Here in Luke chapter 19 we have
the account of Zacchaeus. Luke is the only gospel to mention
this. Zacchaeus' name And I love this, Zacchaeus name means pure. There was nothing pure about
Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was the chief publican. He was a tax collector. He would
have been snaky and shady. And he confesses this in this
chapter. He tells the Lord, Lord, if I've
done any wrong to any man, I'm going to restore it to them fourfold.
Well, he wouldn't have said that unless he had have been, uh,
he didn't get to be the chief publican by being honest, did
he? He got all of it. Everybody hated
the publicans. No, you owe us 20%. You don't owe us 10. Caesar
says you owe this, and this says you owe this. What are you going
to do? You had to pay it. They hated
him, didn't they? They would have hated him. Pharisees call him a sinner,
plainly, as we're going to see here, and being being the chief
of the publicans would have made him, in the religious men's eyes,
the slime. I don't know how else to say
it. The worst. He might as well have been a
harlot. That's how they would have viewed
this man. Now, our Lord could have walked by Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus
climbs up in a tree to see the Lord, and the Lord could
have just continued to walk past. God was not obligated to stop
by and speak to Zacchaeus. The only thing that would have
obligated the Lord Jesus Christ to do that is if Zacchaeus was
written in the Lamb's Book of Life, that would have obligated
him at that point because he said, I'm going to get everyone
that's in the Lamb's Book of Life. That was given to him of
his father. God was not obligated to elect
Zacchaeus. God chose to do that. We have
to be very clear on that. God's not obligated to save anybody
from before the foundation of the world other than those he
chose. And he was not obligated to choose anybody in any way,
especially a tax collector, especially a sinner like this. And we can
relate to Zacchaeus. So if you hear me say tax collector,
I'm not poking fun at anybody in particular. That's just his
trade. You and I, we fit right into the same category, don't
we? We're dishonest hearts and deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. And so we can relate to him.
Christ could have chose to never look up, to never call Zacchaeus
name, never go to his house, but he chose to. He chose to
in mercy and he tells us why. And this is what I've titled
the message, to save them that were lost. To save them that
were lost. That's why he came. And look
with me in Luke 19. We're going to begin reading
at verse one. 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. He
sought to see Jesus who he was, and could not for the press,
because he was little of stature. And he ran before and climbed
into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and
said unto him, Zacchaeus. Now understand something, they
had never met before, okay? How did he know his name? Because
he was God. Because he was God, he knew his name. He knew that
Zacchaeus was his. He knew him by name. Does that
give you hope? Lord, do you know my name? Lord,
call my name. What did he tell the men that
come to him and say, I've done all these wonderful things in your
name? He said, depart from me, I never knew you. I never knew your name. I don't know you." He knew Zacchaeus
though. Zacchaeus, make haste and come
down for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste
and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it,
they all murmured saying, what? That he was gone to be a guest
with a man that is a sinner. Zacchaeus stood and said unto
the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor,
and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation,
I restore him fourfold. Jesus said unto him, This day
is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son
of Abraham. For the son of man is come to
seek and to save that which was lost." Now don't misunderstand
our Lord's wordings here. It wasn't because Zacchaeus gave
half of his goods away and restored fourfold to those who he had
wronged that obligated Christ to save him. Salvation came to
Zacchaeus and because of that, he gives half of his goods away
and restores fourfold. Do we see the difference? He
didn't obligate God to save him. He did it because salvation had
come. No, salvation came to Zacchaeus
because salvation chose to come to Zacchaeus. That's a person,
isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ chose to call Zacchaeus down. He chose to come into his house.
He chose to reveal himself, who he was. That's what Zacchaeus
desired. He sought to see Jesus, who he
was. Zacchaeus had not been given
a need to come to him for salvation at that point. Not until he said,
Zacchaeus, that's what the Lord calls out to you and I when he
makes us alive. Do we realize that? He calls
us by name. What did the Lord say unto Lazarus? Did he say,
come forth, and that was it? Did he just say come forth? No,
he said Lazarus come forth. Why? Because if he'd have said
come forth, everybody in that graveyard would have popped up.
