our text this morning comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 19.
We have entered a new chapter.
And we're going to be looking this morning considering verses one through 10. Before we read God's word, let us go to the Lord again in prayer.
Remembering that we are here in vain, we are wasting our time, unless the Holy Spirit opens up our eyes and our hearts, we are not a social call club. This is not just a gathering of people who enjoy spending time with each other. We are here to worship. This is what we have been created to do. And we need the Holy Spirit to help us in that endeavor. So let us pray for that now. Lord, we thank you that you are not silent. We thank you that you are not a god and just a far distant land. But Lord, you speak to us even as we woke up this morning, the heavens are declaring your glory. Lord, as we turn to your word, we hear of Jesus Christ and Him crucified for sinners.
Or do we recognize that we are indeed that in our sin, we are blind men without any any ability of our own, to be able to see and behold your glory. We are deaf on our own, unable to hear out the gospel on our own.
We are dead in our sin and able to give ourselves life. And so Lord, that is why we come to you right now. And we pray. And we plead that your spirit might enlivened our hearts, that your spirit might unstop our deaf ears, that your spirit might open up our blind eyes that this morning, we might see the Lord Jesus Christ, so we might call upon his name, that we might receive. The mercy that is full and free, in Christ alone, would be merciful to your people. And it's in Jesus's name we pray, amen. People of God hear God's word. This morning from Luke chapter 19, verses one through 10. He entered Jericho and was passing through. And 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 of stature. So we ran on ahead and climbed 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 to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.
And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it four fold. 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 last. He was yours, let them hear the Word of God. Please be seated in this text here as we have come now to Luke chapter 19. It's really a pivotal text in the life and ministry of Jesus. What you will see is everything following this text has Jerusalem now in focus. This is the last text in the Gospel of Luke, that Jerusalem really isn't mentioned. Jesus is on his way there. He has had his face fixed upon Jerusalem where he will accomplish our salvation.
He is going to Jerusalem with a one way ticket to Jerusalem is the place where Jesus will go, that is, during the Passover he is going there. This is the place where sacrifices are offered to God. Jerusalem is where indeed the Lamb of God will be sacrificed. And Jerusalem is where the cross is.
If you remember from last week, Jerusalem is the last stop before entering Jerusalem. It's the last pitstop that travelers would make a before the wilderness a journey into Jerusalem. And verse one tells us that he has entered Jerusalem last week, he was on the outskirts of Jerusalem wherein he encountered a blind beggar.
But verse one tells us now he is passing through Jericho. And Jesus has a mind to stay the night in Jericho. And not only does he know that he's planning to stay in Jericho. He also knows who's going to host him.
And that unsuspecting host is a man named Zacchaeus. As you know is that kiss was a wee little man. And a wee little man was he, you can't talk about a text like Zacchaeus and not sing the song right? If you have any experience in Vacation Bible schools or churches growing up, you know, Zacchaeus is a wee little man. We might say Zacchaeus is vertically challenged, he is fun sized or small. Luke rightly says though he is small in stature. Now is that key? Yes, his name means clean. His name means innocent.
But Zacchaeus has grown to be a man who couldn't be more opposite than the name his parents gave to him. Because that kiss is not clean by any means. He is not innocent by any means. In fact, the text tells us he's become a tax collector.
And if you recall, in our experiences with tax collectors, as we've been working our way through Luke, you will be reminded that tax collectors were genuinely dishonest. They were cheats. They were thieves.
They made their living by taking more than what was needed, because that is how they lived.
And Rome allowed them to do that. That was the incentive for them, not only when taking this job, because not only were they were they thieves and dishonest they were traitors. They were Jews that were then working for the enemy that had conquered them, and then stealing from their own. And so they were despised by the rest of Israel.
People did not like them. They saw them as being these great traders working for the enemy.
