Again to Luke 19. Luke 19. And let's read again
verse 10. It declares here in very plain,
clear language the purpose, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Son of Man, the God-Man, the Mediator, the Lord Jesus
Christ, He is come. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son. made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. The Son of Man
has come to seek and to save His people from their sin. And by nature, we're lost. All
we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to our
own way. And the Lord laid on Him our
iniquity. We were lost. And he was a good
shepherd, the great shepherd that went seeking his sheep. And he's on the trail of his
sheep and he'll run his sheep down and find that lost sheep
and put that lost sheep on his shoulder and carry him home to
glory. Now there are many reasons to
preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, many reasons. But
we can sum them all up, I believe in three, basic reasons why we
preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Three reasons.
First one is this, the glory of God. The glory of God. It
says in 1 Corinthians 10, 31, whatsoever you do in word or
deed, do all to the glory of God. I pray that I can preach
the gospel not to be seen of men, or not to be heard, but
I pray that I can earnestly, sincerely preach the gospel for
the glory of God, for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe
that's the first and foremost reason to preach the gospel.
But secondly, not only to preach the glory and to glorify the
Lord Jesus Christ, but also, secondly, the reason we preach
the gospel is for the salvation of sinners, for the salvation
of sinners. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to call out His people. God has ordained the
means of preaching the gospel, preaching Christ and Him crucified,
to call out His people. So that's why we preach the gospel,
for the glory of God, to the salvation, edification, and the
good of His people. God has ordained us to preach
and teach the gospel. We are pastors, teachers of the
gospel. And thirdly, The reason we preach
the gospel is the fulfillment of the Lord's command. The fulfillment
of the Lord's command and the Lord's commission to his church.
He said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. Preach the gospel. And whosoever
believes that gospel shall be saved. So, why do we preach the
gospel? Well, because of the glory of
God. for the glory of God, for the
salvation of God's people, for their good, and for the fulfillment
and commission, fulfillment of the Lord's command and the commission
that He's given to us to go and preach the gospel to every preacher. Now in doing so, there's three
basic truths that we preach, which essentially is one truth,
it's Christ, but we can say there's three basic truths that we preach,
and there's an old preacher years ago, I've told this before, But
his name was Roland Hill. Roland Hill. Lived back in the 1800s at some
point, the early 1800s I believe. He said this, every sermon we
preach ought to contain the three R's. Every sermon we preach ought
to contain the three R's. Ruin by the fall. Redemption by the blood and regeneration
by the Spirit of God. Every sermon we preach ought
to contain those three things. And I think about every time
we preach the gospel, we usually hit those in some degree more,
some degree less, depending on where we're preaching in the
Word of God. But three basic truths we preach. Ruined by the fall and Adam all
died. It's pretty hard and impossible
to treat the problem If you don't know what the problem is, if
you know what the problem is, you can find a remedy for the
problem. Ruined by default. If you understand the total depravity
and deadness of the sinner, you will have to come to the right
conclusion that salvation is all of grace and grace alone. Grace alone. Ruined by default. Ruined by default. I know this.
If you start out wrong, David, you know this by building, some
of you men who build. If you lay the foundation wrong
and try to build on a foundation that's not square level, you're
going to wind up wrong. By the time you get to the top
floor, you're going to have a mess. Well, it's the same way in theology.
If you start out wrong, you're going to end up wrong. If you
don't understand ruin, you won't understand redemption in Christ
Jesus. See what he's saying? Ruin by
the fall. The second thing is redemption by the blood of Christ.
We need deliverance from our sin, and we know that by the
deeds of the law, none are justified. We know that we can't redeem
ourselves. We know that we can't put away our own sin. Well, how
is sin put away? As my pastor used to say, sin
is difficult to put away. The blood that flowed on Jewish
altars for thousands of years could not atone for one sin. It pictured substitution, satisfaction
in Christ Jesus. It pictured the Lamb of God,
redemption only by the blood of Christ. We are redeemed, not
with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. His blood cleanses us from all
sin. This is what we call redemption
by the blood. by the blood of Christ alone.
