Now we're looking at Luke 19
today. We're going to look at verse 1 down through verse 10
of this conversion story of a notable, well-known sinner named Zacchaeus. And I'm entitling the message,
The Effectual Call of the Gospel. A call that cannot be resisted. A call of God that is effectual. We find the Lord Jesus Christ
must need to go through Jericho. Look at verse one of Luke 19. And Jesus entered and passed
through Jericho. Now he went there on purpose. He went there on purpose to meet
a sinner that he must save. Just like he must need to go
through Samaria to meet a woman at the well, that he might save
her by his grace." What we find here is a good shepherd crossing
the path of his elect and calling him out of bondage into liberty
in Christ and giving this notable sinner salvation by God's grace,
giving Zacchaeus what Zacchaeus needed. What did he need? He
had plenty of money. He had probably a very nice house.
He had many friends. But what he really needed was
salvation. What he really needed was forgiveness,
pardon, and mercy from the only one, the only one who can give
Mercy and give pardon is the Lord Jesus Christ I love what
the Lord says down here in verse 9 and 10 of Luke 19 The Lord
said this day salvations come to your house for as much as
you are one of those special sons of Abraham and For the Son
of Man, who is God the Son, the Son of God, is come to seek,
and He came to save His people from their sin. And He came to
cross their path and save them, because they were lost sheep. Now who needs salvation? a lost
man. Who needs salvation? A sinner. A sinner. Now there are many
reasons why we preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, but
we can sum it up in three things. Number one, to glorify God. That
should be the chief aim of everything that believers do. And that is
to glorify the Lord Jesus. We read in Colossians chapter
three, whatsoever you do in word or deed, do as unto the Lord
that he may be glorified. So the chief reason when we come
together as God's people and meet together, and we come together
to preach the gospel, it is to glorify God. Secondly because
the Lord has commanded that his church do that Go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every one that will hear it and
even to those who won't Go preach the gospel to every creature
That's the command that God has given unto his church and I take
it very seriously and we do as a congregation as well the third
reason is why we preach the gospel, to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ,
because God has commanded his church to do that. Thirdly, because
the Lord uses the true preaching of the grace of God, the gospel
of God, to call out his elect. How are they going to hear except
somebody preach the gospel? And how are they going to preach
except they be sent? You see, faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of the Lord. It has pleased the Lord
to send out gospel preachers that the Lord may use that preached
word, blessed in the power of God the Holy Spirit, to call
His people out of bondage, sin, and death, into liberty and life
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now when we preach the gospel
of Christ and when we testify of a true grace of God, we always
preach at least these three things. Number one is this. I like what
the old preacher Roland Hill said years ago. He said every
sermon that preached must contain the three R's. The three R's. Ruined in the fall, redemption
by the blood, and regeneration. Who does regeneration? Who is
the chief operating one in regeneration? Regeneration by God the Holy
Spirit. You hath he quickened who were
dead, ruined by the fall, ruined in Adam, and Adam all died. Redemption
only by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And regeneration,
that is God raising dead sinners to life, has to be done by the
quickening power of God the Holy Spirit. Regeneration is not something
we do or we give. Sinners are certainly not regenerated
in water baptism. As one man said today on the
radio just before our radio broadcast, you know, regeneration is just
like washing your clothes. You put dirty clothes in the
washing machine and you get out clean clothes. And we put dirty
sinners into the baptismal pool and we pull up clean ones. My friend, that's a lie. That's
the lie, we're washed in the blood of Christ. It's the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all our sin. Regeneration, you see we're talking
about raising a dead man from life. unto life. And that's not something another
man can do. You can be baptized 10,000 times
and still be dead in sin. God must give life. You have
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sin. Well,
why make that an issue? Because it's being promoted as
the truth and it's a lie. We also must preach what we call
the five blessed points of the doctrines of grace. What are
the Doctrines of Grace? They came to be known, the Doctrines
of Grace, during the Reformation period. This is going back to
the 1600s. The Reformation period in the
day of Martin Luther, in the day of John Calvin, and those
early men who rebelled against the established religion of the
day, Catholicism. And they preached what we call
the Doctrines of Grace, and it summed up with these letters
T-U-L-I-P. T-U-L-I-P. What does that spell?
Tulip. Tulip. There's a paper out on
the front table that spells out the doctrine of grace or the
doctrines of grace. T-U-L-I-P. What does that stand
for? T stands for total depravity.
Sinners are totally depraved, dead in sin. What does U stand
for? God's unconditional electing
grace. He elected from all eternity
a people unto salvation. And then the doctrines of grace
also talk about the atonement that is a limited atonement.