And so tax collectors really the only people that they would spend time with were other tax collectors like themselves, or prostitutes because they could pay for their companionship. A tax collector is not someone that people would pity. Most people felt disgust and hatred toward tax collectors. They were a despised people. calling someone a tax collector was about the biggest insult you could level on someone. Just imagine there was someone you didn't like. And the worst thing you could tell them was like You're like a tax collector. Oh, breaking out the big guns.
That's what it was like to call someone a tax collector was vile. averse to tells us that not only was he a tax collector, he's the chief tax collector.
Zacchaeus is the mob, the mob boss, if you will of Jericho. He is the direct contact between Jericho and Rome. And he probably doesn't even collect taxes anymore, but takes a cut from his underlings, who are all taking cuts from the other people in the city. Zacchaeus is not a man of conviction. He is not a man of morals and he is what we what we do know he is a man of money. This is what drives him. And we are told he is rich, very rich. Jericho wood knows that key is not only and then as the chief tax collector, they would know him as the chief of thieves. They would know him as the chief of traders, and very much so he would be known as the chief of sinners. And verse three, we are told though, that this chief of sinners, this chief tax collector is seeking something. In fact they seeking someone we are told he is seeking Jesus, verse three, he was seeking to see who Jesus was. Now verse three tells us that he doesn't really know who Jesus is yet. It's possible that he has might have heard some things about Jesus, just like the blind man, in our previous texts, has maybe heard some things about Jesus, maybe Zacchaeus has heard that even one of Jesus's very own disciples was a former tax collector. Levi, who now went by Matthew was now a very disciple of Jesus. And that's significant. Because if you're a tax collector, you just don't leave this cushy job where you're getting a lot of money, and you're very well off. You might not be liked, but the benefits are outweighing it. You just don't leave it yet. Matthew leaves it and he's following Jesus. Or maybe he heard about this parable that Jesus told about this Pharisee and the tax collector and guess what, only one of them goes home justified.
And it's not the Pharisee but the tax collector and maybe Zacchaeus is like how could To be, or maybe he has simply heard that Jesus eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners. Now we don't know what he's heard.
Or maybe he's heard nothing at all. We don't exactly know it doesn't tell us. We also know what he's not doing. Like last week, we there's this blind man, and he's heard something about Jesus. And he believes and it stirs faith in Him, and it causes him to cry out. You remember that? Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. But Zacchaeus is not crying out.
He's not crying out Jesus, Son of David have mercy on me, he's not coming to Jesus yet, because he senses his need. He's not crying out for mercy. He doesn't understand who Jesus is, yet it appears what Zacchaeus is doing right now is happening more out of curiosity, you know, who is this guy? You know, I'm, I'm willing to find out a little bit more. What's the look like? I mean, I've heard these things.
Well, what's, what's this guy all about? So we see Zacchaeus right now is not motivated so much by faith, but by curiosity.
And I just want to stop here and make this one point that, you know, maybe there is a friend or family member, and they come to church with you. And maybe they hardly ever come to church, and maybe even it's their first time coming to church. And maybe they come to church, and maybe you've come to church, and maybe your motives aren't to worship God, or to call upon Jesus, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.