Redemption in Christ Jesus and righteousness in Him alone. And
then the third thing is regeneration. Ruin, redemption, and regeneration. Regeneration. You hath He quickened
who were dead in trespasses and in sin. That work of redemption
and justification at the cross is that work of grace done for
us. But there has to be also that experience of grace in the
heart. There must be that regenerating work in us. Our Lord told a Pharisee,
old Nicodemus, except a man is born again, you cannot enter
into the kingdom of God. You cannot see, cannot understand
the kingdom of God, spiritual thing. The natural man does not
receive the things of the Spirit of God. Foolishness to me. The preaching of the cross to
a Unregenerated wise men is foolishness. He thinks he knows everything.
There is that need of regeneration, quickening, calling of God the
Holy Spirit. God who hath begun a good work
in you, He will perform it. He will perfect it. It's God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. That work of grace in you is
necessary, absolutely necessary. In this conversion story in Luke
19, we see this effectual conquering call of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We see this regenerating work of God in calling Zacchaeus from
his deadness and darkness and sin and depravity and making
him a new creature in Christ Jesus. And that's exactly what
happens here. The Lord Jesus Christ came on
a mission of mercy to save His people. He has and He will save
us from all our sin. The Lord on purpose, as it says
there in verse 1, and Jesus entered and passed through Jericho and
on the way out of town He met this man whom He had chosen from
all eternity in that covenant of grace and his name was Zacchaeus. The Lord on purpose passed through
to meet one of His elect and to call him to Himself. And you
know the Lord doesn't change. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. The exact same
way that the Lord called Zacchaeus is the exact same way He calls
us. By His purpose and by His grace. He crossed His path. It
wasn't an accident, was it? It happened on purpose. God's
purpose. Here are several things about
this call of grace. This call of grace. Call of grace. First thing, number one is this. It was a gracious call. It was
a gracious call of a sinner. It was a gracious call and a
sovereign call of a sinner. Zacchaeus was a bad man. It says
there that he was the chief among the publicans. And he was very
rich. Zacchaeus was a bad man. A sinful
man living in a notoriously wicked city, Jericho, and he was in
a bad business. He was an oppressor, a collector
of taxes. And he did it, collected those,
exacted those taxes from his own people for the benefit, not
of his own people, but for the benefit of Rome. Oppressed his
own people. They were despised and hated.
But you know what, my friend? This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation, that the Lord Jesus Christ, He came to
save bad men. He came to save sinners. Zacchaeus surely fit that mold,
didn't he? He was a bad man in a bad business. Yet the Lord sought him out. The Lord sought him out. The
Lord passed by all other good folks, all the other Pharisees
that looked down their nose at old Zacchaeus, that old notorious
publican. He passed by all those good folk
and set his heart and love and affection on one wretched, guilty,
ungodly sinner named Zacchaeus. There are none too sinful None
too base, none too vile. There is no case too desperate
for the Lord, is there? I've never read of one. There's
none too vile, none too wicked. There's none who have sinned
too much. The Lord cannot. Who then can be saved? With man
it's impossible. But with God, in Christ Jesus,
all things are possible, even my salvation. I've never despaired
of anybody's salvation since God saved me. There's no case
too difficult. Are you a sinner? I'd be encouraged. If you're a sinner, the Lord
Jesus Christ died for sinners. He says over here in Matthew
11, turn over here, Matthew chapter 11. Oh, those Pharisees, they
complained. Oh, they complained. They murmured
and complained. This man's gone to be a guest
with a man who's a sinner. What the Lord says here in Matthew
11, 19. Verse 18 says, John came neither
eating nor drinking, and they said, well, he had the devil.
Matthew 11, 19, the son of man came eating and drinking, and
they say, behold, a man gluttonous, a winebibber, a friend of publicans
and sinners. But wisdom is justified over
children. I want you to turn to another
scripture. Turn over here to Luke 15. Luke 15, look what it
says right here. Luke 15, 1, Then drew near unto
him all the publicans and sinners to hear him. And the Pharisees
and scribes, they murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners. This man receiveth sinners. Now you just think about that.
This man receiveth sinners. And he eats with them. He fellowships
with them. That ought to encourage every
one of us. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
the ungodly. It's a gracious call of a sinner. Secondly, it's a personal call.