No, that's the power that he possesses. He calls us by name,
doesn't he? That's what he did to Zacchaeus. Called him by name. Salvation is Christ plus nothing,
minus nothing by his choosing, by his calling, by his saving.
Zacchaeus didn't do to be saved, as men say. They use the word
do. They're not even meaning to call
it that, but that's what they're talking about, living the good
Christian life and working for your salvation and doing the
things that are pleasing. That's called doing. It's the
word do. It's that simple. The gospel
says done. Done. I love that. Don't you? Zacchaeus didn't do to be saved.
He didn't climb the tree to be saved. Men say, well, you need
to You need to climb the tree higher so you can get a better
view of the Lord. That's what all religion does, is it elevates
man, doesn't it? What'd the Lord say? Come down.
Come down. No, I've got to go to your house
today. I have to. I have to. I've walked all this
way, right up to the sycamore tree, looked up and called your
name. That's what he does in salvation, isn't it? That's what
he does. He gets all the glory for it. As Zacchaeus did this, Everything
that you see that he did was because he was saved, not to
become saved. When it says he received him,
when it says Zacchaeus received him gladly, that's not the same
term as men say, receive Jesus, let him into your heart. That's
not what he's saying here. That word receive is a hospitable
receiving. He brought him into his home.
It was hospitable to him. That's what he meant by receiving.
It's like receiving a guest into your house. That's exactly what
he's talking about. That's what he did there. Brought him into his home. And
he tells us why. I must abide at your house. I must, verse five, I must abide
at your house. Why? Because he came to seek
and to save that which is lost. He didn't ask Zacchaeus. He didn't
negotiate with Zacchaeus. He didn't try to convince Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus, come down. Zacchaeus, come down. That's
what he does. This is who God is. Zacchaeus, come down. Zacchaeus,
if you would like, I can come to your house. It's not what
he said. Zacchaeus, if you'll let me, I would like to come
to your house. It's not what he said. Zacchaeus,
come down. I must abide at thy house. Why? Because he came to seek
and to save that which was lost. It'd be silly for us to think
that when he said that to Zacchaeus, he said, I'm not really ready
to make you Lord of my life yet. I'm going to stay in this tree.
That's silly. We poke fun. I mean, it's sad
that people believe that. It's just not true. No, the Lord
says that we're going to do it. God commands and everything obeys.
The idea of God waiting for a dead man or woman to make themselves
alive, that's just foolishness. Perish the thought. We can't. Did God ask the light to be formed
of itself? Did he request that the winds
obeyed him when he said, did he say to the wind, would you
mind to stop blowing? No, he said, stop, peace, peace
be still. And what'd the wind do? I'm not
really ready to quit blowing yet. I'm gonna keep blowing.
No, it stopped. Everything obeys his voice. Zacchaeus come down. Zacchaeus came down, make haste,
Zacchaeus. I could see myself and I could
see some of us. I'm clumsy sometimes. He was probably halfway falling
down the tree trying to get down so quick. He saw the Lord. The
Lord revealed himself. Zacchaeus, come down. He's hurrying.
He believed that if he'd fell and broke his leg, I guarantee
that he believed that the Lord would have healed him. He had
faith. He'd been given faith. That's what we do. Lord said,
come down. What do we do? We come down. We come down for
our high horse, our high tree, our self-righteousness. We renounce
everything we used to believe in, all the things of life that
we got glory for, we renounce it for Him. Not to have salvation,
but because salvation comes to our house. This is our house. This is the tabernacle we've
been given. This is our house. Do you ever read that the Lord
negotiated with any man in the scripture? You won't read it
because it's not there. Not one time did the Lord negotiate. Not one time did the Lord make
an offer. Not one time did the Lord request. Except when it was of natural
things, even the when I say request, think about it, it wasn't even
a request. So whenever he goes into Jerusalem, he looks at his
disciples and he tells them, there's a young, it's the foal
of an ass. It's a baby donkey. He says,
and it's tied up here. He knew this, he put it there
for the foundation of the world. It was already certain it was
gonna be there waiting on him. This wasn't something that he had
physically seen. He knew it was there because he was God. He
said, go get the donkey. And can you imagine me looking
at you and saying, hey, there's a boat down the road Go get that
boat. And what are we going to, we
didn't have that kind of authority. That's called theft. Am I right?