And maybe they're just come because they want to please their mom. You know, I want to make mom happy. So I'm going to come to church, or, you know, I want to be a good friend, I want to be a co good coworker. So I'm going to come to church. So my coworker, well, you know, I want to have a good relationship with them. Or maybe they come to church because there's a certain guy or girl that they want to find out a little bit about right? They're not coming to church, a cry, Jesus, Son of David have mercy on me. However, you don't know what the word of God is going to do in a person's heart. And maybe our motives might be less, might not be as pure questionable even. But the Holy Spirit is working in mysterious ways. The Holy Spirit is often working in people's hearts well, before any out Looker can even see what's going on. And the Holy Spirit is often working in ways even in their own hearts that they might not even recognize, I'm sure is that kious didn't wake up or even attend, I plan to go see Jesus with the intention that I'm going to go see Jesus, and you know what, I'm probably gonna just give my give my life to him at that time, he has no intention of doing that. But yet we see the power of God's mercy and the power of God's word in the hearts of people. And so we can encourage, whether you are here for the first time, or for the long time, God's word is powerful. And it grants mercy through it. But before this happens in this text, where we see mercy being poured out upon Zacchaeus, there are are two obstacles that he has to overcome. One is a large crowd of the crowds are difficult to see over or get through the crowds have gathered around the Jesus in the crowds are especially difficult. If you're not light. You know, if you're in a crowd, and you have a friend, you'll probably make rooms like hey, you know, come on, come on up here, like, Hey, come on, come on up here. But if you're not like, if no one likes you, they're not going to help you get into the crowd or get, get a view of what you're trying to get a view. Someone like Zacchaeus is going to be told the Hey, get back Zacchaeus like, get away from us step back. You're not coming around, you're gonna especially not coming around my kids get away from here. And no doubt that's happening does that kiss because he is not liked, and people don't want him around. So that's one difficulty of the crown. And the second, as we know, is he's short. Being short makes crowds, particularly challenging. But Zacchaeus is a problem solver, which is probably why he's risen to the office of a chief tax collector in the first place.
And so in verse four were told he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him for he was about the past that way.
So here you have a grown man who was feared and despised by the whole city. And he is perched himself up in a tree. And it's actually kind of a comical sight. Just imagine there's a parade happening in downtown Tampa And, you know, you're there with your family. And then all of a sudden you see the mayor kind of perched up in a tree. Like that's kind of an odd thing that's going on right now.
Like, why are they up there? And yet, that's exactly what's happening. It's a little bit.
It's funny. It's, it's silly, like there's a grown man, not children, but a grown man who's perched himself up in a tree.
And so people might be laughing at Zacchaeus, we don't know. But Zacchaeus is willing to look silly, he's willing to be mocked, he's willing to be ridiculed to see Jesus. And Zacchaeus isn't the only person that is seeking. And in fact, I've heard this account be referred to as a tale of two seekers, that Jesus, here is the real seeker in our text, verse five, and when Jesus came to the place, and he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, For I must stay at your house today. And this is an amazing scene, Jesus is walking along, he's eye contact with everyone else. And then Jesus stops and he looks up, and he calls to Zacchaeus. And he calls Zacchaeus by name. How did he knows that key is his name?
Well, we don't know. You know, it could be others. We're shouting at Zach. He has like, Hey, what are you doing?
There's, I guess, like you're a fool, get away from here as I keep, it could be that. Or it could be, you know, the divine aspect of Christ being revealed to him, the God man that before the foundation of the earth that he knew Zacchaeus and Jesus Calling upon his name here is significant. Jesus tells us, tells this then most notorious sinner in Jericho, that he's going to come go to his house today, and it's not a request.
It's not a question that Jesus poses to Zakia. So it doesn't say, you know, I'd like to, would you be willing to have me over? Would you open up your doors? I'm looking for a place do you have any room? It's a demand. It's a command really.
And what we see is that he is not pushing back. He doesn't say, you know, Jesus, I don't really have a lot of people over. Not many people are wanting to come over to my house, it's not really set up for visitors. And the visitors that I do have, you're not going to like them.
He doesn't say that at all. He obeys immediate, immediate obedience. And this is where I think where conversion is happening right there. And also in verse six, where we see that the conversion of Zacchaeus occurring. So he hurries down.
And he received him joyfully, he obeys Jesus right away. And he obeys, joyfully. Enjoy is the fruit of someone who is following Jesus, the fruit of the Spirit is love. Joy, right.
And so here we see even this aspect of him coming down with joy. This embracing of Jesus kind of happened subtly. But I think it happens truly here. And Zacchaeus is a reminder to all of us, that no one is beyond the mercy of Jesus, and no one is too lost, to be found by Jesus.
