man.
He was a covetous man and he was a dishonest man. That is
evident just by his profession as a publican. He was a greedy,
grasping, covetous man seeking wealth and he would destroy anybody
to get his own wealth. And he was a dishonest man. He
would get it by unjust means. Now we do not read where the
Lord told Zacchaeus, you need to straighten up your life. You
need to start being honest. You need to start being generous.
The Lord did not coerce him. He did not manipulate him. He
did not use guilt manipulation to try to get him to change his
life. Matter of fact, he didn't say anything to him. This was
unprompted. This came naturally from the
heart of this man. This man who was so greedy said,
Lord, to half of my goods, I give to the poor. He said, if I've
taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore unto
him fourfold. This was done by the grace of
God. This is God doing something for
this man that caused him to be this way. And Jesus said unto him, verse
nine, this day is salvation come to this house for as much as
he has a transformed life. You can see it in the way he
conducts himself. That's not what the Lord says.
The Lord says, this day is salvation come to this house. I have come to this house. I
am salvation. This day salvation is come to
this house. forasmuch as he also is a son
of Abraham." Now, there were a lot of physical sons of Abraham
there, but he was not just a physical son of Abraham. He was a true
Jew. Paul describes them in verse
seven, either because they're the seed of Abraham, or they're
all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called, that is,
they which are the children of the flesh. These are not the
children of God. Just a natural Jew, someone born a Jew, but
the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this
is the word of promise, at this time will I come and Sarah shall
have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca
had also conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the
children being not yet born, either having done any good or
evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand
not of works, but of him that calleth. You see, Zacchaeus was
an elect sinner whom God was going to save by his grace. And then the Lord gives us his
intention For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that
which was lost. And let me say this about the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's incapable of failure. Everyone
he seeks, he finds. Everyone he intends to save,
he saves. Who's lost? Someone who cannot
save themselves in any way. They're lost. They're completely
dependent on Christ to come to them and save them. That is a lost sinner. And for
every lost sinner, without exception, there's a seeking Savior. You
see, the only reason you know you're lost is because He taught
you you're lost. And He's coming to seek you and
to save you. And that's what He did by His
mighty work on the cross. The Son of Man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has come to seek and to save that which was lost. May God bless this to your heart
for the glory of His name.