Sermons

Good morning. Please open your Bibles to Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. Ladies, I hope you're looking forward to the Women's Conference on Saturday. If you're planning to come, please do register online just to help us plan catering and everything else accordingly. That would be a huge help. But we're looking forward to that time for the ladies on Saturday.

And then please do continue to pray for the ones in their short-term missions teams. They have already met this morning for worship with the congregations that they are serving over there. They're gonna meet again, at least two of the congregations are meeting again. It'll be late this afternoon. And so, we wanna just pray that God would really help them this last day of ministry and then help them as they travel back, some on Monday, some on Tuesday, but just pray that God would bring them back to us safely.

This morning we come to Luke chapter 19, but it's an important week, as I'm sure you're all aware, because Tuesday is St. Patrick's Day. And it would be remiss if your pastor not had to draw attention to the man that brought the testimony of Jesus Christ to Ireland. Patrick is actually the individual who wrote two pieces of writing that are the two oldest pieces of script that we have there recorded on the island of Ireland.

And one of those particular pieces is really called “His Confession.” And it's just a short testimony about the work God did in his life. And you all think his whole life was about green rivers and beer. So, I want to correct that. Let me read just a few lines from Patrick's confession. He declares, “My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. It was there in the land of my captivity that the Lord opened up my awareness of my lack of faith Even though it came about late, I recognized my feelings. So, I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God. And he looked down on my loneliness and had mercy on my youthful ignorance. He guarded me before I knew Him. And before I came to wisdom and could distinguish between good and evil, He protected me and consoled me as a father does his son. That is why I cannot be silent, nor would it be good to do so, about such great blessings and such a gift that the Lord so kindly bestowed in the land of my captivity. This is how we can repay such blessings. When our lives changed and we come to know God, to praise and bear witness to His great wonders before every nation under heaven.”

Patrick goes on to talk about how the Lord's helped him to become aware of his sinfulness, how the Lord drew him to Himself. He gives all credit to triune God as the source of his salvation, and he talks about the kindness of God to use a lowly servant to accomplish much good there on the island of Ireland.

This morning, we come to another testimony in the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 19 is a story about a man who likewise came to realize he was a sinner and came to see Jesus Christ as the good and gracious Savior. But what's surprising in the text is long before he ever saw Jesus, we’re told in the text that Jesus came seeking him that he may be found.

This is one of those strange stories that really ties together so many of the previous narratives. In fact, most of chapter 18 reappears in these first few verses of chapter 19. In chapter 18, Jesus told that familiar story of the tax collector and the Pharisee who both went up to the temple to pray. And now we are reminded of another tax collector who, just like the one in the parable, he will go to his home justified rather than the others. We also have in this story a strong emphasis on the fact that this tax collector was a rich man. It's going to be stressed in the text.

And while a few weeks ago we noticed in the middle of chapter 18 a rich ruler who went away sad because he loved his identity, as being a rich man. He loved the things of this world more than the opportunity to know and to follow Jesus. Here we are reminded at the beginning of chapter 19 of another rich man who is eager to find his identity in Jesus Christ. Chapter 18 closed with a lovely description as Jesus began to come towards Jericho of a blind man.

The other Gospels tell us his name was Bartimaeus. And blind Bartimaeus, he was longing to see Jesus. He called out to see Jesus. And even as the crowd rebuked, as the crowd scoffed, as the crowd tried to squash his voice, he called out all the more, and Jesus showed compassion on him. And this man who desired to see Jesus was granted sight by Jesus. And now we have another man for very different reasons who desires to see Jesus. And there's obstacles. There's a lot of obstacles in his way. A big crowd that are squashing him out because of his small stature. And yet he longs to see Jesus.

But what's ironic in this story is he finds that all along, Jesus has been the one that is seeking to see him. So, let's stand together and read the text in front of us that so clearly speaks of a sinner who was found by Jesus. Luke chapter 19 and reading from verse one.

(Scripture reading) "He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd, he could not, because he was small in stature. So, he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.' So, he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled. 'He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.'

And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.'" (End)

Let's pray.

(Prayer) Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for the gracious work of Jesus Christ to cause sinners to see. We thank You that He was sent to this world for You so loved it. We thank You that He lived that perfect life. We thank You, Lord, for the kind way He identified with sinners, that He was one who came to seek and to save the lost. And so we pray that in this time You would draw our attention to His glorious personality, His glorious work, His glorious seeking ministry, and that even as we look forward to coming at the close of our service to eat and drink in remembrance of Him, that this would be a time of preparation, that You would remind the believer afresh that we owe all to Jesus Christ. That He deserves all our praise, all of our worship, for He is the one who has sought us out. And we do pray, Lord, for any who are here. Whatever it is has brought them into this building, we pray that the Holy Spirit would seek them out and graciously remove the scales from their eyes that they may see Jesus. And it's in His name we pray. Amen. (End)

Have a seat.

Well, there are many things to note in this particular text, but I want to try and keep it as simple as possible that we, like Zacchaeus, may see clearly. So, the first thing I want you to notice in the text is this story begins with a sinner longing to see Jesus. A sinner who is longing to see Jesus. I want you to notice how the text describes him. He's described as one who is rich. We're told right at the beginning that Jesus has entered Jericho in verse 1. Jericho, we need to understand, was not just another town. Jericho was a particularly affluent town.

It was 15 miles from Jerusalem on the main road, really, to the northeast. Pilgrims who were coming for the festivals in Jerusalem would often come across the Jordan and pass by Jericho on the way to Jerusalem. It was really, because it was 15 miles away, it was the last city, the last stop-off point to get food, to get what you needed before you made that last day's journey to the festivals at Jerusalem.

And the city itself had two springs nearby and a very clever aqueduct system that brought water to the area and made with the wonderful sunshine and climate that existed there, along with this complex irrigation system, an extremely fertile piece of land.

This was an area that was good for agriculture. And because of that, and because of its strategic position near the Jordan, on the main road to Jerusalem, on the main trade route, it became a center for all things commercial. It became a main station for the military. It became a main station for tax collecting.

And so, Jericho, you have got to understand, was where the richy-riches lived. It was the place where the money was moving. It was a place where, in the time of Jesus, a new palace had been built. A new amphitheater had been built. Public gardens had been put in place. It was a place that was full of fragrance, of new plants and trees. This was a bougie area. This was Highland Park of Judea.

In fact, Josephus tells us that. He describes it as the richest part of the country. That ancient Jewish historian, he called it—he said the nickname that it possessed at the time was Little Paradise. You know, we're not talking about an ordinary, another just average town. We're talking about a place that if you didn't earn a lot, you were not staying in Jericho. It was that type of city.

Here is a place where the wealthy live. And in that wealthy city, we find one man who lived in arguably the biggest house; because he wasn't just another tax collector, he is described in the text in a way that is unique across all of Greek literature. He is described as the chief tax collector. In other words, here was one that somehow had been able to orchestrate the system to find himself at the top of a very prosperous ladder. He had gone at some point to the Romans, and he had probably made it all the way to Rome itself to work out terms by which he could oversee the tax collecting in the whole region.

He wasn't the guy who engaged with the public. He was the guy who hired everybody else to do the dirty work. He was the guy who skimmed off the top. Zacchaeus didn't come to your house looking for taxes. He sent his underlings to your house to look for the taxes.

He's that type of character. Here is the guy at the top. Here's the mafia boss of his area. And again, remember, he's in Jericho. So, he's the guy who has the big house. I remember, in the small town we grew up in, there was this one house, and it had these huge gates at the front, and as everybody walked home, there were stories always circulated about this house, how the guy had made his money, and all the kids in school would talk about the nefarious things he must have done. I don't think anybody knew anything, but we talked about it. Well, Zacchaeus was the guy who had the big gates on his house. He was the guy who obviously had a lot, and people talked about the nefarious means by which he had attained his riches.

This is a guy who has it. Materially, he has it all. And yet, still in Luke 19, he comes to a place where this man who had everything, materially at least, that you could want, felt the need of something else. And he left his gate at home that day in search of something. Because not only was he a rich man, here is a man who had failed. Here is a man who had fallen short. We can see clearly in the text, he was a chief tax collector. And we said before, back in Luke 18, when we saw in the parable of the tax collector and Pharisee, the nature of this type of individual. They were disregarded by the Jewish community. They were not able to bear witness in the Jewish court system, because their testimony was deemed invalid. They weren't seen to be people of trustworthy disposition.

Here was a man who is coupled so often in Scripture with the sinners, the tax collectors and sinners. He's one of those who were known in his society as having been in corrupt company, doing corrupt things. This is a man who's known in his society by his sinful life. He'd chosen a life, a career by which he would make a lot of money, but a career by which he would make a lot of money by doing the very things that society deems sinful. You could think of him as one, for example, who owned a pornography company. Like, he's making a lot of money, but society knows this is not right. That there's something obviously twisted in his life and his career and the things he does. That's the type of character we're talking about.

And what's amazing about Zacchaeus is I don't think that was always the way he was. Now, he was always a sinner, because all of us are sinners. But do you know what the name Zacchaeus means? The name Zacchaeus means righteous or pure, innocent one. Now, parents name their children with aspirations. It's very rare that a parent names their child without having at least done one Google search to find out the name of that potential, the meaning of that potential name.

I've shared with you before, my parents felt it appropriate to name me Andrew, which means strong and mighty. And I mentioned as well, not all of us live up to our name. Well, Zacchaeus is named by his parents as righteous one. It may be a hint that his parents were religious, that his parents read the law, that they shared Scripture with this boy. That certainly they prayed for and had aspirations for him and his engagement in the Jewish religious community.

But at some point, in the course, Zacchaeus had disregarded his name, disregarded the influence of his parents, the aspirations they had for him, and gone his own direction. Here is a man who fell short of his parents' hopes, and indeed, like all of us, fell short of the glory of God.

So here is a rich man who had failed, and also a rich man who had failed who was short. He was short. Verse 3 says, and he was seeking to see Jesus, who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. Here's a man who has another obstacle working against him, and it's a physical obstacle. He's short, but the crowd is tall.

He's one of those people that was gonna find it hard to see anything that day. I remember whenever we were kids, every so often, especially around Christmas, mom and dad would take us out to these community festivals where they would turn on the Christmas lights and there would always be fireworks on those occasions. The problem was when you're small and you're in the crowd, you couldn't really see anything. You know, you saw the back of the oversized man in front of you, and only whenever dad would pick you up and put you on his shoulders could you perceive all that was going on.

Well, here is Zacchaeus, and he is short, and this physical position is going to stop him from being able to see the one he desires to see on that particular day. There can be many reasons, isn't there, why people are prevented or held back from coming to see, to perceive the person of Jesus Christ. Coming to church can be an obstacle because of health, physical disability. Coming to know Jesus or to seek and to ask questions about Jesus can be an obstacle for some because they feel like they're too young. They feel like they're too old. It could be a cultural background. They feel like this Christianity is for a certain type, a certain ethnicity, a certain category of people or they themselves come from a broken family that they're not sure fits in.

Well, here's a man who has another obstacle, this time a physical one, but a real one. And yet, look at what happens next in verse four. So, he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. Here's a man who takes drastic action.

I want you to imagine, not a kid, but one of the elders, okay? I'm gonna get Kent to go out after the service and act this out so y'all get the gravitas of what's going on. I want you to imagine one of the elders climbing up the tree just outside the church, and how strange that would look as you walk past. They are in their suit because, you know, they have their nice clothes on for Sunday morning, yet up the tree! You know, if one of the kids were up the tree, you wouldn't be surprised.

But to see a grown man dressed in his normal nice clothes, up a tree. A man—like, we're thinking, like, Zacchaeus is the top of his career. He's potentially in his fifties. He's that type of character. They don't climb trees. This is unusual. This is strange. In fact, if you saw it, you would say it was ridiculous. You'd be wondering, if you had perceived Zacchaeus up there, how did he even do it?

How did he get up there at his age? Well, he did it because he desired something. He was so consumed with the desire to see Jesus, that no matter what he was wearing, no matter his age, no matter the laughter that probably was heard as he scrambled up that tree, he was willing to throw all dignity out the window because he so longed to see Jesus. There was no obstacle, there was no background, there was no anything that was going to stop him from seeing Jesus that day.

Now, you see very simply the point as we begin to think about Zacchaeus this morning. I think a lot of people maybe come to church on any particular Sunday sometimes wondering how on earth they ended up here, how on earth you ended up sitting where you're sitting. And you have in your mind a mountain of reasons why you're unqualified or why you just shouldn't, you shouldn't be in church. And yes, that list, whatever that list involves, is the very reason you need to see Jesus.

I don't know if you've ever had that horrifying experience when you lose a kid, when you're meant to pick them up and they're not where they said they were gonna be. At the time, they said they were gonna be there. And you wait the extra five minutes because you know all kids are late. And then time keeps going, and you hit the 20-minute mark, and you start to feel that panic, that worry.

And as a parent, what do you do? Everything. You get up, you scour the area. If it was a pick-up after school, you go and you bang on the door. You demand to know where the child is. If you still don't see them, you get in the car, you drive around. Eventually, you call the local police. You ask for help. You'll do everything possible to find them. Only to discover they were at the restroom the whole time.

Well, here is a man who would do everything on that given day to see Jesus. Nothing was going to get in the way of that pursuit. When God is at work in the life of the individual, that's normally where it begins. They're filled with a hunger, an insatiable desire to see this Jesus, to know something about this one. And they've never felt that necessarily before, but now they need to find, now they need to see. So, we have this man, this sinner who longed to see Jesus.

The second thing I want you to see in the text is the crowd who hated what they saw. the crowd who hated what they saw. In light of verses five and six, there is a group of people who start to grumble. That word grumble is a strong word, and they grumble not so much about the tax collector, they don't expect very much from him to begin with, but they grumble and they complain about Jesus and His association with the likes of a tax collector. Look at verse 5.

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "'Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.' So, he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled. He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." And when they saw it, they all grumbled. And what are they grumbling about? What are they so distressed about?

That Jesus would spend time with a sinner. Not that Jesus sinned. Not that Jesus was in the place of sinning, but that Jesus would spend time with a sinner. Isn't that a wonderful thing, that God doesn't seek the approval of the crowd? Isn't that a wonderful thing, that Jesus doesn't determine whose lives He affects? who he draws alongside based on public opinion. He's not looking for the approval of the crowd.

Even when it comes to His commitment to save, He's willing to pay a cost in that commitment. This religious crowd struggled with somebody who would mix with sinners. Now, the funny thing is religious crowds are still like that today, aren't they? If I – I'm not – but if after the service you watched me go out the door, turn left, and go into the pub next door, I think there would be a few questions asked, even though it's St. Patrick's weekend. We know the tendency that exists amongst the religious community to worry about associations.

And yet Jesus, He makes clear in Scripture that this idea of second-degree separation so as not to be polluted, that's not a scriptural principle. Now, we do have to be wise. We do have to be careful to avoid sin. We know that bad company does corrupt, but still the principle of Scripture is that we are to be salt and light in the world. That in your place of work, you should be able to talk to individuals who are not Christians. You should be able to have lunch. Your neighbor who doesn't go to church on Sunday should still be one that you engage with in a meaningful way.

Because our Savior did exactly the same thing. And in fact, his ministry was marked by that. If you remember back in Luke chapter 18 verse 29 Jesus speaking to his disciples says, truly I say to you there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who will not receive many times more in this time. He talks about a social cost to following him, and that is true. But here in chapter 19, we see that Jesus himself bore a social cost as he sought to seek sinners. Isaiah 53 verse 4 says, "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." And if there sometimes is, for those who follow Jesus, a social cost, here we see that Jesus himself had on his shoulders a social cost. He was willing, for the sake of a Zacchaeus, to endure the groaning and scorn from the crowd that particular day. He was willing to become shame for us. Again, I don't know everybody in this room. Sometimes you come to church, and you don't know what has brought you here, and you feel so disqualified. And even the talk about righteous Jesus makes you feel even smaller and more disqualified.

And the wonderful thing I want you to see in the text is the kindness of God, the kindness of Christ to associate with disqualified people. We have a Savior here who has arms wide open. broad enough to embrace the greatest of sinners who seek forgiveness. So, here is a sinner who desired to see Jesus. Here is a crowd who hated what they saw. And then I want you to notice a change that all could see, a change that all can see.

Zacchaeus gets to spend time with Jesus, and we'll talk about what took place in that time in a moment. But he gets to spend time with Jesus, and there's something that changes as a result. Look at verse 9. And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house," since he is also a son of Abraham. He is changed. He is transformed. He is saved. And it shows itself in the life of this man.

Look at verse 8. "And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’” You notice in verse eight, in the language that this chief of tax collectors uses a number of things. Notice, first of all, that he uses the language, Lord, verse eight, behold, Lord, in other words, he recognizes another master.

He recognizes Jesus as the one in control. Here was the chief of tax collectors who controlled many, who really was the head honcho of the area, and yet in his house that day, he recognized Jesus as the actual Lord, as the actual master, as the one who had ultimate control. So, he, in his mind, has deferred the greater responsibility, the greater authority to Jesus.

He's no longer defined by his riches. If once he was the chief tax collector, who was rich there in verse 2? Now he's one whose riches are secondary. He still has a lot of money in the bank account but no longer is that money defining him. In fact, he's willing to quickly give half of it to the poor. He's willing to restore anybody who he defrauded for full. Money is a secondary thing.

It's not that it's unimportant, but it's not where he finds his identity anymore. If the rich ruler, the chapter before, went away sad because he had great wealth, and that's where he found his identity, here's the case. Who has great wealth is not defined by it after meeting with Jesus.

He's also willing to admit his wrong there in verse 8. He's not a proud man. He's not defending himself. He's not trying to justify himself. He says, if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. That's a revealing statement. If Zacchaeus had a lawyer in the room that day, he would be quickly trying to qualify what Zacchaeus meant. That's an acknowledgment of wrongdoing, of guilt. And it's immediately trying to enact the Old Testament principles of restitution that you find in Exodus 22 or Numbers chapter 5.

He is a man who has changed. Why has he changed? What has happened? Is it just that Jesus' speech is so persuasive? Is it just because, you know, this tax collector that given day just wants to try things differently? Is it because he wants to run for political office, and he needs to do something to look different to get the votes? No.

Verse 9 tells us, today salvation has come to this house since he also is a son of Abraham. He's a son of Abraham. That's not an ethnic reference. Zacchaeus was Jewish. In that sense, he was a descendant of Abraham. But that language, a son of Abraham, is not to be understood primarily as an ethnic reference. Rather, in Scripture, it's used to describe one who is connected to Abraham by sharing his faith in the coming Messiah.

In Luke chapter 3 and verse 8, John the Baptist, in exasperation, as he speaks to the Pharisees, he urges them and the crowd to bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

In other words, back in Luke chapter 3, John the Baptist preached a sermon that made clear that the children of Abraham are not biological descendants. There's something more important. Paul would say as much in Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3 verse 6, just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, know then that it is those of faith are the sons of Abraham," verse 29 of Galatians 3 adds, and if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Oh, if we had more time and we would need another hour, I would take you to John chapter, you should go home and read John chapter 8 this afternoon, where Jesus basically unfolds a whole theology on the sons of Abraham, and what exactly this call in Scripture is, what exactly this mark that on that day of salvation marks Zacchaeus' life. And it's this. It's that mark, not of biological descent, but of faith. Abraham believed the promises given to him, and it was credited as righteousness. Zacchaeus on that day believed in the Jesus he met with, and his life was transformed. His life bore new marks.

I'm talking a lot about my kids, because we're going into spring break, and I don't know what to do with them that's productive. But when you go to the car wash with the kids, they want to be involved. And if you're in one of those car washes where you get the cloths that you get to wipe the windows and everything else, it seems like the best thing to get them to do is to take a cloth and wipe the side windows, and they do that. And then you get into the car, and what do you notice? Fingerprints everywhere. They have this ability to not use the cloth, but somehow their fingers become the main object that wipe over those freshly cleaned windows. And you know they've been involved in the process, because their fingerprints are everywhere. Well, when a life has been touched, when faith has taken hold of the individual, God's fingerprints are everywhere.

It has to demonstrate itself. There's nothing that God is involved with that does not bear His marks. And it's the same when genuine regeneration takes place in the life of the individual. The individual bears the marks. Here is one who today is the day of salvation for him because he is a son of Abraham. He has faith in Jesus Christ. He is trusting, and his life, therefore, bears the marks of change. That's why he now sees Jesus as Lord. That's why his identity is no longer in his riches. That's why he is quick to acknowledge his guilt and failures. Faith stems from a regenerate heart, and that regenerate heart will always bear new marks.

Now, I've told you little bits about my family. I have three biological brothers. Actually, I'm the third. I have two biological brothers. That was bad, I got that wrong. Simon and Matthew. And I have a foster brother, Jonathan. And Jonathan came to live with us from he was six. So, his whole life, he's a lot older than six now. He's in his thirties now. But his whole life he was part of our family. And what took place whenever he was about 16, 17 is we would go as a family to certain places, and people would talk about the strong family likeness. Oh, Jonathan looks just like you, they would say.

And I would laugh, because biologically that doesn't make sense. He doesn't look like me, but what he does do is he carries himself like the Curry's. He slouches like the Curry's. You know, he groans like the Curry's. All of our bad quirks, he bears. And in that sense, he is like us.

Friends, whenever you become part of the family of faith, you bear the marks of the family. That's not something you can contrive and make happen. It's something that naturally happens. That's the point. Faith shows itself. Faith, when God has worked in our life, reveals itself.

So, the last thing I want you to see in the text is the most important. Because this story is not really, though I've talked far too long about him, a story about Zacchaeus. It's a story about Jesus, and so I want you to see the Jesus who sees the sinner. The Jesus who sees the sinner. Like, we've just said there's a dramatic change that faith has brought in the life of Zacchaeus.

But where does that come from? It's tied to faith, absolutely, but where does the faith itself come from? Where's the source? Well, here's what I want you to see. The text is written in a certain way to proclaim the source. And the text starts and the text finishes, not with Zacchaeus, but with Jesus. And that's deliberate, because the great enactor, the great transformer in the story is not Zacchaeus. It is Jesus. He is the source of transformation. It is He, in verse 1, who enters Jericho. It says, He entered Jericho and was passing through, and behold, when you see that language, and behold, it appears a lot in the Gospels.

It's a, hey, everybody, pay special attention. Something's going to happen here. It's normally a reminder of pay special attention because God's at work here. He's gonna do something you've gotta take notice of. And then in verse five, notice Jesus is the one who stops. Zacchaeus doesn't care if Jesus sees him. He wanted to see Jesus, and he's up that tree. But Jesus stopped below the tree. We're told Jesus looked up.

Jesus called him by name. That's not normal. If you've never met somebody, it's hard enough to remember the names of people you have met. But to have never met somebody and to know their name, that's a divine thing. And Jesus knew him and called him by name, and he commanded him to take him to his house.

The verb hurry and the other verb come down, those are imperatives. You've got to hurry, Zacchaeus. You've got to come down. In fact, it's not you've got to do it. That's the strength of the language. Hurry up! Get down here now! That's the way Jesus is talking. He's the king in control. And even that particle, must, I must go to your house. I must. In Luke's gospel, that word is used many times, but it's always used to speak of divine necessity, something that God has to do.

Even the salvation itself in verse 9 is pronounced not by Zacchaeus. He doesn't say, well, now I am a Christian. He doesn't say, now I am saved. He doesn't even say, look, here's water, let's get baptized. Jesus says today there is salvation that has been realized. Jesus, I want you to see, is the Savior here. Why is Zacchaeus saved? Well, it's not just that he exercised faith. We have to go behind that and ask, how was it that a sinner like Zacchaeus exercised faith? What is the reason he is saved in the story?

Well, that's exactly how the story finishes. Look at verse 10. For, or since, or because, or I'll tell you the reason. You can translate it that way. I'll tell you the reason. The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. There's a reason. There's a reason. This is what Jesus does. He's the one that transforms the heart of stone into a heart marked by faith. He's the one that brings that change.

The title, the Son of Man, for the Son of Man is not a title of humanity, it is a title of authority. It comes from Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7 verse 13. Daniel 7 says, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man.”

And He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him, and to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. He came to seek and to save the lost. Here is one, Daniel says, “the one with all authority,” and Luke tells us that authority over and above all is used by the Son of Man in salvific work. It took one with all the authority of the universe upon His shoulders to be able to rip that heart of stone inside you out and give you a heart of faith that you may see and know Him.

The only hopes Zacchaeus had that day and the only hope any of us have, it's not found in us. It's not found in church attendance. It's not found in any type of activity in and of itself. It comes by Jesus finding us. The one with all authority who came to seek and to save the lost. So, what are you to do with that this morning? Well, you're here. That's not by mistake. Your sin has been exposed. That's not by mistake. You've been reminded afresh there is no hope to be found apart from in Jesus Christ. That is not a mistake. Today, salvation may be found in no other name but in Jesus Christ.

You this morning can cry to God acknowledge your sin and ask Him for that gift of saving faith by which you may see the glorious One who seeks and saves the lost.

Let's pray.

(Prayer) Heavenly Father, we do thank You for Jesus, for His ministry of saving, and we pray and ask that You would help us to know Him well, We thank you, Lord, that this is not, even coming to you is not a human work, but a work that you bring about in the heart of the sinner. So, we pray and ask, Lord, that You would see, even now, those who are lost, that they may know Jesus Christ, in whose Name we pray. Amen. (End)

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