We turn back to Luke chapter
19. Jenny Williams is in the hospital
right now at Central Baptist. She's had an infection and everyone
remember her. Also tonight we will not have
services and Wednesday night we won't have them once again
because the pews are being repatted beginning in the morning and
that's gonna take a while to do that I guess. I've entitled this message, The
Mission of the Son of Man. He clearly identifies his mission. For the Son of Man, verse 10,
for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save. That which was lost. The Lord refers to himself by
his favorite personal title, the Son of Man. He loved becoming a man. He loved saving men. He loves men. The Son of Man. He calls himself by this title
more than any other title. A special, isn't it? The Son
of Man. And he clearly identifies his
mission. He's come for this purpose, to
seek and to save. them which were lost. Question, is there any way he
could not do what he intended to do? Is that possible? If he came to seek and save that
which was lost, he found that which he sought for, and he saved
them. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. Now look in verse one. And Jesus entered and passed
through Jericho. Now he's on his way to the cross
at this time and he knows it. He knows that in less than A
week, he will be nailed to a cross. He's on his way to the cross.
The scripture says he set his face as a flint. He was not going
to be placed in any position, but doing what he came to do.
And on the way to Jerusalem, he entered to Jericho because
one of his elect was there. That's why he did it. a man by
the name of Zacchaeus. Now, any child that's gone through
vacation Bible school has been aware of the song, Zacchaeus
was a wee little man. Well, here, where it comes from,
he was a wee little man, a wee little man was he. And he did
climb up in the sycamore tree, the Savior fore to see. True
story. This literally took place. Now,
verse two, and behold, This is something that is noteworthy.
There was a man named Zacchaeus. This was a Jewish name. This
man was a Jew. He was a physical son of Abraham
that lived in Jericho. And behold, there was a man named
Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was
rich. Now, what's a publican? Republican
was a Jewish man employed by the Roman government. And their
job was to collect taxes for the Roman government from the
Jewish people. And they would add to what the
men owed. Let's say you owed the government
$1,000, and I was the tax collector, and I made the bill $2,000. and
I kept 1,000 for myself and charged you 1,000 and I was protected
by the government, there's not a thing you could do about it.
Can you imagine how bad you'd hate me if I did that? And you'd
walk by my house and see that big mansion and all the money
that I'd made through dishonest gains. This was this man, scripture
says he was the chief of the publicans. That means he was
the most dishonest and the most despised man in Jericho. Everybody hated his guts. Everyone lost by what this man
did. He was the chief of the publicans
and he was rich. Verse three, and he sought to see Jesus who
he was. Now, I don't know what circumstance
brought this about, but I know who brought it about. There's
a reason that he sought to see Jesus who he was. Now, this is
where salvation begins, as far as our experience is, when we
want to know who Christ is. That's our great desire. Now,
the scripture says no man seeks after God, but Zacchaeus did. How come? Well, we read about
it in Psalm 27 just now. When thou saidest, seek ye my
face, my heart said, thy face, O Lord, will I seek. You want
to know when you'll seek the Lord? When he says, seek ye my
face. And when he says, seek ye my
face, you'll say, thy face, O Lord, I will seek. He sought to see
Jesus, who he was. Now here's the first thing that
takes place. When you seek to see Jesus, who
he is, you'll find out you can't. That's what you'll find out.
Look at this man, verse three, and he sought to see Jesus who
he was and could not for the press, for he was little of stature. Now, I picture Zacchaeus as looking
something like Danny DeVito or somebody like that. You've seen
him on TV and you know what a villain he always plays as far as that
goes. And I look at Zacchaeus as someone kind of like that. And he has heard of the Lord
Jesus Christ and he wants to see him. And I can picture this
in my mind that he's the crowds along the road and he's trying
to look up over me, can't do it. He's, he's moving here, moving
there. He wants to, he's heard of him and he's got this desire
to see him, but he can't. He can't. And like I said, if
you ever seek to see the Lord Jesus Christ, the first thing
you're going to be confronted with is your inability. You see,
this man was little of stature in height, he was little of stature
in character, too. I mean, that's obvious just from
his profession, the chief among the publicans. And he found out
that he could not see the Lord Jesus Christ. But that didn't
keep him from seeking. You see, if somebody stopped
seeking, that means the Lord wasn't seeking them. You just
really don't care. You're not really concerned about
seeing who he is, but if you really wanna know him, nothing
will stop you from doing whatever it takes, in your experience,
to know him. Nothing will stop you. Now, what
does he do? Well, he runs ahead of the crowd.