JC Ryle said, if ever there was a soul assault and saved, without having done anything to deserve it, that soul was the soul of Zacchaeus because unmasked, Jesus stops and speaks Zacchaeus doesn't say Jesus, would you? Would you stop, please have mercy Emami? It's accused us and say that he doesn't cry out for that. But Jesus being unmasked stops and speaks to Zacchaeus unmasked, Jesus welcomed himself into the life of Zacchaeus unmasked, Jesus gives mercy and grace and finds Zacchaeus and welcomes him into the family of God. Jesus stops for Zacchaeus and from that point, Zacchaeus is a changed man. Here you have the most notorious sinner, the chief of sinners, and all of Jericho in the morning and then at night, he goes to bed, a Christian justified mercy. The gospel is for the chief of tax collectors and sinners, which is also a reminder it's the gospel is for you and for me, that Jesus saves the last. In fact, Jesus only saves the loss you will not be saved until you see yourself as the last. Now we are all lost, but it might be until God opens your eyes like he does the blind man that you might be able to see for yourself that I am in need. You, and I need mercy I am the chief of sinners.
And I need the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he calls him here in verse nine, the son of Abraham. And we might be thinking, well listen, everyone here, you know, they're in there in the the land of Israel. And the point here is no, not everyone is a son of Abraham.
And this is Paul's point. If you read the book of Galatians, and chapter three, Paul's arguing that the true sons of Abraham, are not those with bloodlines or, or physical descent, but those who share Abraham's convictions and conduct that his true children are those who believe and put their faith in God, specifically in Christ in the Messiah, as Abraham did, that Zacchaeus was sought and saved by Jesus. Now, what's interesting here about Zacchaeus is it's not this, like grandiose conversion story, right? You think about Zacchaeus. And he's telling Well, you know, how did you become a Christian? Well, you know, Jesus just stopped and he had me over to his house, and somewhere in there it happened.
And it's not maybe as an amazing story, even of the previous tax where Jesus heals this blind man, and what an amazing story is not incredible. But notice that it's somewhat ordinary, but it's no less powerful, no less Merciful of Jesus to do this. It took just as much power to save Zacchaeus as it did the blind man. Both are great, wonderful testimonies of the mercy of God to sinners. And when the crowds sees what has happened, that Jesus is having compassion, and even mercy upon Zacchaeus, what do they do? They they rejoice, right says, Oh, we are so thankful, Jesus, Jesus, we have been praying for his kiss for a long time. And finally, he sees you right? Oh, Jesus, we are so thankful that you are our merciful to sinners. Is that how they respond? Not at all right?
What are they? What do they do?
Verse seven, they grumble, he has gone to be the guests of a man who is a sinner. And so what we see here is opposition again, to those coming to Christ.
Again, if you compare last week's tax, and this week's texts, again, opposition to those coming to Christ, there's always going to be opposition for you who are striving towards Christ. And here we see that again, and also we see the self righteousness of the crown. Why don't they think that Zacchaeus should go to Jesus because he's a sinner? He doesn't deserve it.
He doesn't deserve mercy. He doesn't deserve Jesus to go to his house. He's messed up. He spends times with proud prostitutes. He's a thief, He's a cheat. He's a traitor. He doesn't deserve it. And so what they're what they are saying then is, well, Jesus, I do because you know what, Jesus?
Well, I try if I go to church, I even fast two times a week. What does that sound like? Right? The Pharisee versus the tax collector. Lord, I thank you that I'm not like other men. I thank you that I'm not like this tax collector, because he doesn't deserve your mercy, self righteousness, and see how quickly it creeps up in our own hearts. And often we are just like that crowd. Lord, you can be mercy merciful to people who, you know, maybe they struggle with things here and there. But not someone like Zacchaeus No, no, no, no, not him. That is exactly whom Christ comes after the chief of sinners. I also want you to notice here, even if you again have been here are a few weeks, there's been four encounters with Jesus for encounters with Jesus since the beginning of chapter 18. You remember the children? You remember the rich young ruler?
You remember the blind beggar from last week? And this week is that kiss? And then all of them experience external opposition, except one. The one that doesn't experience experience, external opposition is the one who doesn't come the rich young ruler, but the children, the disciples acknowledge Jesus, you're too important. The blind man silence Zacchaeus No, Jesus, no, but the one who doesn't come Yeah, you can do whatever you want. Do what Hey, you're free.
And so I think that's important for us to think about is, you know, in my own life, where am I experiencing opposition because of my faith, where am I experienced an opposition because I'm trying to get to Christ, but my flesh the world and the devil are trying to keep me from Christ. And it could Be is maybe I've listened to the crowd. Maybe I've bought into the lies of the crowd, if you remember where the crowd is telling them to be silent, you know what, maybe you're right.
Maybe I shouldn't, maybe I should, maybe I should be quieter about my face. You know, I need to be a little silent.
Because I don't want to disturb anyone. I don't want to bother anyone. You know, you know, maybe I should be quieter because I'm mate, maybe I don't need Christ as much as I thought I did. I don't want to seem like a weirdo. So, I mean, as I look around, I'm not that bad. Right?
I mean, at least I'm coming. I'm not church today. So maybe I don't need Jesus as much as I thought I had. And so it's an encouragement for us is, we should be living our lives boldly. And most likely, if there isn't some kind of opposition, or struggle of persecution, we might even ask, Am I living my life boldly and as faithfully as I ought to for Christ? If, if I were to somehow, for some reason, declare I'm not a Christian today, would my life look any different? That does living my life as a Christian? Does it look different? Do I behave differently? Do I talk differently? Do I do things differently because I'm pursuing Christ or no one really even knows I'm a Christian. But God is merciful to us, as he's merciful. Here does IKEA and then Zacchaeus. He serves. We have this this guild of Zacchaeus, we see the grace of Christ. And now this gratitude, even as we read in the Heidelberg, and what what Zacchaeus does here, and Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and I've I've defrauded anyone of anything. I restore four fold.
And Jesus said to him, today, salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. Behold, Lord, there you go, that sack he is his first confession of faith. These are the words of his confession.
Behold, Lord, calling upon his Lord. It's simple. It's not not a theological tone, but it's sufficient. He's calling on his Lord. Now, the blind man, I think, again, these two texts go together, the blind man is really showing us faith. He's calling upon the Lord God, Lord, be merciful to me. But again, we don't really see that grandiose call in in Zacchaeus. But what Zacchaeus shows us where the Brian Lynn shows us faith.
Zacchaeus shows us what repentance looks like, how we ought to repent, and they always go together. You can't believe without repenting, and you can't repent without believing. And so a converted soul will show the evidence of their conversion.
And this is what the whole book of James is about. It's not just enough to just say, I believe, you know, Jesus, have mercy on me. But you will show fruit of your repentance, you will show fruit of that confession. It's not enough to just confess God with your your mouth. But what's your life look like? How's it changed? How do you respond? As Luke three Verse eight says, John, John the Baptist was talking about bearing the fruits in keeping with repentance seeking to chain and the reflect on your own life is, where's the Lord actually calling me to change in my life? Not only just to confess my sin, Lord, I'm sorry, please forgive me for that sin, but what do I actually need to do now differently? That is the fruit of repentance? And if you are guilty of coveting and stealing, like Zacchaeus Well, what should you do?
Certainly confess your sin to God, but what should you do?
What's a fruit of repentance looks like giving, do the opposite. And that's what he does he he takes it upon himself to make wrongs right to take on the most demanding penalty of the law is upon himself without having going to trial of any sort. He pays back four times the value of stealing. And the interesting thing Jesus never tells him to do that. I like the rich young ruler. Jesus never says, well, nouns that he has now that you believe in me. You have to then get give four times back. Jesus doesn't request this of them, but out of the fruit of his heart, he is wanting to let these things go that he might pursue Christ all the more what I think is happening as he is holding his grip is getting tighter and tighter on Jesus, his grip on the things of the world are loosening and loosening more, which is why he's just giving these things away. And if you notice, too, he's not saying I will do this, use this. You know, I'm gonna plan I'm gonna make a plan. I'm gonna do that in the future. or he says, I do it now, I give I restore, not I will, or I will I do it right now he, he is obeying right away. Now, I think what's really remarkable in this text is something impossible, has just happened in this text, I don't know if you call it something impossible, has happened. Impossible. And what is it, a rich man has entered the kingdom of God. Something even more impossible, as Jesus says, than a camel to go through an eye of a needle. Something even more impossible says, Jesus says it's more possible for a rich man to go, the go into the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. And Jesus has performed the impossible here, and has brought this chief tax collector, this chief sinner, this rich man, into the kingdom of God, and this greedy tax collector is transformed by the grace of God into a generous Christian, a generous follower of Christ. It's a reminder that there's no incurable cases, when the gospel is at stake.
Hospitals have incurable cases, we go to the hospitals and people are sick. But with Jesus, there's no incurable cases, any center may be healed. And I'm just going to end here with verse 10. And verse 10, is really the summary of the whole text. If you don't hear anything, or maybe you fell asleep or pay attention now to verse 10, for the Son of Man came to seek in the say, of the last, that is the whole point.
That is a whole point of everything that's happened in this text that Jesus is the seeker and that he has come to seek and to save you. If you see yourself as lost in need of mercy, He will give you mercy, He will call upon you. Now, I debated about even sharing this because there's a song called the seeker by the who was like, I don't know if I should say it.
But now your Sunday afternoon is going to be listening to the who, which okay, you can listen to it. It's called the seeker and in that the song, they say, they call me the seeker. I've been searching low and high, I won't get to get what I'm after, till the day I die. Now in the hula, as they're writing this song there. It's about someone who's lost and their life. They don't. They don't know what they're here for. They don't know what I'm striving for. And they don't know what this life is about. I think that's their point. I don't know what I'm after. I don't know. I don't know what I'm striving for. And I'm not going to find out until I die. And they think that death will somehow then give them relief for purpose. But here in our text is we're told there in verse 10, Jesus is the real seeker. He knows his mission. He knows what he is after. But the interesting thing to hear with Jesus even as the who said, he will get it through his own death. And He does this by going into Jerusalem. And Jesus will go on a tree if you will. And he will take upon all of your sins upon himself, so that you might be off the tree and at his feet worshipping Him, for a God who is full of mercy and grace to great sinners like you and me.
And again, just like the blind man, Jesus is passing by, in His word and in the sacrament, and now is the time to get out of your tree of curiosity. Now is the time to get out of your tree have a mere profession of faith, and to possess your faith, to live out your life for the Lord Jesus Christ, to not only believe but to repent, to turn from your sin into pursue the Lord Jesus Christ to rest upon him to welcome Jesus, not just into your home but into your heart. Will salvation come to you today? As it did Zacchaeus.
Will you leave this day with joy? As I keirstead will remember as we read, In Isaiah, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. That's the promise that is yours in Christ, receive it this day. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are merciful to sinners to the chief of sinners like us here at Bay Haven, where we thank you that Jesus is the seeker that he has come to seek and to save the loss. And Lord, I pray that you will help us to be followers of Christ that do not just have a mere profession, but a possession of faith that we seek to keep that we seek to produce fruits consistent with those who are repent thing, to not just be content to hear and to talk with one another about Jesus but to share Jesus, Lord to a world that is in opposition to you would be merciful to us.
Let us rest upon Christ, and it's in his name we pray, Amen.