Look back at the text again. It was a personal call. It was
a personal call. Look at verse 5. When Zacchaeus
sought to see the Lord, and could not because of the crowd, He
couldn't look over the heads of those people. He was a scrawny
little man. He ran before and climbed up
into this sycamore tree to see Him. He knew the Lord was passing
by that way. And when the Lord came to that
very tree, now how did that tree get there? The Lord planted that tree. The
Lord created that tree and put that tree right there and caused
it to grow and caused the limbs to be low to where Zacchaeus
could get to the low limbs and climb up that tree like a little
kid. The Lord put that tree there on purpose to pass by that day. And he predestinated this all
to come to pass. And when Jesus came to the place,
the place, the hour, the time of love, the time of salvation,
he looked up and he saw him, Zacchaeus. He knew all about
Zacchaeus. He knew his past. He knew all
about him. He knew his heart. He knew his
thoughts. He knew all about this man. He
knew him through and through. He knew him better than Zacchaeus
knew himself. But he didn't look away. He looked
to Him. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and he saw Him. He saw Him. Oh, I tell you, what
a look. What a look when the Lord looks
for His people and finds them by His grace. And then He said
to him, Zacchaeus, it was a personal call. How do you know His name? How do you know His name? I mean,
there's all kinds of people in that crowd. And here's this old
guy up a tree, this little old man up a tree. How does he know
his name? The Lord knows his people from
old eternity. Zacchaeus! Zacchaeus, you see,
it was a personal call. It was a gracious call, wasn't
it? He was a sinner. It didn't pass him by, though.
It was a personal call. Zacchaeus! We read in John 10.3,
he called his own sheep by name. And He leads them out. We read
in another scripture, 2 Timothy 2, 19, The Lord knoweth them
that are His. The foundation of God standeth
sure having this seal. The Lord knows them that are
His. He knew Zacchaeus from old eternity
and chose him with everlasting love and He's going to draw him
to Himself. Oh, our Lord said, all that the
Father had given to me, they will come to me, and those that
come to me I will in no wise cast out. Zacchaeus was one of
those elect, one of those covenant children who must be called out
of darkness to Christ, whose name was written in the Lamb's
book of life. And the Lord crossed his path
and called him out. Turn to Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. Remember, he said to those in
Matthew 7, when they bragged about how much they did, those
Pharisees, Lord, we've done this, and Lord, we've done that, and
the Lord said, I never knew you. I never knew you. I never loved
you. I never chose you to part from
me, you that work iniquity. Look at Isaiah 43, 1. But now
thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, And He that formed
thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have
called thee by thy name. You are mine." You are mine. I have bought you. I chose you. I have bought you. I have redeemed
you. I am calling you. You are mine.
You see, we are bought with a price. The Lord knows them that are
His. It is a personal call. Zacchaeus. Thirdly, look at this
here. It was a humbling call. Look
at verse 5. Make haste and come down. Make haste and come down,
thy kids. Come down, for today I must abide
at thy house. It was a humbling call. When
the Lord calls us to Himself, He humbles us before His majesty. He humbles us in the dust before
His throne of grace. You remember just back one chapter,
this publican in this parable, you remember in Luke 18, 13,
the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much his
eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast and sang, saying,
God be merciful to me, the sinner. You see, he strips us. You remember what David said,
Who am I, O Lord, and what is my house that you have brought
up and had favored to us? Who am I? I'm a nobody. You remember
2 Samuel 9, turn over there, when David ascended to the throne and when he called the son of
Jonathan to himself, 2 Samuel 9. You remember the story, 2
Samuel 9, verse 5, Then King David sent and fetched him out
of the house of Macher, the son of Amiel from Lodibar. And when
Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come, unto
David, David the throne, David on the throne, enthroned with
all power and majesty. He fell on his face and did reverence,
and David said, Behold, I am your servant. And he answered
and said, Behold, I am your servant. And David said to him, Fear not,
for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake,
for the covenant's sake. I will restore all the land of
Saul thy father, And thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.'
And he bowed himself and said, What is thy servant, that you
should look upon me such a dead dog as I am?" It's a humbling
call. Come down, Zacchaeus. Come down,
down in the dust. He's nigh them of a broken heart.
He saved us such as be of a contrite spirit. Isn't this the same exact
thing that happened to old Saul of Tarsus? When he went on his
way to Damascus, breathing out threatening and slaughter against
the Lord's people, and the Lord crossed his path and unhorsed
him and put him in the dust and made him to cry out, Lord, what
will you have me to do? You see, it's a humbling call.