I love to picture this in my mind. He runs ahead of the crowd,
that rich, short, chief publican. He runs ahead of the crowd. He
climbs up in that sycamore tree, sitting on a limb. How was he
dressed? I don't know. He was rich. He's
probably dressed well, probably like a businessman of some kind,
maybe wearing a three-piece suit of that day. But he ran ahead,
climbed up in that sycamore tree, and sat there in a branch waiting
to see the Lord Jesus Christ. He wanted to see who he was. And I love to picture that in
my mind. Now, verse four, he ran before. He climbed up into a sycamore
tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus
came to the place. You see, I doubt I seriously
doubt physically that the Lord Jesus had ever seen Zacchaeus
before, but he knew him. You see, Zacchaeus
was one of his elect. Zacchaeus was one that he chose
before time began. Zacchaeus was one he came to
save. Remember the son of man came
to seek and to save that which was lost. Zacchaeus was one of
those people. And I love to think of the Lord
looking up, he knew him. Zacchaeus? You reckon Zacchaeus
was shocked? He used my name? Zacchaeus? Yep, he knew him. Maybe Zacchaeus
looked behind him. Is there somebody else here named
Zacchaeus? He didn't know what to take of all this. Zacchaeus, make haste, come down, for today
I must abide at thy house. Make haste. The first thing he
said, all reasons for delay are taken away. Make haste, right
now. Well, do I need to quit some
kind of sin or start doing some kind of good thing before I come?
No, right now, make haste. The time for you to come to Christ
is right now. No delays. There's nothing for
you to do, nothing for you to do to prepare yourself, nothing
to do to make yourself worthy. The time for you to come to Christ,
the time for me to come to Christ is right now. Make haste. Don't wait for something
to happen. Don't wait for some feeling.
Don't wait till you have more understanding. Right now. Make haste. Come down. The way up is down. Come down from your high thoughts
of yourself. Come down from your self-righteousness
and your arrogance and your pride and your indifference. Come down. And once you reach the bottom,
get down a little further. Come down. Make haste, come down. For today, verse five, I must. Now note that word must. I must
abide at thy house. Now the only reason the Lord
Jesus Christ must do anything is he must do his Father's will.
He must needs go through Samaria. Other sheep I have which are
not of this foal, them also I must bring. He must abide at Zacchaeus'
house. And notice this, I don't think
I've ever really noticed this. As many times as I've looked
at this and read it and preached it, he said I must abide at thy
house. Not go there for a visit. I must
go there to stay forever and never leave again. Today, I must abide at thy house. Verse six, what'd Zacchaeus do? He made haste. What did he delay? He made haste. I reckon when
the Lord said, Lazarus, come forth, Lazarus didn't lay around.
I mean, he made haste. He made haste. And he came down. If you ever come to Christ, you're
gonna come down. And notice it says, he received
him. To as many as received him. To them gave he the power to
become the sons of God, even to them which believe on his
name. Now, when you come, when you
make haste, when you come down, here's what you'll do while you're
down there. you'll receive him. What's it mean to receive him?
It means to believe on his name. John tells us, even to them which
believe on his name, you believe for the first time that salvation
is for his name's sake. You understand that you're gonna
be saved for Christ's sake. It's not gonna have anything
to do with your works. It's for his name's sake. And he received him, what's the
next word? Joyfully. Joyfully. You know, when you receive Christ, you receive him joyfully. Every aspect of the gospel is
received joyfully. Now, the only way you're gonna
receive him joyfully is if you're down. When you're down, everything
is good news. with regard to the gospel, everything. When you hear that God is absolutely
sovereign, that's good news. That means he can save somebody
like me by an act of his will. When you hear that you're totally
depraved, you say that's good news. Well, how's that good news?