That is, the Lord Jesus Christ did not die for all of the sins
of all men everywhere. That's not so. He died for his
elect. And we call that limited atonement.
The Lord said, I lay down my life for the sheep. And then
I stands for irresistible or invincible grace. Grace. That is the call of the Lord
in the gospel. When God calls a sinner out of
darkness into his marvelous light, it is an invincible, irresistible
call of grace. thy people shall be willing in
the day of his power." And then the P stands for perseverance
and preservation. The saints of God, they do persevere,
they're saved with an everlasting salvation. And they shall not
perish because they're kept by the power of God. Now in the
message today, I want to give us An example of the Lord inventively
and irresistibly calling a sinner out of darkness into that marvelous
light and the Lord Jesus Christ calling a sinner unto himself. And we see that here in Luke
19 in the Lord Jesus Christ crossing the path of a notable sinner
named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus. Now, several things
we can learn here about the Lord's irresistible grace or invincible
grace. And we see in this a pattern
of mercy to those who were called unto the Lord Jesus Christ by
his grace. The first thing I see is this.
It was a call of sovereign grace to a notorious sinner, Zacchaeus. Look at verse 2, Luke 19, Behold
there was a man, this man was a fallen man, this man was a
totally depraved man, this man was just like you, just like
me, born in sin, shapen in iniquity, guilty before God. There was
a man, his name, Zacchaeus. And he was the chief among the
publicans and he was rich. This man was a tax collector
and he was a rich man. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
crossed his path and called him to himself. Zacchaeus was a bad
man. who lived in a bad city, and
he was in a bad business, and he was in a bad way, he was in
bad shape, he was dead in sin, and that's all of us by nature,
dead, dead, Paul describes us this way in Ephesians 2, by nature,
without God, without hope, without Christ in this world, that's
us. By nature we don't know God. By nature we hate God. By nature
we love darkness, not the light. That was Zacchaeus. What did
Zacchaeus need? He needed salvation. He needed
mercy. He was a chief tax collector. He was the head of the IRS in
his day. He was probably an acquaintance
of Matthew. Matthew was also a publican,
a tax collector, whom the Lord called and made an apostle. Matthew,
the apostle. But Matthew was just like Zacchaeus
and just like us by birth by nature, practice and choice,
sinners who need mercy. Matthew and Zacchaeus were friends. I know they were. They were both
in the same business and Zacchaeus was probably the supervisor that
Matthew worked under because he was the chief. He was the
chief. He was chief among sinners. And
the Lord Jesus Christ said that he came to save the chief of
sinners. Yet this man's sinfulness did
not deter the Lord Jesus Christ from crossing his path and calling
him out. Now this man was a notable sinner.
And yet the Lord Jesus Christ, when he passed through Jericho
on purpose, he didn't go around, he went through Jericho because
he was looking for this man. He had his eye upon this man. He had his heart upon this man.
We must understand that a man's sinfulness does not deter the
Lord Jesus Christ from crossing his path and calling him out.
We must understand that our sins, now listen carefully, that our
sin don't keep us from Christ. It's our righteousness, that's
our problem. Our sin don't keep us from Christ,
it's our goodness that keeps us from Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ came to save sinners. Turn back a couple pages, find
Luke 15. Look at Luke 15, verse one. Then
drew near unto him all publicans and sinners for to hear him and
the Pharisees and scribes murmured saying Now look at verse 2. What
does it say there? This man receives all the good
folks All those who have cleaned themselves up and have done good
works, the Lord receives those good folks. That's not what it
says there. You see, good folks, those who
are well don't need a physician. Our Lord said those who are sick.
The Pharisees murmured and complained, this man receives sinners and
he even eats with them. Oh, how awful is that? Aren't
you glad the Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners? That's
what I am, I'm a sinner in need of mercy. There is no sinner
too vile, there's no sinner too mean, there's no sinner too wild,
there's no case too hard that the Lord Jesus Christ cannot
heal. That ought to give every one
of us hope. The Lord Jesus Christ, you know
who he came to save? Turn back over here to Luke chapter
4. Look at Luke chapter 4. The Lord here in his home synagogue
in Nazareth, he asked for the book of God to be brought unto
him and he read from Isaiah 61, look at Luke chapter 4 verse
18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
That's the year of jubilee, when those who are in debt go free
every 50 years. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
came to save sinners. came to save sinners. Now here's
a question for us and here's a question for you today. Are
you a sinner? Are you a sinner? Well, I used
to be. Hold on now. If we say we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth's not in us. The
question for you is, are you a sinner? You see, the Lord Jesus
Christ, it says in Romans 5, 6, that the Lord Jesus Christ
died for thee and godly. You see, there's no case too
desperate that the Lord Jesus Christ cannot save. I'll give
you another example of that. Turn to Luke chapter 8. Luke
chapter 8. If we just take the Word of God
and read it honestly, we'll see that the Lord Jesus Christ saves
sinners. Call his name Jesus, he shall
save his people from their sin. In Luke chapter 8 we have the
story of a wild man. This man who, he was so wild
that he dwelt in this graveyard and he was naked and wild and
they tried to bind him with chains and could not. He just broke
everything and he was a out of control wild man. And the Lord
Jesus Christ went there, verse 27, and there met him out of
the city a certain man which had devils long time, and he
wearing no clothes, neither he bowed in any house, but in the
tombs. And when he saw Jesus, he cried
out and fell down before him with a loud voice, said, What
have I to do with thee, thou son of God, most high? I beseech thee, don't torment
me. He was already tormented. But
the Lord Jesus Christ cast out the demon spirits. He healed
this man, made this wild Gadarene a new creature in Christ Jesus.
Now look down at verse 35 of Luke 8. Then they went out to
see what was done and came to Jesus and found the man, now
this is the man who was uncontrollable, out of control, of whom the devils
were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus. He's no longer
running wild, he's sitting. He's clothed, he's no longer
naked, he's clothed in the righteousness of Christ and he's in his right
mind. A right mind is one who believes
the gospel. And they were afraid. And they
also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed
of the devil was healed. What means? Grace, Christ, grace
alone, mercy alone. You see there's no case too desperate
for the Lord. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that the Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners and Paul, the wild man, Saul of Tarsus, said, I'm
the chief one. Chief one. Here's an encouraging
scripture. Look at Luke chapter 9 verse
11. Luke chapter 9 verse 11. the people when they knew it
they followed him that is followed the Lord Jesus and he received
them and spake unto them of the kingdom of God look at verse
11 and he healed them that had need of healing do you have need
of healing He is the only physician who can take my desperate case. I'm so vile and guilty and wicked
and yet God can take a vile wicked sinner and make him a new creature
in Christ. You see this is the true grace
of God. The Lord heals mercy beggars. I've never read in the Word of
God where the Lord Jesus Christ turned away a mercy beggar. A
mercy beggar. Blind Bartimaeus, God have mercy
upon me, and the Lord healed him. Read on and on and on and
on. Here's the second thing I see. This call of the gospel in the
hands of God is not only a sovereign call, but it's also a personal
call. Notice in Luke 19 again, the
Lord knew who this man was. The Lord, and verse 5, and when
Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him. Now this is not
the first time the Lord Jesus saw Zacchaeus. And I mean by
that the foundation of God stand assure the Lord knoweth them
that are his. The Lord Jesus Christ saw Zacchaeus
way back in that eternal council of grace. Before I formed thee
in the belly, the Lord said about Jeremiah, I knew you and I drew
you and made you to know that I am God. He looked up and saw
him and he said to this man alone he didn't call there may have
been other people up that tree I don't know but the Lord Jesus
Christ had his eye on one man one sinner one sinner that he
elected in that eternal covenant of grace and he saw this man
the Lord knows his sheep by name and he calls him by name Hey,
it's not hey you, Zacchaeus, come down. Make haste and come
down for today I must, this is a must, I must abide at thy house. You see the Lord knows His sheep
by name and calls them out of darkness unto His marvelous light. You remember we read a moment
ago the story of Matthew, the Lord Jesus Christ passed by that
receipt of customs. Matthew was sitting at his tax
collecting table and they were forcing people to come by and
pay their due, whatever they decided was fair. There was no
law on that day, they just collected whatever they wanted. The more
you had, the more they would take, kind of like it is today. But the Lord Jesus Christ passed
by that receipt of custom and he stuck his finger in the nose
of Matthew and said, Matthew, follow me. You remember what
we read? And he left all. He closed his
books up, closed up shop, and immediately he followed the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we know the rest of the story,
don't we? What happened to Matthew? He became an apostle of the Lord
Jesus Christ and a preacher of the gospel. You see, the Lord
knows his sheep by name. Matthew, follow me. I'll give
you another good example of that. When the Lord Jesus Christ went
to this certain city to visit Mary and Martha, whose brother,
Lazarus, had died four days before. You remember? And when the Lord
Jesus Christ went to the grave, he told them to roll away the
stone, and the Lord Jesus Christ stood in front of that corpse,
and he didn't say, hey, everybody in that graveyard, come on out.
They would have, because his call was invincible. He would
have called the whole graveyard out. But you know what he did?
He named one man Lazarus. Come out. He didn't invite Lazarus
to come out. You don't invite dead men. Matter
of fact, the king, who is God, doesn't invite men to do anything.
The king decrees. The king commands. And when the
king walked in front of the tomb of that dead man and said, Lazarus,
come forth, you know what happened? He that was dead came forth. And that's the invincible, irresistible
call of God's grace. You see, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and those that come to me I will
in no wise cast out. Zacchaeus was one of those chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. As it says down
there in verse 19, this day is salvation come to this house
for as much as he also is a special son of Abraham. Now it's true,
he was a Jew, but he was one of those Jews in that eternal
covenant of grace, a spiritual son of Abraham, whose name was
written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of
the world, that must have salvation by the Lord's purpose, by the
Lord's grace. And that's how he saves us, by
his purpose. It wasn't, now think about this.
Was it a mere accident that the Lord Jesus Christ passed through
Jericho and under this one particular tree, under this one particular
branch, to see one particular man? Was that all just Blind
fate? Luck or chance? No, my friend,
it was all decreed, foreordained, before the foundation of the
world. And that is a pattern how God saves every sinner. By His purpose, by His grace. And that purpose and grace is
given us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world.
Now, what's going to happen? There's a command, Zacchaeus,
come down. Zacchaeus said, uh-uh, I don't
want to. You see, the response to the
call of God is when the Lord said, make haste and come down,
verse 6, and he made haste. And he came down and he received
the Lord Jesus Christ with joy. I mean, it wasn't a burden. He
was glad. He knew that his sins were remitted
by the only one who could remit sin, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the call of the gospel
is a humbling call. He made haste and he came down
out of his perch. He came down. When the Lord is
pleased to call us with the gospel, we will be convicted of our sin,
we will own what we are, guilty sinners, and we will bow before
the sovereign throne of God Almighty. And you know what we say? Turn
back one page. There was another publican that
the Lord Jesus Christ said that he was a saved man and you know
what? Look at Luke 18 13. The publican
standing afar off would not lift up so much his eyes unto heaven
but smote upon his breast saying God be merciful to me the sinner. Definite article there. The sinner
Write that down in your Bible. The sinner, I tell you the Lord
said this man went down to his house justified rather than the
other. For everyone that exalted himself
shall be abased and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. He
smote upon his breast and said, God be merciful to me, the sinner. You see the call of God, that
the irresistible call of God is a humbling call, a humbling
call. You remember the conversion story
of Saul of Tarsus, who was later known as the Apostle Paul? He
went about threatening slaughter, calling upon and calling out
all those who called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
put them in prison, tried to stamp out the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, committed them to prison, and when Stephen was
stoned to death for the gospel, Saul of Tarsus held their jacket
and said, Amen to his death. But when he met the Lord Jesus
Christ and he was humbled in the dust before the sovereign
Christ of God, you remember what he said? You read about it in
Acts chapter 9, Lord, Lord, what would you have me to do? You
see, the call of grace is a humbling call. God puts us in the dust
and he makes us to know that he is God and that we're nothing. and that all we deserve is judgment,
not mercy. Before the Lord lifts us up by
His grace, He must bring us down before His throne. Before the
Lord clothes us with His righteousness, He must strip us naked and make
us to know that we're guilty before God. Before the Lord heals
us by His mighty grace, He wounds us and operates on us with the
word of truth. The word that's quick and powerful,
sharper than any two-edged sword. Before the Lord speaks in grace
to our heart, He makes us to know that we deserve nothing
but judgment in His sight. Matter of fact, He makes us to
know, if God sent me to hell right now, that's exactly what
I deserve. The wages of sin is death. The
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Something else I know about this
call. It was an abiding call. He says in verse 5, look what
it says in verse 5, I must abide. at your house. The Lord ever
crosses a sinner's path, He'll never leave him alone. The Lord said, I'll never leave
you, I'll never forsake you. In our salvation, this is a must. Christ must abide within us and
He does. Christ in you is a hope of glory. Christ must do a work of salvation
for us And He has. You remember He said, I must
go to Jerusalem. I must die for the sin of my
people. I must be raised again. These
things are a must. I must ascend to the Father.
The salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ has done a work of grace
for us. He put away our sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. But in our experience of grace
and in the application of grace, there must be a work of grace
done in our heart, convicting us of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. The salvation that we experience
in the application is a heart work. God, who has begun a good
work in you, See, that's where this business of salvation takes
place, in the heart. Salvation is a heart work. Salvation
is of the Lord. And we're kept by His abiding
presence. We're kept by His abiding power.
He must abide with us, and He does. He never will leave us. He'll never forsake us. Here's
the fifth thing. This effectual call It was a command to make haste
and come down. It was a command. Zacchaeus wasn't
invited to come down. It was a command to come down.
Make haste and come down. And exactly as the Lord said
that you must abide, I must abide at your house, the Lord did. The sovereign king doesn't invite
men to do things, he commands them to do things. The effectual
call was a command to make haste and come down. Remember the story
of King David when he came to the throne? in 2 Samuel chapter
9. And when he made good his word
to his friend Jonathan, Jonathan said to David, If I'm killed,
will you promise me you'll take care of my family? And when David
came to the throne, he remembered that covenant of love with Jonathan,
and he showed mercy to Jonathan's son, Jonathan's son Mephibosheth,
who was crippled, lame in both his feet, ruined in the fall.
And when David sat on the throne, He commanded Mephibosheth to
be brought before him. We call that fetching grace.
He didn't invite Mephibosheth to come to King David. He commanded
him to come. Ziba, go down and fetch him.
Bring him. He's mine. Remember what Mephibosheth
said before the throne of David? Who am I? And what is my house
that you have brought me such a dead dog as I am? Mephibosheth
knew he did not deserve mercy. He knew he deserved a sword of
justice, but David showed mercy for Christ's sake, for Jonathan's
sake. He received, it says in our story
here, Zacchaeus received the Lord Jesus Christ joyfully. Joyfully. You see, believing
the gospel is a joy. He received him as Lord and Savior,
and he did so with a willing heart. Thy people shall be willing
in the day of God's power, rejoicing in the Lord. This is the fruit
of the Spirit, rejoicing always in Christ, Christ alone. Here's the sixth thing. This
effectual and invincible call to the gospel was a converting
call. Zacchaeus here, instead of, he
was a changed man. What changed him? What reformed
him? It was the grace of God in his
heart, was it not? Before he was just taking fourfold,
taking, taking, taking. Now it says in verse 8, he said
to the Lord Jesus Christ, if I have to, I'll give half my
goods to the poor. If I've taken anything by false
accusation, I'll restore. This man Went from taking and
taking with greed, now he's generous and giving and loving and wanting
to give. What happened to this man? Grace
and Christ invaded his soul. There's a good article in the
bulletin today, don't read it now, but there's a good article
in the bulletin by John Newton, how the grace of God makes His
people willing in the day of God's power. You see, it was
a converting call. After he met the Lord Jesus Christ,
Zacchaeus was a different man, with a different outlook, with
a different attitude, with a different heart. What happened to him?
He's made a new creature in Christ. Now here's the last thing. The
effectual call was a result of the eternal covenant of grace. Verse 9 and 10. The Lord said,
This day salvation, the Savior has come, who is salvation, come
to your house, forasmuch as he also is the son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to
seek and to save lost folks. Lost folks. You're a son of Abraham. Zacchaeus was more than just
a natural descendant of Abraham. He was a spiritual son, a spiritual
seed, blessed in the Lord Jesus Christ with all spiritual blessings. We read in Galatians chapter
3, they which be of faith The same are the children of Abraham. All of God's elect are made spiritual
sons by the grace of God. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called sons
of God. Now this spiritual biography
that the Lord gives of Zacchaeus It's the same spiritual biography
of every sinner saved and called by the Lord. There is that eternal
electing grace. There is the Lord Jesus Christ
dying in the room in the stead of that sinner. There is the
Lord Jesus Christ crossing that sinner's path with the true grace
of God, with the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there's that irresistible, invincible, effectual call of
God from darkness unto light in Christ Jesus. That's the pattern
of salvation. That's the way God saves sinners.
You see, salvation is of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ He's
still saving sinners, He's still seeking out His lost sheep, and
He will cross their path with the gospel and will call them
out irresistibly to Himself. You reckon that all the Father
had given to Him turned to John chapter 6? You reckon of all
those given to the Lord Jesus Christ in that covenant of grace,
out of every kindred, tribe, nation, tongue under heaven,
you reckon there's any of those sheep that will eternally be
lost? Or will the Lord Jesus Christ
cross her path and call them to Himself? Well, let's see what
he says. In John chapter 6 verse 37, all
that the Father giveth me," there's that eternal covenant of grace,
there's the electing love, electing grace, "...shall come to me,"
there's that invincible call, "...and him that cometh to me,
I will never cast him out. I must abide at thy house. 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 hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me, Oh, I'd lose nothing. Not one sheep of Christ
will be lost, but should raise it up again at the last day.
Why? For he is much as he also is a son of Abraham. And this
is the will of him that sent me. The father sent the son that
everyone would see it, the son, and believeth on him may have
everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the
last day. will not lose one of the elect.