But when the Lord did it and the men came out, he said, you
tell them that the master has need of this. Does that sound
like a request to you? It doesn't mean either. And what
did he tell them? The master has need of it. Okay.
Yep. You can have it. No problem. No problem. Why? Because he was God. Because he is God. All things
are His. Everything obeys Him. Jeremiah
23 says, For who hath stood on the counsel of the Lord and hath
perceived and heard His word? Who hath marked His word and
heard it? Who hath marked the Lord's word
and decided to hear it? Nobody. No one's ever heard because
they chose to. How do we know this? Roman tells
us, speaking of Jews and Gentiles, everybody without exception,
he says this, There is none that understandeth, There is none
that seeketh after God. None. Period. None. That's nobody. You know who's
going to understand the ones that are given understanding?
The Zacchaeuses. That's who's going to understand.
Why? Because God says, Zacchaeus, come down. I must go to your
house because I've came to seek and to save that which was lost.
Not one single person would ever desire God according to the flesh
because the flesh is enmity against God. You've heard me say that
many times. Our flesh literally hates God, and it never stops
hating God. The very last breath that we
draw in this body, our flesh will still despise the Lord Jesus
Christ and His truth. But that new man, oh, that new
man rejoices. The Lord says, Zacchaeus, come
down. I'm going to your house. You're
going to my house? You're coming into this? What a thought that
the Lord would choose to come to our house. Not pass us by. We sung that song, but not pass
me not. Hear my humble cry. Well, we don't look to our humility
for our salvation, do we? So what is the song saying? Lord,
you give me, you give me the broken heart and the contrite
spirit by the eyes of faith. Lord, you did that. You get all
the glory. You've humbled me from my high horse, my sycamore
tree. Come to my house. Pass me not.
Pass me not. I've heard men say, I seek after
the Lord. I've made him my choice. I've, I've, uh, I've done my
part. That's a, that's a scary statement.
That's a scary statement. If we believe that we don't know
who God is, we're still in a, we're still stuck in the high
tree trying to elevate ourself above other men so the Lord notices.
That's what men do. They try to sit just a little
bit higher than the person beside him. I don't do what he's doing,
so I'm okay. I don't do what she's doing. Well, I'm not this,
I'm not this sinner, this public and this chief public, and I'm
okay. Lord let me into heaven because of my good works. No,
no, that's wrong. It's not true. Can't have any
good works of ourself and look to them for salvation. It's all
what he did. It's all what he did. We need
Christ to say, come down, to say, live, to say, make haste. Come down. 2 Corinthians 4, 6
says, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness
hath shined in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. See, there's
our need. Lord, shine your light. Shine your light out of darkness.
How is he? God's the only one that can create
light out of darkness. And we can use different apparatuses
to a candlestick, a flashlight. I mean, we can make something
have light, but I'm talking about utter darkness. The Lord creates
light. There's nobody else that can
do that. The Lord did that. That's what he did. And that's
what he has to do for us, isn't it? We see ourself as that utter
darkness, that abyss. And unless the Lord says, let
there be light, Zacchaeus come down, we'll never have light. We'll never have light. He leaves
the lights off. The light off, and it has to
be revealed in us, doesn't it? David put it this way, creating
me a clean heart, oh God. Renewing me a right spirit. We gotta have a new spirit. We
gotta have a new heart. We gotta have his light to shine.
Aren't you glad the scripture says that he has It's evident he has pleasure
in the salvation of his people. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It's honoring unto the Lord to call one that he died for. It glorifies him all according
to his goodwill and his pleasure, all by his grace and mercy. This
is the whole reason he came. This is the reason he came to
earth, was to seek and to save that which was lost. That's the
whole reason, the whole purpose, to honor his father in the salvation
of his people, to seek and to save that which was lost. The Lord had one singular purpose,
one glorious reason, one motivation. One predetermined objective,
to seek and to save that which was lost, to honor his father
in redeeming his sheep, his people, his elect, every single Zacchaeus
that was ever to be born again, Christ came to cause that to
happen. Now, what do I mean when I say
to seek and to save that which was lost? What does lost mean? What do I mean by the word lost?
I want to make sure I'm as clear as I can be. It's the same term
as the word dead, as the word dead. And you've heard me say
that many, many times, but I found the definition of this loss.
It says to give over to eternal misery and hell. To seek and
to save them that's been given over to eternal misery and hell.
Think about that. That's how lost we are by nature. or don't give us over to eternal
misery and hell, cause us to be found in Christ. Call our
name. This is all the result, this
loss, being lost, being dead. It's all the result of the sin
of our father, Adam in the garden of Eden. I want to look at that
in Romans chapter five, if you'd like to turn there. How did we get lost? Now, if
you're driving a car, And you find yourself lost most of the
time. You can, you can get unlost by
backtracking, or you can get unlost by just going back the
way you came until you recognize where you are again, or, uh,
your GPS gets a signal again or whatever it is. You understand
what I'm saying? We can get unlost, but problem is, is we didn't
get lost on our own. Our father, Adam. We were lost
in the fall in the garden. Now, if we're, I've heard Henry
Mahan say this, he said, if we're wrong on the fall, we're wrong
on it all. And it's so true because men
don't preach that men are dead, dead, dead. And that's what the
scripture teaches us clearly that in Adam, we died in him,
completely utter separation from God, period. Now look at Romans
five and verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for they all have sinned." Boy, that's clear, isn't it?
All. All have sinned. Death passed upon all men, for
all have sinned. Why? Because Adam. Our father,
Adam, in unbelief, disobeyed God, committing the first sin
of a human being and had to die because of it. The wages of sin
is death. It's that simple. It's that simple. The wages of sin is death. If
we have one sin, death is the consequence. Look with me in
verse 17. For if by one man's offense death
reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace
and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ. Therefore, as by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so
by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Death passed upon all, for all
had sinned. How do we know that everybody
sinned? The law was given. The law was given to show that
everyone is a sinner, that no one is righteous before the Lord's
eyes based upon their own merit. We have the gospel also. The
scripture says, for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God, but we have the gospel also. But God who is rich
in mercy, wherein his great love hath he loved us. What did the
Lord do? He redeemed his people. Having
made Christ sin for us who knew no sin, he redeemed us back to
God, burying our sin in his body. We lost everything in Adam and
Eve, our father Adam, even life. We died in Adam, but we gained
so much more in the victorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he accomplished salvation for his people, he completely
restored us. All that Adam could do is walk
in the cool of the evening with the Lord. We're going to be with
him for eternity face to face. We're going to see him as he
is. In the Garden of Eden, if you read and as the after the
fall after Adam and Eve sin in chapter three, you'll see that
the voice of the Lord was walking in the cool of the garden, or
the cool of the evening in the garden. That's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the voice of the Lord, is he not? He's the word
of God. So who was Adam spending time
with? Jesus Christ. We know that's
true because if it would have been the father, Adam would have
died right then and there being in his presence. Lord would have
had to execute that sin right there. But only the Lord Jesus
Christ can touch man and not be defiled and touch God and
not be destroyed. See, that's that we need the
substitute. And that's what he accomplished. That's what that's
what Paul's saying here. By his grace. Reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ. We've been made righteous by
his own blood. Look in Romans 5 and verse 8. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if
we, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved
by his life. Oh, we've been justified. We've
been justified, not by any merit of our own, but by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the faith that he's given
us in him. This is our justification before
God. Death passed upon all, all had sinned, and yet the Lord
himself redeemed us back to himself. He no longer sees our Father
Adam's nature, but he sees Christ's perfect nature. He no longer
sees the corrupt seed of death, but he sees the incorrupt seed
of life in the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees Christ's faith and he's
satisfied. This is why he came. This is
the message. This is what he came to accomplish.
The salvation of his people to save them that were lost. Lost
in Adam. You remember the Seraphim woman
that came to the Lord? She was a Gentile, and she began
to approach the Lord. Her daughter was grievously vexed
with the devil. She was begging the Lord. She said, Lord, have
mercy. My daughter, she confessed what
her need was to him. My daughter is grievously vexed.
Lord, have mercy upon her. Hail her, Lord. You're going
to have to do it. I can't do it. And what did the Lord tell her? He
said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It's not meat to take the children's
bread and cast it to dogs. He called her a dog. He called
her a dog. He said, you're nothing but a
dead dog sinner. You're not part of the lost sheep.
That's the only reason I've came. Obviously she was because she
had faith. But at this particular time,
The Lord says these words in order to reveal to us that's
exactly what he shows in every single one of us that we're dead
dog sinners. And what do we say to that? Truth,
Lord, I've died in Adam and everything I've done from birth until now
is nothing but sin. I need a substitute. Truth, Lord,
I am a dog. Can I just have a crumb from
your table? Can I just have a crumb from your table? That's what
we pray for. That's what we beg for. Called her a mangy, wretched
mongrel, an outcast in society. That's what he called her. That's
what the law reveals. That's what I'm explaining to
us is when the law came, it revealed how ugly we are, how sinful we
are, how wicked we are in his sight by nature. You don't have
to do anything to go to hell. Just being born is enough because
we're born in sin and shaping into iniquity. This is what the
law reveals. Now the lie The lie that started
it all is that there's something you can do to fix what you are. There's something you can do
to fix what you've done. There's something you can do
to change your standing with God from being dead to being
alive. It's not true. There's nothing
we can do. We're dead in trespasses and
in sin. This woman knew This woman knew that she was
a dog because of the faith that the Lord gives her. She says,
truth, Lord, can I have some crumbs from your table? The children,
the dogs desire the crumbs. And he says, great is thy faith,
woman, be it unto thee as thou wish. What do you, men taught,
I have this written down, I was thinking while studying this,
he says, be it, that's his words, be it unto you as thou wish.
You remember being, younger and seeing movies and different things
where they have genies that come out of a lamp. You rub a lamp
and you get three wishes, right? Most people know about that.
What would you wish for? It was always the thing. And
everything that we always had thought about, at least in myself,
has always been typically money. Typically money. That's what
I would have wished for. Money can solve a lot of problems.
Maybe more time. Time can solve a lot of problems.
But did you know that if it's of time and money, it's really
not a problem? Really deep down, it's not a
problem. It's not eternal. Money is not eternal. Time is
not eternal. But if you were given, if the
faith that the Lord's given you was asked, what is your wish?
It always replies with the same exact request. Give me Christ,
lest I die. Give me a crumb or I'm going
to starve to death. Give me grace. Give me mercy. Give me salvation in the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's the wish of the believer.
There's the hope of the believer. When God sees that faith, the
faith of Christ, he's always, always going to say, satisfied. We can't earn it. We are born
dead. We can't merit it. We are dogs. We are dogs. And only if the
Lord chooses, he must make a dog into a sheep. Now we still see
ourself as a dog, don't we? We can still see our mange and
our skin condition and whatever, however you want to call it,
our sin. We still see it. We smell ourself, don't we? Those
dogs would have stunk. If they didn't get brought in
and pampered, they would have... But he don't see it that way.
What does he see? He said, your fleece is white as snow. You're
my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them. I'm known of
my sheep, they hear my voice. Tell the Pharisee, you're not
of my sheep, you're of your father, the devil. And because he came
to seek and to save those lost sheep, they are now his forever
and ever and ever, never to be revealed that they're dogs again,
not in the Lord's presence, not in the Lord's presence. Now,
the last place I want to look quickly is in Luke chapter 15. Verse one, then drew unto him
all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees
and the scribes murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners and
eateth with them. The Lord Jesus Christ will receive
whomsoever comes to him. with the eyes of faith, looking
to Christ as all. Looking to Christ as all. You
remember whenever the children were coming unto the Lord and
the disciples began to get irritated and we see a pattern with the
disciples. They were constantly telling
people to shut up and mind their business and leave him alone
and whatever else. And this particular time they
did it too. They were telling the children, be quiet. And he
said, suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them
not. For of such is the kingdom of heaven. Suffer them, let it
make it so. Make it in every single child.
That's how we must come. This is how we must come unto
the Lord. There's only one way that you can come unto the Lord
as a little child. What does he mean the little children?
He said above such as the kingdom of heaven. What does he mean
a little child? You remember. Several of us have had children
and you have been around babies. You know their dependency on
their parents. You know that they cannot do for themselves
as newborns, as infants. They're completely dependent,
right? They can't feed themselves. They
can't change themselves. They can't do anything to tend
to themselves. He says, if you want to come
to Christ, you have to come like that right there, completely
dependent 100%. having no works whatsoever, no righteousness
about yourself whatsoever. The only way that you will be
received is if you're a sinner confessing, I have no righteousness. And what did he say right here?
The most best news that a sinner can ever hear is this. This man
receiveth sinners and he eats with them. Aren't you glad he
eats with them too? He receives sinners. It doesn't
say sinners receive Him. We do, by God's faith, looking
unto Him, but it's not about us receiving or rejecting, is
it? He takes up abode in us. We rejoice
in that. That receiving is hospitable. He's welcome. Lord, you're welcome.
Whether He is or not in our eyes doesn't really change it, but
that's what faith says, isn't it? Lord, come unto us. Lord,
don't pass us by. Lord, look up and say, Zacchaeus,
come down, knock me off my high horse. Lord, I'm a sinner in
need of a savior. I was lost in the garden. In
our father, Adam, I'm lost. Lord, I've seen that I deserve
hell. I've seen that I've betrayed
you in every way and I've denied you in every way. Lord, save
me, have mercy upon me. And you know what the Lord says
to that? You know what the Lord says to that? I will be thou
made whole. I will, every time, doesn't he? Every single day, we see it over
and over in scripture. I will be thou made whole. If that's your confession, Lord,
you're the only one that has words of eternal life. Whom shall
we go? You're the only one that has the words of eternal life.
Lord, if you will, thou can't make, you can make me whole.
I will. I will be thou whole. I love that it's the Pharisees
that confess what the truth is right here. This man receiveth
sinners. You can hear him talking. I mean, they're just, they're
being spiteful, aren't they? They're being ugly, but oh, it's
the best. I'm glad Luke wrote it down. Lord made him. I know
it was by divine inspiration, but what hope we have. He received
sinners and publicans, the worst kind of sinners. And at this
time people would have saw, they would have had so many So the
center in their eyes was the irreligious, wasn't it? The ones
that don't dot every I and cross every T. And the publicans were
the ones that were completely on the opposite end of, not only
were they irreligious, but they were wallowing in their lies
and their deceit. Boy, we're all of that, aren't
we? Well, guess what? The good news is that's who he
receives. You come to him like that right
there, you will know why he's cast you out. That's what he says.
Come unto Christ right now with the eyes of faith, saying, Lord,
I am a sinner. Have mercy on me, the sinner. And he will in
no wise, he will in no wise ever, ever cast us out. I want you
to look at chapter 15, verse 32. This was the story of the
prodigal son. I'm not gonna give us that for
the sake of time, but we're probably looking perhaps at this next
Sunday. When the prodigal son returned,
the father says these words, verse 32, chapter 15 of Luke,
it was meet, it was necessary that we should make Mary and
be glad for this thy brother was dead and is alive. He was
lost and he is found. There's the parable here of the
Lord being the good shepherd that left the 99 and went and
got the one. That's a picture of him going
after his bride, the one, the one that he set his affection
on, the one that he elected and redeeming them back to him. And
that sheep that was lost, that sheep's been found. Never to
be lost again. We can't be lost in Adam anymore
because Christ has redeemed us back to the Lord. Isn't that
glorious? Isn't that glorious? He came to seek and to save that
which is lost. That's why he came. Was he successful? He told us he was. It is finished.
And now he's seated. Come to Christ as a sinner, as
a Zacchaeus. declaring that you are nothing,
declaring that you're empty and you need to be filled. That's
all he'll fill is an empty vessel. But the good news is, is if you
come to him saying that you're a broken vessel, he'll make a
vessel of the finer by revealing Christ in us. And Christ in us
is our hope of glory. Amen.