Teaches me not to look for myself for a thing, to look totally
outside of myself to someone else. When you hear that God
elected a people, that's good news. I'm thankful he did because
I know if he doesn't like me, I won't be saved. When you hear
that Christ is the successful Redeemer, that's good news. He
did it all. There's nothing for me to do.
When you hear of his grace, oh, what good news. He received him
joyfully. He received him. Now remember
this, salvation is the receiving of a person. It's not getting
indoctrinated. It's the receiving of a person. I know whom I have believed. Someone says, I know what I believe.
Well, congratulations. Do you know who you have believed? He received him joyfully. Verse seven. When they saw, who's they? You
can know who they are by what they say. And when they saw,
they all murmured saying that he was gone to be a guest with
a man that's a sinner. He has gone into the home of
the worst man in town. This man is a sinner. That's the rejection of the religious. This man receiveth sinners and
eats with them. He's even called the friend of
publicans and sinners. I love his name, Jesus, the sinner's
friend. the friend of publicans, the
friend of sinners. Now, if you're a sinner, that
means he's your friend. If you're a sinner, that means he'll come
and abide in your house. 1 Timothy 1.15 says, this is
a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I said this in a Bible study
this morning. Are you a sinner? Well, most
people say, yeah, I commit sins. Well, let me ask it in another
way. Are you evil? Are you evil? Would that describe
you? That's your nature. That's who
you are. He came to save sinners. Well, they murmured verse seven.
And when they saw it, they all murmured saying that he was going
to be a guest with a man that's a sinner. verse 8. And Zacchaeus stood and said
unto the Lord, he wasn't speaking to men. He wasn't trying to get
men to hear. He was speaking to the Lord.
He wasn't thinking about anybody else. He was speaking to the
Lord. And Zacchaeus stood and said,
Lord, now Before I go on reading, I
want us to notice this was unprompted. Nobody told him what to do. You
know, religious people say, now that you've believed, here's
what you need to do. You need to start doing this, start doing
that. You need to start tithing. You need to start giving. You
need to start being generous. You need to start, quit this
and start doing that. And you need to live the Christian
life. Now, yes, salvation's by grace, but here's what you need
to do now. You need to start living the Christian life. Nothing like
that. What Zacchaeus said was spontaneous. It was unprompted. He was now
doing what he wanted to do. There was no command given to
him with regard to this. No rule given. Now, keep that
in mind. He stood and said this unprompted,
spontaneously, from his heart because God had done something
for him. Look, and Zacchaeus stood and
said unto the Lord, behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to
the poor. Did the Lord tell him to do that?
No. Did he want to do it? Yeah. And if I've taken anything from
any man by false accusation, which is where he gained his
wealth, I restore him fourfold. Now, what I would notice about
Zacchaeus is he had been seeking to see Jesus who he was, now
he knows who he is. That is identified by how he
addresses him, Lord. He knew he was the Lord. He knew
the same thing the leper did. Lord, if you make me will, He
knew the same thing the thief on the cross did. Lord, remember
me, Jesus is Lord. He's the Lord of creation. He's
the creator. He's the Lord of providence.
Everything that happens in your life and outside of your life,
He's in control of everything. He's the Lord of salvation. My
salvation, your salvation is in His hand. It's up to Him. As to whether or not you'll be
saved, all of a sudden, Zacchaeus knows that, and he addresses
him as Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. He's my Lord, he's your Lord.
You know, it says he's the Lord of the dead and the living. Somebody
says he's not my Lord. Yeah, he is. Yeah, he is. He's
everybody's Lord. He is the Lord. Lord, behold, 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. Now, how many times
Have you heard somebody's response to the gospel of grace? If I
live that way, I just live any way I wanted to. Zacchaeus was,
wasn't he? He was living as he wanted to.