It's a stripping call. It's a breaking call. He denied
them of a broken heart. You see, before He heals us,
you know what He does? He wounds us. He takes the knife
of the Word and operates on our heart. Before He clothes us in
His righteousness, He strips us and makes us naked before
His holy throne and we cry out before Him, guilty, guilty. Like those men that came before
the king, they're recorded in Scripture with a noose around
their neck. Pleading for mercy, but they
said we're guilty. If you hang us, that's exactly
what we deserve. Remember what David prayed in
Psalm 51? If you condemn me, you're just. I'm getting just
exactly what I deserve. Before he speaks in grace, he
speaks in judgment. Guilty before God. You see, it's
a humbling call. Zacchaeus, make haste and come
down, down, down, down before thy throne and acknowledge that
thou art God and beside thee there is no other God. This is
what he does for us and what he does in us. He strips us of
all our previous false hopes. And He gives us a good hope through
grace in Christ Jesus. Something else about this call
in verse 6 in our text. It's an effectual call. It's
an effectual call, isn't it? What's Zacchaeus going to do? The Lord didn't stand below that
tree and say, Zacchaeus, I invite you to come down. Zacchaeus,
if you will, you can come down. No, it was a command of the king,
Zacchaeus, make haste and come down. Well, what's Zacchaeus
going to do? Look what it said, and he made
haste. And he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. It's an effectual call. It's
an effectual call. Zacchaeus wasn't invited to come
down, nor did the Lord stand and beg him to respond and come
down. You see, the gospel is not a The gospel is not an invitation.
The gospel is a command. Our Lord said, Come! He was commanded
to come. Blessed is that man whom God
has chosen and the man whom He causes to approach unto Him. Our Lord said, No man can come
to Me except the Father which sent Me. Draw him. The call of
the gospel, my friend, is a powerful, effectual call that does have
an immediate effect upon us. Immediate effect. You see, when
God calls, He's more than just a mighty orator beseeching man. He's a mighty operator. He's
the King of the universe who calls in quickening, convincing
power. And when He calls, the dead answer. Yes, Lord. What will you have
me to do? It's an effectual call. And I
mean by effectual, it gets the job done. That's what effectual
means. It gets the job done. He made
haste and he came down and he received him joyfully. Joyfully. Joyfully. Joyfully. The crowd, verse 7, they saw
it and they murmured that he was gone to be a guest with a
man that's a sinner. There's a bunch in that crowd
that murmured against the Lord, but old Zacchaeus, he's rejoicing
in his heart. Salvation has come to my house.
He received Him. Notice that. He received Him
joyfully. Salvation is in a person. The
Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to turn to Romans
chapter 1. You see the Gospel. of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In Romans 1, he said, I'm not
ashamed. Verse 16, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew and also to the Gentile. Therein, in that gospel, is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. And that causes us
to receive the Lord Jesus Christ joyfully. Turn to Romans 5 now. Romans 5, 1. Therefore being
justified by faith, therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also
we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and
rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We rejoice in hope of
the glory of God. Now right there in Romans 5,
look at 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
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.
Now watch this. And not only so, but we also
joy in God. through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom we have now received atonement, reconciliation, one
with God in Christ Jesus. Find Philippians chapter 3. He
received Him joyfully, joyfully. He made Him willing in the day
of His power. And we receive the Lord Jesus
Christ when He does that work of grace in our heart. It's not
a burden to believe Him. It's not a burden to receive
Him. We receive Him joyfully, willingly. He makes us willing. Look what he says, and we do
it joyfully. Philippians 3, look at verse 3. For we are the true
Israel, which worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ
Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Thernova Philippians
chapter 4, verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. We have so much to be thankful
for. and to rejoice in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now look back at the text again.
Luke 19. He received him joyfully. All these Pharisees, they murmured,
they complained, but Zacchaeus wanted no part of that complaining.
