Well, we are next Sunday jumping into the Christmas story of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and really encourage you to think about who this week you can invite out to that.
A lot of times people will come to a Christmas service and this is a great opportunity for you to invite them that they might hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This morning I want to jump into a story that is actually found in the Gospel of Luke and it's not found in Matthew's Gospel. So to the shock and awe of everybody here for perhaps the first time in three years we're not going to the Gospel of Matthew, we're going to Luke this morning. So if you have your Bibles, if you would turn with me to Luke chapter number 19. And the reason we're looking at this story is it is a story that's unique to the Gospel of Luke and it happens immediately after what we preached on last Sunday about the two blind men who Jesus gave sight to on the road outside of Jericho. And so Jesus now is coming to the city of Jericho and he meets a little short rich man named Zacchaeus.
And this is such a wonderful story because it really reflects on the reason why Jesus came into the world, to seek and to save the lost. And so Luke 19, if you would look and follow along with me in verse number 1, the Bible says, 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. And 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 up into a sycamore tree to see him for he was to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste or he hurried up and came down and received him joyfully. When they saw it, they all murmured saying that he was going to be a guest with a man that is a sinner.
And 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. And verse 9, And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation, come to this house for as much as he also is a son of Abraham. And then if you would read verse number 10 with me, For the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. And Father, we are so thankful that you have. We were lost and undone.
We were drifting far away and with no hope of our own to remedy our lost condition. You sent your son to be the savior of the world. And today we are here by your grace. And I pray, Father, that our hearts would be riveted with the joy of salvation, that we would long for others to know you, the Good Shepherd.
And I pray that you would save anyone today that doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. And God's people said, Man, you may be seated this morning. Well, if you grew up in Sunday school, you probably know a little song that goes along the lines of Zacchaeus was a little man and a wee little man was he, right? He climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord.
He wanted to. Okay, I'm not going to sing it, but I'll say it. And but that little song, that little tune is what this story was.
It came from this. And what we see today is a very familiar incident, but it has some very profound truths. I knew the story of Zacchaeus growing up, but I did not really know the story like I have come to know it. I knew the song, but I didn't understand who Zacchaeus was.
I didn't know that Zacchaeus was very likely the most hated man in his town and why he was so hated. What it meant for Jesus to even associate with a guy like Zacchaeus, to talk with him, let alone to go to his house. The significance of the timing of this event, where Jesus was in the life of his ministry, the setting in this divine appointment is really profound.
And today we want to look at that. And the setting begins in verse one. It says, And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Jesus had been in the public ministry now for about three years, and his short 33 year life is now coming to an end. He's really at the last few days of his, not only public ministry, but of his life.
His first miracle was done at the wedding of Cana, turning water into wine. His last miracle was done, we saw last Sunday, when he healed two blind men outside of Jericho. And this season of his life, he is heading to Jerusalem.
Jericho's about 15 miles from Bird's Flight to Jerusalem, but it's about 20 miles through the winding roads to get there. And the Bible tells us why he's going up to Jerusalem in Luke 18 verse 31. He told them, took him to 12 aside and said to them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. Now, when he says that, you need to understand if you're not familiar with Psalms 22, Isaiah 53, some of those passages, they detail the crucifixion, the suffering that Jesus Christ would go through 700 years before Jesus was even born. In fact, Psalms 22 details the crucifixion that they would pierce his hand in his feet, and that these things would happen, not even one of his bones would be broken and all that came to pass. And that was written 300 years before crucifixion was even invented by the Persians. And so just a very incredible thing, it says that he'll be delivered unto Gentiles, they'll mock him, spitefully entreat him, spit on him and scourge him, put him to death, the third day he will rise again. Again, this corresponds with what we've read in previous weeks in Matthew 20 verse 18 and 19. I just want you to consider how incredible that Jesus knew these details. It's one thing to suffer when you don't know what's coming.
It's another thing to know the exact details for all your life. He knew that rejection awaited him at Jerusalem. He knew that betrayal awaited him. All the disciples would flee from him. They would abandon him. He knew a denial awaited him there with Peter leading the way.
He knew that false accusations awaited him, the mocking, the verbal assaults. And then he knew the great suffering that awaited him there, but not just the physical suffering of the cross, but also taking the sin of the world, drinking the bitter cup. And why would Jesus subject himself to that?
Why would he put himself and literally journey to a place where everything was going to be against him? In John 14 31, he gives us these words the day before he dies. He said, but that the world may know that I love the father. And as the father has given me commandment, even so I do. And then he arose from the upper room, went through the streets of Jerusalem down the Kidron Valley crossed over into the garden.
And that was the last night that he would live. Not only was it for love of the father that he would do this that the world would know he loved the father but also out of love for us. Revelation one five in that great apocalyptic book, john opens it up in verse five and says and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Think about john 1513. Jesus said greater love has no man than this that a man would lay down his life for his friends. First john 316 john writes here by perceive we the love of God. And what that is saying is, this is how we know what love is, because he laid down his life for us. The love that the Savior had for us is just incredible. And listen, I don't know where you are today in your life.
I don't know what challenges what difficulties you're facing. But I just want you to know there is a God in heaven that loved you enough to send his own son and Jesus would be obedient to that reality and die on a cross you might be saved. The one who created you loves you. And also no matter what trials you and I have gone through Jesus Christ has faced worse than what we've gone through. And he did it so that the Bible says in First Peter 318, he suffered for us to just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. He came to save us from our sins. That's why his name was called Yeshua.
It just means salvation. Now man was hopeless in his sin. And the picture of Luke 19 is really the picture of a shepherd looking for a lost sheep. Luke 15 is the familiar story not only of the prodigal son, but also of the prodigal sheep. And in Luke 15, you notice in verse one, it says, then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
That's a fascinating statement because publicans were very despised, sinful people would not typically come around those who were defined as sinful in that culture around the religious leaders, but they were gathering around Jesus because he made himself available to them, first of all, and he brought truth to them. And then it says in Luke 15 to in the Pharisees and scribes murmured saying this man receives sinners and eats with them. And then he spoke that parable that's so familiar to us that a man if he has one sheep who goes astray would leave the 99 and go after that one sheep that was lost. And what you find in Luke 19 is that exact story for chat five chapters or four chapters earlier now coming to fruition once again as he goes to Jericho because he must go to the house of this lost sheep of his.
Now friend, you need to realize that God loves you today. And that he is a seeking Savior. He is one who has come to seek and to save the lost. And so Jesus is headed to the cross. He said it to Jerusalem. His journey takes him through Jericho. Jericho was a it was a place where Herod Antipas had built a winter palace. It was a beautiful place I've been there. It's to the north of the Dead Sea. And it's it was known as the Eden of Palestine in the day, very fragrant area, very beautiful, many beautiful flowers.
The very name itself means fragrance. But by this time, Jesus was well known. His three year public ministry had caused massive crowds to begin to gather around him. By the way, about a couple miles up the road in Bethany, he had healed a raised back to life Lazarus about a week prior to this. And so that miracle had just happened. Now he healed two blind people. And just by a matter of note, nobody in the Bible Old or New Testament ever healed blind people except Jesus.
That was a messianic miracle that he would do. It was it was it was not simply the physical miracle that was being perpetuated. It was the idea that the blind eyes need to see. And that's why Jesus said, I've come to the world that the blind would see in the seeing would be made blind, that you can have physical vision and be blind spiritually. And I can tell you this better to be blind physically than to be blind spiritually. Better to have no eyes and to have spiritual eyes. And these blind men could see who Jesus was better than those who had eyes because faith is the substance and the evidence of things not seen. You believe not because you see you can see because you believe it opens the eyes of our inner man. And Jesus is doing these miracles very intentionally. And after healing blind people, he now opens the eyes of a spiritually blind person Zacchaeus.
And again, this is an indictment upon the people of that day. Now, as I said before, as he's heading up to Jerusalem, it's during the season of Yom Kippur, this is this is the Passover Feast. If you remember back in the days of Exodus, when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, before they left that tenth plague, he said, put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost and lintel, which obviously formed the shape of a cross. And when the death angel or judgment of God came to your house, he would pass over you because he saw the blood had been applied. Is that a picture in the New Testament, right?
When Jesus Christ blood has been applied to your life, God's judgment passes over you. And so this Passover is when all the Jews would go up to Jerusalem, they would worship at this week long feast. And so the entourage around him would have been massive. They're estimating, theologians have estimated there could have been as many as 200,000 people coming along with Jesus into Jerusalem.
This is a forceful group that's coming there in presence, in number, it's a large magnitude. But before he goes to Jerusalem, the Lamb of God who would become the Lamb of God for the sins of the world, he has a divine appointment with a man named Zacchaeus and Jesus never misses his appointments. And so we see the searching center starting off here in verse number two, it says in verse two, after we see the setting of verse one that there was a man named Zacchaeus, behold, his name was Zacchaeus, which Zacchaeus is a, it's a, he was a Jewish man. It's actually Zacchaeus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Zechai, it's the same name and it's used in Ezra 2, Nehemiah 714, but that Old Testament Zechai is translated in the Greek as Zacchaeus. And it's interesting because the Jews, and you know this, but they would name their children based upon what they wanted their child to become. So they would give them a name that signifies something that they would pray that God would allow to come to pass in their life. So like Moses's name was Deliverer, meant to be drawn out and that's what God used him as, Jesus naming salvation, savior. But do you know what the name Zacchaeus means? It means the righteous one.
It means pure and innocent. And so his parents obviously had high hopes for this man to be a good man. And his occupation, verse two says, he was the chief among the publicans.
Let me talk about this for just a moment. Now Rome was the dominant power at the world at this time. They had defeated the Greeks, though they defeated the Greeks, they say the Greeks defeated Rome culturally because the pollution of the Greek culture just destroyed the Roman culture, so pagan and sinful.
But they were the dominant power and Israel at this time was underneath Roman rule and they had been so for some 60 years. One of the ways they oppressed those under their rule was to tax people. There were two types of taxes that they would apply to people. Kind of like our taxes today, they would have what was known as a toll tax or income tax that we would be familiar with.
And then they had a ground tax or a property or land tax. Herod Antipas was the Jewish king at this time and Rome had set him up over Judea and he was not a Jew, he was an Idumean, which an Idumean was a descendant of Esau or the Edomites, that's what an Idumean was. And he was a very corrupt man and he would gather the taxes from the Jews and then send them to Rome. Now what Herod would do would he would hire people that would gather taxes from the people and he would sell these tax franchises to the highest bidder. And so the people who purchased these tax franchises were known as publicans.
The Jews were seeking to be liberated from Rome so for you to be a Jew tax collector for the Romans meant that you were selling your nation out for money. You were basically a traitor to your people. And so you were the most despised people in town.
That's why when you read through the New Testament and talk about publicans and sinners, they always identified them together because they just despised them. They were at the bottom of the totem pole in their culture. They were corrupt because Rome said you have to pay a certain amount of taxes but whatever tax you could gather above that, you could keep it. So this was a recipe for Larson, for extortion, and everybody knew that that's what they did. If you could not pay your taxes, they would lend you money for up to 50% interest. And it was just a terrible system.
And the way they would pull this off was they would hire thugs who would basically enforce you to pay up or be in trouble with those guys. So they were rejected by the culture. Nobody liked them.
Nobody had any relationships with them. The only people publicans hung out with were other publicans, prostitutes, and people that were in very sinful situations. That's why all through the New Testament they were always classified with harlots, prostitutes, sinners, gentiles, and publicans.
They just lumped them together. You were not even allowed to really talk to them in their culture because if you did, they believed in the Jewish culture that if you talked to them, they would pollute you just by even conversing with them. They were seen as such untrustworthy people, they would not allow a publican to give a testimony inside of a court hearing because they said they're always liars. And they were also rejected from religious life. They could not come to the Jewish synagogue. So when Jesus preached in synagogue, publicans, the only way they could hear them was outside, but that's why Jesus would go preach on hillsides and different places and he made himself accessible to them. They were absolutely despised by the people. And Jericho was a very prime place to collect taxes.
And at the head of this lucrative operation, the chief tax collector, the great mochas, which was what they would call him, was this little man named Zacchaeus. Now this is the sixth time in Luke publicans are spoken of. And what is incredible, it's so fascinating, Jesus never speaks down about publicans, about being too unworthy to be forgiven.
They're the worst guys in the culture, the most looked down, they would not even let them go to, if you would, the Jewish church, the synagogue. They rejected them from religious life and Jesus is making himself accessible to them and even going to them. Also in Luke, every time a publican is talked about, they're seen in a positive light. They're always seen as a person that becomes humble, a seeker of the true God. They're seen repenting and getting baptized. Back in Luke 3, verse 12 and 729, when Jesus was at Capernaum, he calls a publican to follow him, a man named Levi. He goes up to Levi, this tax collector, and he says, follow me, and the guy leaves his tax desk.
What's so fascinating about Levi, he had another name in the New Testament and his other name was Matthew, and God used a saved publican who got saved out of his system to write the first gospel in our Bible. You're not shocked by that because we're all a bunch of Gentiles, but I can tell you, if you were Jews in first century Palestine, you would have just went ah. It's shocking. It's offensive. It's frustrating. The only way I could probably liken it in our culture a little bit is if you're a diehard republican who despises a democrat, or a democrat that's diehard who despises a republican, and then God saves who you see as being somebody that's just terrible in their beliefs, and then they write the first gospel.
Right? No way God could use that guy. That's what's going on. It's somebody that's at the lowest of the ring. In Luke 15, that's why it says in 15, verse 1 and 2, then drew near to him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And people murmured at this.
It bothers them. Luke 18, remember when Jesus talked about the man who trusted in himself, the Pharisee, he goes up and he says, God, thank you that I'm not like other men. I give and I do all these wonderful things. And then it says, and then there was a publican who stood afar off and he beat upon his chest saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Incredible grace. So this is who this guy is. His status was he was rich. Now he had become a social outcast, but he became rich in doing so. His house and his goods became his God.
He lived in luxury as his Jewish brethren were struggling under Roman oppression. He was the outcast. He wanted money more than friends and popularity, but he got it. He achieved what he set out to do. He was rich.
He's probably the richest man outside of the King Herod in that area. He didn't live up to his name, righteous, pure and innocent, but he did live up to his passion to get money. But something happens that's interesting in verse number three. The Bible tells us in verse number three that he begins to search for Jesus. And whether curiosity or true desires, that Chias was desiring to see the Son of God. Now you just need to know this tax collectors did not typically put themselves out in the public.
It was too much like chastening, too many too many oppositions. And so for him to go public about anything was not always a safe and comfortable thing to do, but verse three tells us he sought to see Jesus and who he was. And then verse three tells us there was a problem in his search.
He was vertically challenged. He comes out to see Jesus and the short guy, and I can tell you nobody's going to be like, hey Zacchaeus, would you like to come through here? I'll give you my spot, my good seat.
No, no, no. They're all coming along and he's down little guy and everybody's higher than him. And so, but he knows the path of Jericho, so he runs ahead and he finds a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted.
You guys know the story. And so verse four, he ran before and climbed up in a sycamore tree to see him for he was to pass that way. Now, sycamore trees that were reading about here are not like the American or even English sycamore trees that we know of.
This was a member of the fig species in the mulberry line of trees. It would have a little fruit like a fig tree would. It had a very short trunk, making it easy to climb.
Its branches would span anywhere from 20 to 30 feet out vertical. So it was a very good tree for him to perch himself up in. And I would ask the question, what is this guy searching for? I mean, what does he not have that he would find that he would need to search after Jesus to get? Was it that his money provided the outward man the luxuries he wanted, but it left his inward man still wanting more? Was it that sin pleased his flesh but left his soul empty? What is it that money made him rich but his soul poor? If money satisfied his desires, why the search?
What more do you need if you've already got it? I'll never forget years ago when there was a 60-minute interview done with Tom Brady, a quarterback that I've never been a fan of because our team never could beat him. If you're a Tom Brady fan, I don't need a text today. I don't need a comment after service. I don't need you to use his name again.
I'm just giving you this example. But it was a very telling example because as a quarterback, he should be one of the most respected athletes in the history of football, even if you don't like him. He's a former quarterback for New England Patriots.
He was incredibly successful. He retired in 2022 after seven Super Bowl wins, numerous passing records. But he was interviewed when he was 30 years old. And when they were interviewing him, the starry-eyed interviewers asked Brady, they said, all before the age of 30, you've won three Super Bowl rings, two Super Bowl MVP trophies. You're named to the Pro Bowl several times. You date supermodels. You have contracts for millions of dollars today.
He's worth over 300 million. Interestingly, this young superstar who seemed to have absolutely everything shocked the interviewer with this response. Tom Brady said, why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me?
I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, hey, man, that is what it is. I reached my goal, my dream, my life. I think, man, it's got to be more than this. I mean, this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be.
I love playing football and I love being a quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there is a lot of parts about me I'm trying to find and the interview was really taken back by that because he's talking like you've reached the pinnacle and he's like, I reached it and this is it. I mean, what happens when you get to the top and you're like, I've been deceived.
This is fool's gold. I thought it's not satisfied, but it doesn't. The interviewer said, what's the answer? And Brady said, I wish I knew.
I wish I knew. What a tragedy, isn't it? What a tragedy. You know, Rockefeller said I have made millions and millions, but they have brought me no happiness. Henry Ford said I was happier when doing a mechanic's job. You ever read the book of Ecclesiastes? Isn't it refreshing? Ecclesiastes 5.10 says, he who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver nor he who loves abundance with increase. This is vanity. And where has satisfaction found?
Where do you get it? Think about Psalm 107.9, for he satisfies the longing soul and he fills the hungry soul with goodness. Augustine, that great African Christian leader from the fifth century knew this struggle well. Prior to his salvation, he had got caught up in that Greek culture. He lived pursuing central pleasure and knowledge.
Yet Augustine was empty and he was longing for more. Later, having found true fulfillment in Christ, he expressed it in this prayer. He said, Lord, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.
That's it, isn't it? I think about Psalm 16 11. In thy presence is fullness of joy. And at your right hand, God, are pleasures for evermore. Wouldn't the Creator know what satisfies the creation most? Do you know that God doesn't give us a Bible and call us to do things because he's like, let me see how miserable I can make them? If hedonism was the answer, Hollywood wins.
And they've won. But when you look at Hollywood, it's like, I don't want a marriage like theirs. I don't want a family like that. I don't want a lifestyle like that. I don't want that. That's a wreck.
That's a train wreck. And it's heartbreaking because they've been deceived. You know, C. S. Lewis said it this way. It would seem that our Lord finds our desire not too strong, but it's too weak. We are like half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us like ignorant children who want to go on making mud pies in a slum because we can't imagine what is meant by an offer of a holiday at the sea.
We are far too easily pleased. This is it. I'll never forget my brother-in-law. He became a sports trainer and he said, I always wanted to be a sports train for professional team by his like sophomore, junior year in college. He was already working with the bingles and on the sidelines, wrapping ankles, doing some of those things. And just God was opening up big doors for him to move ahead. And I'll never forget after he hit the pinnacle of what he wanted, he told me, he said, this is all there is. He said, I thought it would be so much more.
And it's just not fulfilling. And God called him to the ministry and he went on to be a pastor. I don't know where you're at today, but I can tell you this, your search in this world will be empty if it's not a search for Christ. He is your ultimate satisfaction.
And if you don't know that, your eyes are like the blind men that cannot see. Because one day when we stand in his presence, we're going to say it was worth it all to see Christ, to know him, to be... Why do you think Jesus died at 33 and didn't complain about it? Why do you think John the Baptist died around 32 years old and wasn't upset? These men died at very young ages.
Why? Because our inheritance is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Literally, Philippians 3.20, our citizenship is in heaven. Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you. Remember the rich man or the beggar?
Not a rich man or a beggar. He was a thief who died next to Jesus. And Jesus said, today you're going to be with me where? How good do you think paradise must be if the God of creation calls it paradise?
How good must it be? Are you going to be there? So we see the sinner who is seeking, and then we see the seeking Savior in verse 5. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, but Zacchaeus didn't know that Jesus wanted to see him. And Zacchaeus thought he needed to climb up in a tree for the chance to see the Lord, but Jesus was in a direct V line to little Zacchaeus. In verse 5, and he said unto Zacchaeus, make haste or hurry and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. Not only does he talk to the guy, which was like off limits in that culture, you just need to know that. It was offensive to talk to them. He talks to the guy, and then he says, I'm going to come to your house. Everybody would have been like, what? That's why the Bible goes on to say they all began to murmur in verse 7 that he has gone, and the word murmur there is an onomatopoeic word, it's that they were grumbling, he's gone to be a guest with a man that's a sinner.
Like this is, how is he doing that? Let me say this, Jesus never goes into an environment and it pollutes him, wherever he goes, he purifies. This was called a divine appointment, he said I must abide at your house today. Jesus said I must. Jesus did not say, do you mind if I come over?
Do you care if I spend the day with you? Zacchaeus, will you invite me over? He wasn't knocking at the door, he wasn't asking for an invitation, he said I must abide at your house. Jesus is a must God. To not have him in is to reject his must request. It's not even a request. Jesus doesn't invite anyone to be saved.
Do you know that? Jesus doesn't invite anyone to be saved, he commands everyone to be saved. Be saved!
He's not like hey you should consider this, you should think about whether you should be saved. No, he's be born again. God is a must God, Christ is a must.
And what's interesting, this impersonal verb translated must, Dei in the Greek, was often used by Jesus in all the many different circumstances throughout the New Testament of things that were divinely appointed that would come to pass. Nothing will stop it. Nothing could deter it. Matthew 16, 21, from that time forth Jesus began to show unto his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things.
Nothing would stop that. It's Matthew 7, 10, and his disciples said unto him, why then do the scribes say Elijah must come first? Matthew 24, 6, and ye shall hear of rumors and wars and rumors of wars. We'll get to Matthew 24 in like three years. See then that ye be not troubled.
I really want to get there, I can't wait. But he says for all these things must come to pass. It's the same Dei, this word that's telling you that this is happening.
This is going to come to pass. Listen, God is the seeker. One thing you know is lost sheep don't go looking for the shepherd.
They don't even know how to. Sheep are like the dumbest animals ever. You know you could drop, I wouldn't do this, but say you dropped a cat like 15 miles away off somewhere, a cat can find its way back home. I've not done that since I was very young. I was a young kid and my parents, we dropped it off at my uncle's house, you know, that he'll like it, you know, we snuck it over to my uncle's house. He likes animals. That cat went 15 miles from Blanchester to Martinsville, came back to our house. We said we can't get rid of it again. You drop a sheep a quarter mile off down the road, it's gone. That sheep's like, I don't know where I'm at, Fred. Fred's gone.
He's talking to Fred to himself, right? Sheep don't see well. They don't have any homey instincts. They don't have a defensive mechanism, helpless creatures.
Many things could be said about them. Christ is the shepherd who comes looking for the sheep. And what's amazing is Zacchaeus is one of his lost sheep. And so he comes and says, I must, I must. I want you to understand today, God has come to each of our lives and he says, I must save you. You must be saved. And if you reject that, you're rejecting eternal life. Acts 4, 12, neither is there salvation in any other.
There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. I've witnessed to people before, this is shocking. I've shared Christ with people before and they say, oh, you guys over there believe in that saved stuff, don't you? I was so taken back by that, I thought, I didn't even know how to answer for a minute.
I'm not speechless very often. And I thought, saved stuff? I said, do you not believe in that? Well, we don't believe in that saved stuff. You ever read these Bible verses? Jesus came to seek into, his name shall be called Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin. I mean, you must be saved. If you go to a church that doesn't talk about saved stuff, you need to go to a different.
Anyway, if somebody ever says that, just open your Bible and say, could you read that and tell me what that means then? Now, Jesus demonstrates here his great desire to save lost souls, no matter how sinful they are. You know what's interesting is Jericho had a high population of priests, yet Jesus doesn't go to the house of a priest, but he does go to the house of Zacchaeus. Another fascinating thing is this, in the Bible, Pharisees invited Jesus over, disciples invited Jesus over, Mary and Martha, they invited Jesus over. There's only one time Jesus invites himself to somebody's house. And it's to the worst man in town's house. What a savior, what a symbol of grace, what a statement. You're about a week away from the cross and you're going to spend the day with the worst man in town. That's who your Jesus is. That's who he is.
I know we catalog things in our minds with people in our life. I can tell you this, Jesus is a savior. And there are people in life that you may think, oh, God would never save that person, that would be the last person. He may save them, and that's the kind of person that he used to write the first gospel. Now, how does Zacchaeus respond to this? Zacchaeus could have said, I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment, Jesus. I mean, that's just a little too much.
My friends would really not understand me having you over at our house. There are some things we're going to need to clean up before Jesus comes over, right? You imagine Jesus coming over? But instead, what does he do? Verse 6, he made haste, the little guy got quick. He hurries, he comes down, that'd be kind of an interesting thing. You know, everybody's watching, climbing is not a very elegant thing for an adult to do. He's climbing down and it says, and he receives him joyfully.
I love that. Zacchaeus was given the greatest opportunity of his life and he took full advantage. He says, I will, I will very quickly bring you to my home.
This is the greatest opportunity he's ever had in his life. The Son of God coming to your home. Could you imagine? Could you imagine Jesus coming to you and say, I'm going to come to your house today and I will come, I must come.
Wow. Imagine your child has a brain tumor. That would kill him if it was not removed and there is a master surgeon who was the best and only capable doctor that could perform such a unique surgery. But you thought, I'll never be able to get to him in time. I don't have the resources, I don't have the availability, I don't even know how to get to this person, but you do everything you can to find that doctor that you've heard about that can do this miracle surgery. But while you're pursuing him, you find out he's pursuing you and he's come to you. And before you can say anything upon meeting him, he says, I must come to your place. I will bring your child to the hospital and we will perform the surgery.
Your child will be okay. You see, Jesus is the only savior. There's no one else. We all have sinned and we can't remedy ourselves.
If we could, there's no need for the cross. It was so encouraging. A couple of weeks ago, I went and talked to a precious lady who was really at the end of life, was going through the gospel with her and she said, you know, I feel like I said, if you stood before God and he said, why should I let you into heaven, what would you say? She said, because I'm a good person. I feel like I'm good enough.
I feel like I'm good. So I began to try to explain the gospel go through and she said, I don't need to hear that. I don't believe the same ways you do. And so I graciously tried to encourage her with some things and she was kind enough to listen and I said, if you were wrong, would you want to know?
And she said, yeah. I said, well, why don't you just read the gospel of John and say, God, if I'm wrong, show me, I want to know it. She said, I will, but I just don't believe, believe the same way you do.
I don't believe these things. We prayed for her and her family prayed for her, went back and seen her this last week. She said, I want to, I want to know how to get to heaven. And I sat down with her and I, I can tell you the supernatural work of God that turns blind people into seeing people.
She didn't say one thing about how good she was. She told me everything she did to sin and need a savior. It was like God totally opened her heart up. She confessed how much she needed to be saved.
She's not good enough. She needs a savior. She needs to be redeemed and with joy and tears called out to Jesus Christ for salvation. What an incredible grace Jesus set that appointment.
That's a divine appointment for a precious lady in her eighties that is facing hospice in just the end of life care. What, what grace. Say, wouldn't it be great for her to be healed?
Oh, she'll be healed if not here in the next life. And, and you know, the Bible says here, when Jesus starts heading to his house, verse seven, as we read, it says, everybody began to murmur that he's going to be guests with a man that's a sinner. I don't know how peer pressure affects you, but I just want you to know it doesn't affect Jesus. He's no respecter of persons. Jesus loves Zacchaeus more than the applause of the crowd. If he offends them, fine.
Isn't that great? He just does. And now let's, let's wrap this up with the center of salvation in verse eight through 10. You know, we don't get to hear all the details of the conversation. I'd love to know that one day in heaven or what, what was the conversation like? Do you have a video recording?
I'd like to, I'd like to hear how that played out. But what happens when the searching center meets the seeking savior? What happens when the great center in town meets the great savior? What happens when Zacchaeus who looked at everything the world had to offer him and now looks upon Christ who offers him himself? Jesus is offering Zacchaeus eternal life. No external pleasure compares to what Christ can offer.
We don't know their conversation, but we do know with the conclusion. Look at verse eight. It says in Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, behold Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor and if I've taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restored him fourfold. Three quick, amazing things from here. Number one, this publican goes public.
The first thing you see him do is he stands up and Zacchaeus stood. He was not private. You know how people say, well, you know, politics and faith, you just kind of keep to yourself.
Wrong. You want to keep your politics to yourself. That's up to you, but you don't keep Jesus private. You will never read that in the Bible. Jesus is never like, yeah, just don't talk to people about me.
You don't want to offend anybody. That is not true. Zacchaeus is unashamed. He is not private. We have several people today getting baptized in the second service, others joining today in the early and late, but listen to Matthew 10 32. Jesus said this, whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my father, which is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, he said, I'll deny you before my father. If you're not public, if people in your life don't know that you know him, what do you think Jesus is going to say when you stand before him? If I took the 10 closest people in your life, do they know that you're a believer in Jesus Christ? Secondly, he believed and confessed Jesus as his Lord. He says in verse eight, and he said unto the Lord, behold kurios, Greek word, master, Lord. It's the same thing in Acts 16 31, when they said, what must I do to be saved? They said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. This is Romans 10 nine, isn't it? That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord.
Romans 10 13, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And then thirdly, he repented of his sins. How do we know he repented? Because his God was money. And he was the first thing he was willing to do was release his God.
His false God was removed. The first thing he does, he says, I give half of what I own to the poor. This greedy guy becomes a philanthropist.
I mean, he just right away, I'm going to help those in need. He restored people fourfold if he did anything unjustly. What's interesting about that is this fourfold was the Roman law required for theft, and fourfold was the Jewish law required if you would not confess your guilt, but if you confess your guilt of feeding something, you just had to pay a 20% restoration on top of the restoring what you took. He shows a incredibly repentive heart by saying, I will put the full weight of the law upon myself, I confess, and I will give fourfold back. You know, the whole town was upset with Jesus when he went to this man's house, but I tell you, they probably weren't upset when they were getting their money back, right? Like, you go, Jesus, go hang out with the Republicans for a while. How wonderful the grip of sin was loosened on this man.
And it's so wonderful. Verse 9, and Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation, come to this house for as much as he is also a son of Abraham. Can Jesus say that about you today? Has salvation come to your house?
Are you his child? Salvation is not in the head, it's in the heart. You can know all about Jesus, you can quote the Bible, you can do all these things, but unless you know him as your Lord and Savior, and how do you know that he's your Lord? It's not by you saying it, it's by your life is affected by it. You could look at Zacchaeus and say, Jesus changed his life.
Can that be said about you? We have a day where everybody wants to be saved and go to heaven, but they don't want to live for the Savior. There is no such salvation. Salvation is Jesus becoming your Lord. That's why the Bible says whosoever shall confess him as Lord shall be saved.
Jesus said, Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say? To be saved is to say, Jesus, you take the throne of my heart, you take the driver's seat, you call the shots, I surrender to you. Salvation had come to Zacchaeus. What's interesting is in Matthew 19, we saw a rich young ruler reject Christ for his money, and here we see a rich man reject his money for Christ.
Can I say something else that's very interesting that many of you may not be familiar with? According to fourth century writings by church fathers, they state that Zacchaeus became a very prominent Christian leader and ended up as the first pastor or bishop of the church at Caesarea. Later to be succeeded, history says, by Cornelius the centurion in Acts 10.
How incredible is that? That's why Luke names the guy in his gospel, because everybody's like, the bishop at Caesarea, he was that guy? Shocking, absolutely shocking to first century Jews.
Blew them away. We have talked about God's inverted principle for the last several weeks, how the first will be last, the last will be first. Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of his day, Matthew 21, 31.
He said, the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom before you. You know why? Because they're willing to confess their sin.
They're willing to say, you know what? I can't save myself. My money can't save me. My life can't save me.
My good works can't save me. And you know what the story of Zacchaeus is? The inverted principle would let the world really know that it's a story about a poor man who became rich. Zacchaeus is a poor man who got rich. He wasn't a rich man who gave up half his goods. He's a poveraged man who got eternally wealthy. He was a seeking man who got found. He was a small man who did big things for God. And he was a grown man who became a child of the king.
The inverted principle just laid all over the place. Everything is turned right side up for Zacchaeus. And I pray the same thing would be for every one of us today. In conclusion, the story teaches us God is seeking to save the lost more than the lost are seeking to be saved. Zacchaeus is not like, you must come to my house. Jesus says I must come to your house. Aren't you thankful God loves us more than we love Him?
It's just the truth. We weren't chasing and running after Jesus. He's the one who came after us. God is glorified in saving the most wicked of sinners no matter what you've done today. You may say, Pastor, you don't understand the things I've done. You don't know. And listen, I'm not a priest.
I don't need to know. I need to confess all your sins to me. But I can tell you this, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. He knows everything you've ever done, and He's willing to save you if you'd come and humble yourself, if you'd come in broken humility and safe. Jesus saved me, a sinner. I repent of my sins.
We learned that God brings greater joy and contentment than anything the world has to offer. You just need to know today, you're here for a reason. You're not here by accident. God knows you will be here, and He wants you to know this truth because your life one day will come to an end.
It's like a breath, and it's over. And today is a day that you could come and surrender your life to Jesus. If you're not saved, we'll have men and women down front. You can come and talk to one of them, and they could show you from the Word of God how you can know when your life's over. Some of us have a head knowledge of Jesus but not a heart acceptance.
You would say you believe in Jesus, but your life is not transformed, and people in your life would not say that. You need to come and surrender your life to Jesus Christ and truly be born again. Don't wait.
Don't put that off. Jesus has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Sheep can be foolish to their own peril. Don't be like that. Be a wise person who would come and be a child of the King. And if you're a Christian today, what a season. Just like Jesus made an appointment to seize that key is to bring the gospel to Him. I believe this week God could put people in your life that you could go to and invite to church, share the gospel with. Next Sunday, I guarantee you, I will preach a clear gospel message. If you bring somebody, they will hear the truth about Jesus Christ. There is no greater Christmas gift you can give to anyone than to them hear about Jesus Christ, right?
I would encourage every one of us as we leave here today, God, who is somebody this week, I will not let next Sunday come until I have talked to somebody about you and invited them to church. You know how big of a deal his birth is? Four hundred years before Jesus Christ was born, there was not one prophecy, not one open vision. Nothing came. And when Jesus was born, heaven burst open the skies. There began to be prophecies fulfilled. Angels began to come. In other words, heaven's silence was broken at the birth of Christ. And if heaven broke its silence about the birth of Christ, shouldn't we? After four hundred years of silence, let's be loud about Jesus, right? Not annoying. Don't be an annoying Christian. Be somebody who is not afraid to tell other people about Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's all stand this morning.