Listen to this. Trust Christ and do what you
want. Zacchaeus was, wasn't he? Trust Christ and do what you
want. I say that without apology, and
I'm not worried about how somebody's gonna react to it. There's some
people who, when they hear the gospel, they will look at it
in a, well, I could do, not a believer. Zacchaeus was doing what he wanted
to do. Verse nine. And Jesus said unto him, this day is salvation. Come to this house for as much as he also is a son
of Abraham. Now, wait a minute. There are
all kinds of sons of Abraham at that time, physical Jews. I mean, they were lined up in
the streets. But he says, salvation is coming
to this house. Now, when he came into the house,
you know what came into the house? Salvation. He is salvation. He's not saying salvation's coming
to this house because all of a sudden this guy's giving his
gifts to the poor. Salvation's coming to this house
because I've come here. Remember what Simeon said, Lord,
now let us now thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen
thy salvation. Jesus Christ is God's salvation. This man's a son of Abraham.
He's not talking about a physical son of Abraham. He's talking
about the spiritual seed. If ye be Christ's, then are ye
children of Abraham and heirs according to the promise. Look
back for a moment to Luke chapter 13, verse 11. And behold, there was
a woman which had a spirit of infirmity 18 years. and could in no wise lift up
herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called
her to him and said unto her, woman, thou art loosed from thine
infirmity. And he laid his hands on her,
and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God,
and the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because
the Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day. And he said unto the people,
there's six days in which men ought to work, and then therefore
come and be healed, but not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, hypocrite.
I love the way he said that. Hypocrite, actor. Does not each
one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall
and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman being
a daughter of Abraham." Now, there were a lot of physical
children of Abraham, but he's talking about the spiritual seed. Ought not this woman. being a daughter of Abraham,
whom Satan hath bound lo these 18 years, be loosed from this
bond on the Sabbath day. And she was loosed from that
bond. Back to our text in Luke 18. Now here is the conclusion to
the story of Zacchaeus. And in this story, the Lord gives
us his mission statement. Now here's what all this is about.
For the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was
lost. Now there are many names the
Lord could have given Himself. Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Ancient
of Days, the Creator, a lot of names He could have given Himself.
But how does He refer to Himself in this mission statement? The
Son of Man. What a name. Man of Sorrows. What a name for the Son of God
who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah. What a Savior. The Son of Man. The Word was made flesh. The Son of Man. And He tells us why He came,
and I hope that we're not so blind and bereft of reason to
think that he could possibly fail in whatever he came to do.
Remember who this is. This is the God man. His will
cannot be frustrated. His will cannot be thwarted. Whatever it was he came to do,
whatever he intended to do, that's what he did. The Son of Man is
come to seek and to save that which was lost. The Son of Man is come to seek
and to save that which was lost. Now, the object he came to seek
and save That which was lost. Now, listen real carefully. That which was lost. What did the Lord mean by that?
That which was lost. Somebody says, I found God. Got news for you, he wasn't lost. He wasn't lost. Could be he found
you. You didn't find him. He found
you. Son of man has come to seek and
to save that which was lost. Now what is meant by this thing
of being lost? You know, you can use the word
lost and it doesn't necessarily mean he came to save you. All
men were lost in Adam, weren't they? All men. When Adam fell,
you fell. All men are lost by their actual
commission of sin. The reason I'm lost is because
of my personal sin against God. I've lost the right relationship
with God. I've lost a proper standing with
God. Lost. You can be lost like that
and still not be saved. Every man's lost in that sense.
You can be lost to the church. Somebody that was a part of the
church and they leave and they go Lost. Lost. You can be lost to society. They gotta put you in jail. You're a danger. You can be lost
to society. You can be lost to your own family
where your own family won't have anything to do with you. Is that
what he's talking about? No. Lost to all hope of saving yourself. Now that's what it is to mean
to be lost. You are lost. I've gone astray
like a lost sheep. You're lost and you can't find
any way as to why God would have anything to do with you but send
you tail. Now that's what it means to be
lost. Lost to all hopes of self-salvation. Have you ever been lost? And
you can't get to God. You can't get to Christ. He's
gonna have to come to you. Now that's what it is to be lost. He came to seek and to save that
which is lost. Read, if you get an opportunity
this week, read Luke chapter 15. That's about him coming to
seek and to save the lost. The shepherd going after the
lost sheep. The woman looking for her lost
coin. the lost son and the father seeking him out. That's what
that's all about. Him coming to seek and to save that which
was lost. But turn with me to Matthew chapter
one, verse 21. Now here on the opening chapter,
of the New Testament, he tells us what his mission statement
is again. Look in verse 21. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his
people from their sins. Now that is what him coming to
seek and to save that which is lost is all about. He shall.