He went down to his house justified, rejoicing in salvation in Christ
Jesus. Sixthly, here's the sixth thing
about this. The call of Zacchaeus, the call
of grace. It's a converting call, a converting
call. Look at verse 8. It's a converting
call. Zacchaeus stood and said unto
the Lord. God had done that work of grace
in his heart. Zacchaeus stood and said unto
the Lord. He confessed his lordship. Christ was his Savior. Behold,
Lord, to half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I've taken
anything from any man by false accusation, I'm going to restore
that fourfold. He was a changed man. He was
a converted man. It's a converting call. God brought
a miracle and a mighty change in this man without the threat
of law. He didn't say, Zacchaeus, if
you don't do this, I'm going to whip you. No. He made him
a new creature in Christ Jesus without the threat of law. without
the promise of reward, but with a motive of love and grace and
gratitude in his heart. When God gave him a new heart,
he had a new attitude. This old, old man that was a
covetous, greedy man, he became a gracious giver. I'm going to
restore fourfold. Fourfold. You see, those who
have been forgiven much, they love much. They give much. The
old hard-hearted, covetous tax collector became a willing, committed
servant of the Lord. The covetous man became a generous
giver and lover of the Lord Jesus Christ. In that other story about
that young rich ruler who came to the Lord and the Lord confronted
him with this problem, you go sell what you have. He went away sad and grieved
because he was trusting his riches, couldn't let go. But old Zacchaeus
said, I'm going to let it all go. I'm going to take up my cross
and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what he does in grace.
He gives us new ambitions, new desires. He changes our want
to. He changes our affection. He
causes us to set our affection on things above, not on the things
of this earth. Lastly, it was a covenant call. Verse 9 and 10. It was a covenant
call. A covenant call. And Jesus said
it to him this day. Today is a day of salvation.
This day is salvation. This day's salvation has come
to your house. Come to your soul. For as much
as you're also, you're a son just like Abraham. You're a son
of Abraham. Our Lord plainly declares that
salvation, which is of the Lord and in Him, is come unto Zacchaeus
because of that covenant of grace. He's a son of God just like Abraham. God chose Abraham and called
him to Himself. Covenant of grace. All because
of grace. Turn to Hebrews 13. The Lord
Jesus Christ is that sacrifice of that covenant. You're a son
just like Abraham. Special son. Chosen of God. loved
of God, because of that covenant of grace made with the Lord Jesus
Christ, of which He is the sacrifice, Hebrews 13, 20, now the God of
peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that
great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will.
working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through
Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. You see,
he's a sacrifice of that covenant. Turn back to Hebrews 7.22. He's
a surety of that covenant. Hebrews 7.22, by so much was
Jesus made a surety of a better covenant. And they truly were
many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason
of death. But this man, Because he continueth
ever, he hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able
to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them." You see, he's the
sacrifice of the covenant, the surety of the covenant, and he
is the mediator of the covenant. Right there in Hebrews chapter
8, look at verse 6. One God, one mediator between
God and men, that's the God-man, the Lord Jesus. Hebrews 8, 6,
"...but now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by
how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant established
upon better promises." He is our mediator. He is our advocate,
whoever lives to intercede for us. You see, all of God's elect
are spiritual sons of God. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God. Now I want you to turn to Galatians
chapter 3. There were a bunch of natural
sons of Abraham standing around Zacchaeus that day. All those
Jews were natural sons of Abraham, but there were just a few that
were spiritual sons like Abraham. Look at what it says over here
in Galatians 3. Covenant children, covenant people. Galatians 3. Verse 6, Even as
Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness,
know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are the
children of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before
the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In he, saying, in thee, in Christ
shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith
blessed with faithful Abraham in the same chapter Galatians
3 look verse 26 for you are all children of God by faith in Christ
for as many of you have been baptized into Christ put under
his rule put under his dominion have put on Christ there is neither
Jew nor Greek neither bond nor free male nor female you're all
one in Christ and if you be Christ see verse 29 Then are you Abraham's
seed and heirs according to the promise. Oh, Zacchaeus was one
of those covenant sons given to Christ in that covenant of
which David said, King David on his deathbed said, God had
made with me a covenant, everlasting covenant ordered in all things
and is sure this is all my hope and all my desire and all my
salvation before God. My friend, this is my spiritual
biography. Now, I believe this is the spiritual
biography of every believer. You remember that songwriter
John Newton? You remember the song that we often sing? He wrote many songs, but the
most one, the song that he's most famous for is, Amazing Grace,
How Sweet the Sound That Saved a Wretch Like Me. Well, it's
said of John Newton on his dying deathbed, in his dying words,
I'm a great sinner and nothing at all, but the Lord Jesus Christ
is a great Savior and that's my hope. That's my biography. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Where sin abounded, grace, grace,
grace does much more, does much more abound. Well, that's a good
conversion story, isn't it? There's many of them. I like
reading those conversion stories. throughout the Word of God. And
that's one of my favorites. And I pray the Lord will bless
that.