He shall. Ain't no doubt about it. All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out for I came down from heaven
not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me and
this is the Father's will which has sent me that of all which
he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. He shall save his people, the
elect, those the Father gave him. Those who believe, that's the
evidence, they believe the gospel. Thou shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Now what do
I need to be saved from? Number one, I need to be saved
from God. My sin's against him. He's the
one that sends sinners to hell. I need to be saved from God.
That's my main problem. I need to be saved from myself.
If I'm left to myself, I will not be saved. I need to be saved
from myself. I am the problem. I need to be saved from my sins. I can't bear the punishment of
sin. And I need to be saved from the
guilt of that sin so I won't have to be punished. The only
way I won't be punished for my sin is if I'm not guilty. And that's what Christ did on
Calvary's tree. He took my guilt away. He bore it and put it away.
I need to be saved from the power of sin. Here's why. Because I'm
under the power of sin, I can't believe anymore that I can create
the universe unless God gives me the grace to do it. I can't
repent any more than I can create a new universe, unless God gives
me the grace to do it, because I'm under the power and dominion
of sin. Sin shall not have lordship over
you, for you're not under law, you're under grace. That's being
saved from the power of sin. And I need to be saved from the
presence of sin. Now listen to this scripture
carefully. Romans 8 30 says, whom he did justify, then he
also glorified. That doesn't say he will glorify
them. Do you hear that? That's the
way we think. Well, we will be glorified, but
it doesn't say that. It says, whom he justified, them
he also glorified. Now let me give you three things
about that. Number one, how complete my salvation is. I'm already glorified. That's
what the Bible says. Somebody says, you don't look
glorified. Yeah, but God says I am. That's more important than
how I look. If God says I am, I am. Number two, how powerful the
flesh must be that even though I'm glorified, I flat out can't
see it. You see, I've still got something
called the evil nature. And the only difference between
me and the folks in heaven is the fact that I still have an
evil nature. They don't anymore. They don't anymore. but I'm right
now fit for the inheritance of the saints of the light, because
I have what they do, but they don't have something I have,
an evil nature. But this lets us know, if you're
already glorified, and the Bible says you are, that's how complete
your salvation is, it can't get any more complete, it can't get
any more saved, it can't get any more accepted, you can't
get any more loved, you can't, go on with it, glorified! Do
I see it? No. Do I believe it? Yes. Do I see it? No. And this
gives us some idea of what it means to walk by faith and not
by sight. I'm not walking by sight. I'm walking by faith that
I am glorified. He shall save his people from
their sins to this extent. They are already glorified. There's nothing to reach out
for. You're already glorified. Thou shalt call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. Zacchaeus, this sinful man was
saved for this one singular reason. He came to seek and to save. that which was lost, and that
is precisely what he did. Oh, the mission of the Son of
Man. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you
sent your Son, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Son of Mary, the son of glory, how we thank you that you sent
him to come and seek out and to save that which was lost. And Lord, we ask that even this
morning, you would come by your spirit and seek out that Zacchaeus
that can't see you. and make yourself known to them
as he which came to seek and to save that which was lost. We thank you for your gospel.
We pray for your mercy, your grace, your blessing upon us.
For Christ's sake, in his name we pray. Amen. Go ahead and come,
Lisa, and close them in. Let's stand and sing 256. And
just a reminder, no services tonight or Wednesday night. And
if you could, bring the hymn books down to the front after
services and clear out your personal items. It'll help with the repatting
of the pews. 256, let's stand and sing. Peace like a river attendeth
my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot, thou hast taught
me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul.