The Savior Seeks - And Saves, Part 1

Father, we thank you for today, the opportunity we have to look into your word and to understand all that you do and who you are. And our prayer today is that you'd open our eyes, that we might be able to behold the beautiful truth that you have for us concerning Zacchaeus and his salvation, that we might be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. If you have your Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 19.

Excuse me, Luke chapter 19. As we look at an event in scripture that's only recorded by Luke, Matthew does not record it, Mark does not record it, neither does John.

Only Luke records the story of Zacchaeus. There's a reason why Luke records this story. There's a reason why Luke gives us a phrase that helps us understand the ministry and purpose of Christ. And this is the last personal encounter that Christ has before Jerusalem. You know that he's ascending up toward Jerusalem. He's crossed over the Jordan River. He's in Jericho. He's about to go to Jerusalem for Passover. It is a few days away from Passover week and a few days away from his impending death. And so as he passes through Jericho, there's an encounter he has with a man by the name of Zacchaeus.

Let me read it for you. Luke chapter 19 verses 1 to 10. Excuse me. And he entered and was passing through Jericho and behold there was a man called by the name of Zacchaeus. And he was a chief tax gatherer. He was rich and he was trying to see who Jesus was. And he was unable because of the crowd for he was small in stature. And he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see him for he was about to pass through that way. And when Jesus came to the place he looked up and said to him Zacchaeus hurry and come down for today I must stay at your house.

And he hurried and came down and received him gladly. And when they saw it, excuse me, they all began to grumble saying he has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, behold Lord half of my possessions I will give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything I will give back four times as much. And Jesus said to him today salvation has come to this house because he too is the son of Abraham. For the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Verse 10 of Luke chapter 19 is one of the glorious verses in all the scriptures. Because it explains to us the purpose for why Jesus came in his incarnation. Why Christ came to this earth. And in it is that story of Zacchaeus. And it's not a story so much about Zacchaeus as it is about Christ and why he came. Well we know the song about Zacchaeus. We grew up in Sunday school singing the song. As Zacchaeus was a wee little man. A wee little man was singing. He climbed up in a sycamore tree for it was Jesus he wanted to see.

I forgot the rest of it. But anyway you know the song. And we sang it growing up and it was a cute little song. But but the story of Luke 19 goes way beyond a cute little song that we recite or we can memorize in Sunday school. It's a story that goes to the most pivotal truth in all the scripture. That there is a savior and he seeks after sinners. And without him seeking us there would be no salvation. He calls himself the son of man. The son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.

That's very important. Because as we told you last week Jesus uses that phrase of himself some 80 plus times in the gospels. People call him the son of David. People call him the son of God. He calls himself the son of man. Because he wants to take the Jewish people back to that vision of Daniel in Daniel chapter 7 to understand the essence of the Messiah. That the Messiah truly is divine. Let me read to you those verses Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14.

Daniel says, I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man was coming. That's the phrase. And he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all the people's nations and men of every language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away. And his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. That vision that Daniel had about the arrival of the Messiah to set up an everlasting kingdom.

To have dominion over all of the earth is what Jesus refers to when he calls himself the son of man. Because he wants him to understand that in his incarnation he is God. It's God becoming man. The enfleshment of God. He wants him to understand that son of man is son of God, is son of David. So he calls himself the son of man because every Jew would automatically go back to Daniel 7 and 13 and 14 knowing that the son of man is the Messiah. The Messiah who will set up his kingdom and rule and reign forever.

Christ says the son of man came for this purpose to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to seek, to rescue, to save, to deliver. He came, he came to search after those Apollo who were who were devoted to destruction. Who were going to die. He came to save them. That's what he came to do. And so what we need to understand that this story of Zacchaeus is not so much about Zacchaeus as it is about the purpose of the son of man. The incarnation. Why God became a man. To seek after the lost.

Back in Ezekiel, Ezekiel the 34th chapter verse number 16 it says, I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick. Jesus is the seeker of man. Listen, there is no such thing in the plan and purposes of God as a seeker sensitive church. Because no man seeks after God. That just can't be. He's the seeker. He's the one who seeks and says man is not the seeker. How do we know that? Because Paul would quote the Old Testament in Romans chapter 3 and say these words, verse number 10, it is written there is none righteous, not even one.

There is none who understands, for there is none who seeks for God. None. All are turned aside together. They have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one. Their throat is an open grave. With their tongues they keep deceiving. The poison of ass is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths. And the path of peace have they not known, for there is no fear of God before their eyes.

That is a description of man. All from the Old Testament that Paul quotes to let you know that there is no man who seeks after God. He can't seek after him because of his blindness. He can't seek after him because of his sinfulness. He can't seek after him because of his deadness. Man is dead in his trespasses and sin. He can't do anything spiritually unless God initiates the process. That's why over in Ephesians 4 it says this. The unbeliever walks in the futility of their mind, verse 17, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.

And they have become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. That is a condition of man in his unconverted state. And so Luke, because of Luke's emphasis, gives us this story because he wants us to understand the purpose of Christ in his humanity. Listen, when Matthew wrote his gospel, he wrote to emphasize the royalty of the Messiah. He is king. When John wrote his gospel, he wrote to expose to us the deity of the Messiah. He is God.

When Mark wrote his gospel, he spoke to us concerning the humility of the Messiah. He is a servant of man. And when Luke wrote his gospel, he wrote about the humanity of the Messiah because God became flesh and dwelt among us. And the reason he did that is because he came to seek and to save that which is lost, that which is going to be destroyed. He wants to rescue us. And so when we read this story, we begin to understand everything about the mission and ministry of Christ in his last personal encounter with Zacchaeus before he ascends Jerusalem some 17 to 18 miles away from Jericho to go into Passover week to be sacrificed as the sacrificial lamb, that he might save us from our sins.

This is why he came. He came to seek and to save that which is lost. That's the purpose of the son of man. That's the purpose of his coming to this earth. God is the seeker of man. The Bible says he is the savior of man.

As you recall in Matthew chapter one, verse number 21 at his birth, it said, you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Paul said in first Timothy one verse number 15, that he was a chief of sinners and Christ Jesus came to save sinners.

That's why he came at the birth of Christ and Luke's account. Luke chapter two, verse number 11, which is the thesis of the birth of Christ and the whole story of Luke chapter two. It simply states that for unto you this day in the city of David has been born a savior who is Christ the Lord. Now, why is that important? It's important because everything in the Old Testament pointed to God as a savior. That's what he does. Way back in Isaiah chapter 45, or excuse me, chapter 42, it says verse number 11, I even, I am the Lord and there is no savior besides me.

There is no savior besides the Lord. Then over in chapter 45 verse number 22, it says, turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is no other. In other words, there is no other way to be saved, but by the Lord God of the earth. Over in Isaiah 44, verse number six, it says, thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, who by the way is the Lord of hosts. I am the first and I am the last and there is no God besides me.

In other words, the Redeemer who is the Lord of hosts is the King of Israel, is the God of Israel. And so when the Bible says unto you this day has been born a savior, that savior is the same savior as is described in the book of Isaiah about God being the only savior.

In fact, turn back if you would to the book of Exodus. The book of Exodus, the third chapter. Israel is an Egyptian bondage. They've been there for a while. They want to get out. They cry out to God. They trust that God's going to hear their prayers. God raises up a, a, a, a, a deliverer. That is Moses himself. He's going to lead the people of Israel out of bondage. And God calls Moses. He speaks to him through a burning bush. And in Exodus chapter three, he had this long conversation, Exodus chapter four as well, between God and Moses through this burning bush as God speaks to him.

And God says these words in chapter three, verse number seven, I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters.

And I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians. He says, I have come down. I've come down for a purpose. That purpose is to deliver. That purpose is to rescue. That purpose is to save. And Moses says, okay, I'm going to go tell the people this. Who do I say sent me? And God says, you tell him then that I am sent you.

I am those four Hebrew consonants that make up the name of God. As Gentiles, we say Jehovah. If you're Jewish, you say Yahweh, because you leave out the, the vowel sound and you say, uh, Yahweh, I am. And God describes from Moses, the eternal name of God, which is the memorial name. Listen to what it says. Verse number 15. And God, furthermore said to Moses, thus, you shall say to the sons of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.

This is my name forever. And this is my memorial name to all generations. What's the memorial name of God? It's Yahweh. I am, which means I am a deliverer. I have come down to deliver you. God wants us to remember him as a rescuer, as a savior, as a redeemer, as a deliverer. So he sets up for Israel, this whole Passover thing that every year you celebrate the Passover because you can't forget who I am. You can't forget about your deliverance. You can't forget about your saving, how I came in, how I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and how I brought you into a land flowing with milk and honey.

You can't forget that. So at that last Passover, when Christ celebrates it with his men in John chapter 13, he tells them this, this is my blood. This is the new covenant in my blood. This do in remembrance of me. He transformed, transforms the Passover into what we call the Lord's table communion, but it's still in memorial or in memory of who Christ is. Remembering that I am a savior. This is how you must remember me. This is how you must know me. Why? Because the son of man came for this purpose, that he might seek and save that which is lost.

That one verse and one verse alone should revolutionize our attitude. That one verse and one verse alone should turn our attitudes upside down in such a way that no matter what the circumstance, no matter what the situation, my God is my savior because that is the essence of all that life is about, that God has saved us from our sin. Why? Simply because God spells it out for us in scripture that this is what causes him great joy, great joy. Way back in Isaiah chapter 62, Isaiah chapter 62, listen to what the Lord God says to Israel.

He says in Isaiah chapter 62 verse number five, for as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you. In other words, when Israel is finally saved, God rejoices over them.

Why? Because that's what causes the heart of God to flip with joy. It is the salvation of lost souls. As the bridegroom rejoices over his bride. See, we have a problem understanding that because we don't have any very many bridegrooms rejoicing over their brides today. I mean, think about it. Your bride should be the greatest person in your life. You should rejoice over her. You should be joyful with your wife. You should love her, nurture her, care for her. She should be the most important person in your life.

So excited to be with her because she's everything to you. That's more than I got the first service. I didn't get anything in the first.

It was dead quiet. The first, they're the frozen chosen, man. They don't do anything in the first service, but at least I got at least four or five amens, because in all reality, as a bridegroom, that's what we do with our brides, man.

We just rejoice over them. Well, that's what God does with us, and yet we've missed that. It says over in the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 32, it says, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good, and I will put the fear of me in their hearts that they will not turn away from me, and I will rejoice over them to do them good. Wow. God says, man, when I fulfill the covenant that I made to Abraham and to Isaac and Jacob, what's going to happen is that Israel is going to be committed to me, and they're going to fear me, and I'm going to rejoice over them.

I'm going to be ecstatic about them, and I'm going to do them good, because you see, God is good and do us good. Psalm 1968, God never does bad to his people. He just never does. He does good to them. That's the kind of God he is, and so he rejoices. This is so important, because Luke emphasizes this. Remember the story about the shepherd and the lost sheep? He searches for the lost sheep, and he finds them. There's a great celebration, and Christ says, there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, and then he gives a story about the widow and the woman and the lost coin, and she searches, and she finds it.

She throws a huge celebration. Same phrase, because there's joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, and then the story of the lost son and the father who rejoices. For once my son was lost, but now he's found, and there's great celebration, and it all emphasizes the celebratory nature of God himself when that which is lost is found. You see, we need to get excited about the things God's excited about, and because we're not excited about the things that God's excited about, we don't get excited about anything.

We're Boersville. I don't even know if that's a word, but it is today, okay? We just don't get excited about the things that God gets excited about, and we need to realize that. Remember back in Luke chapter 10? Turn there with me, if you would, please. Luke chapter 10. We were there many months ago, years ago now.

Luke chapter 10. Remember Luke 10, he sends out the 70. Sends out the 70. Now, you know, we don't even know who they're, what their names are. We don't know who they are. We just know it's the 70 of them, and doesn't make any difference whether we not, we know their names or not, because God knows their names. That's all that counts, right? And so they're sent out. They do great and powerful things. They preach the gospel, and and they see Satan being bound, and demons cast out. They see so many marvels.

They come back, and they are so ecstatic. It says in verse number 17, and the 70 return with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. Can you imagine? They've been commissioned by the Lord God. They go out, and they see everything that he has already told them going to happen, happen, and they come back so ecstatic, so on fire. They come back, the text says, with joy. Excited. Lord, man, you ought to see what was happening, as if he didn't know what was happening. And so he says, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

Behold, I've given you authority to tread upon serpents, and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. Get perspective. Maintain perspective. I mean, you're ecstatic now.

You're excited now, because you saw great things happening, and that's good. That's good. But to maintain a proper attitude, and to maintain the kind of attitude that glorifies my name, you need to have the attitude that rejoices over one essential fact. That your name is written down in heaven. That I have come to seek and to save you. You have been found. You are saved, and you're going to heaven. Rejoice over that. And then he says this. He says that that very time, he rejoiced greatly. Only time the scripture says so.

He rejoiced greatly. Jesus rejoices. Now, what gets Jesus excited? Whatever gets Jesus excited must get me excited, or I'm going to have a problem with excitement. That make sense? So what is it that gets Jesus excited? Well, it says, I praise thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent, and has revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in thy sight. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son, who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him.

He says, I'm ecstatic about those who are able to understand the character and nature of the Son, because those people are my children, and those people are saved. And he was ecstatic over the plan, the supernatural provision of salvation given to man, and the supernatural predestination of God to choose man. He was excited about that plan. That's in Luke's gospel too. So Luke emphasizes the joy of the Lord in salvation. And so what we need to, we need to come back, take a few steps back, sit down and say, okay, what is it that gets, gets me fired up?

What is it that, that gets me excited? What is it that, that, that, that turns my prop that I just can, can be so excited about the things of God? That the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost. That's what brings joy to the heart of God. That's what brings joy to all of heaven. And that should bring joy to the people who know their God. And so here is Luke giving us the purpose behind the arrival of the Messiah. You say, well, wait a minute, doesn't, doesn't man somehow have to seek God too?

I mean, after all, you know, isn't Zacchaeus kind of doing that? I mean, he wants to see Jesus, right? So there must be some, something in Zacchaeus that's moving him to, to seek Jesus, that, that he wants to be a seeker. Oh yes. But he's only there because of what the Spirit of God has already prompted in his heart. And that will be evident as a story unfolds before us this week and next week. You have to see how the story unfolds in exactly what Jesus says to Zacchaeus and exactly how Jesus responds to what Zacchaeus responds to what Jesus says.

To understand that it's God who's already taking the initiative in Zacchaeus' life to draw him to himself. The Bible says, these words, book of Proverbs, eight chapter, 17th verse.

I love those who love me and those who diligently seek me will find me. See, I knew the Bible said that if I seek after God and I diligently seek him, I'll find him. Well, remember what Jeremiah said, Jeremiah chapter 29, the Lord God says these words.

He says, for thus says the Lord, when 70 years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me. And I would listen to you and you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart and I will be found by you. In other words, what I'm doing is I'm taking the initiative.

I'm putting you in Babylonian captivity because you don't seek after me. So I'm going to put you in a situation that will cause you to cry out for me, cause you to seek me. And when you seek me with all of your heart, guess what? I'll listen and you'll find me. See, but God takes the initiative. That's why it says over in the book of Isaiah, the 55th chapter, the sixth verse, these words, Isaiah 55, verse number six, seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord and he will have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Yes, we are to seek the Lord. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things should be added unto you.

But that seeking of God comes simply because of what God has done in the heart of that sinner to move him toward the things of God. Salvation is all of God. It's all a supernatural work of God. A dead man cannot move. A blind man cannot see unless God opens his eyes and moves him. And that happens through the supernatural work of the spirit of God. And so Luke is helping us understand what it is that God is doing. Now, here is Jesus. He's in Jericho. We've already read the story about blind Bartimaeus and how he would cry out to God.

He would ask the people, what's happening? What's going on? He can't see. Let's see what's Jesus in Nazareth. He's in town. And remember now they're going to Passover. They're going to Jerusalem. And there's going to be millions of people in Jerusalem for Passover. And so the thousands of revelation, I mean, sorry, Matthew chapter 20 tells us that there's a great multitude of people following the Lord. That's a lot, thousands of people. And you can see them coming from a distance in the desert and here they come.

And here comes Jesus and the blind man hears the ruckus. He knows something's happening. What is happening? Who is it? It's Jesus of Nazareth. And he says, son of David have mercy on me because he knows that the Nazarene is the son of David. He calls him Lord, knowing that he is the son of God. He affirms his deity. The blind man saw better than anybody else in Jericho except for Zacchaeus. But God opened his eyes and that man was saved that day. The Lord God stops, calls the blind man to himself.

The people say he's called you. And Jesus says, what do you want me to do for you? I want to gain my sight. The man had great faith in the living God, but that's all transpired already. So now the crowds are probably even greater than they were when they arrived in Jericho. And Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus, by the way, whose name means clean, pure, and righteous. And Zacchaeus was unclean, impure, and unrighteous. He had lived contrary to what his parents had named him, but he would soon be righteous. He would soon be clean and he would soon be pure.

He didn't know that, but it was about to happen. And so here comes Jesus. He's in the town of Jericho or in the city or in the village of Jericho. There are thousands of people. And the Bible says that Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector.

He was not just a tax collector. He was the chief tax collector. That means he was a high man on a totem pole. He was on top of the pyramid. That means there were other tax gatherers under him. Now you need to note that there were three main cities for taxation. There was Jericho in the south, there was Capernaum in the north, and there was Caesarea Maritima on the sea in the central part of the land of Israel. In Jericho, Zacchaeus was the top dog. He was the guy. And the Bible says not only was he a tax collector, he was a chief tax collector, and he was very rich.

Why was he rich? Well, simply because he was able to gain from all the other tax collectors proceeds from their collections. He was very rich. Now he's a tax collector. Everybody hates tax collectors. Everybody hates them, despises them. Why? Because they had sold their rights. They had given their lives to Rome in order to obtain money. And the Jewish people hated tax collectors. And there was a tax. You know, God instituted taxation, by the way. So don't get upset come April 15th when you got to pay your taxes.

God instituted taxation way back with the nation of Israel. There was a poll tax. There was a ground tax. And so they would be charged for certain things. But the tax collectors could charge anything they wanted beyond that. So if I come into Jericho and I've got my buggy and I got my horse, I'm a tax collector. I can tax your horse. I can tax your buggy. I can tax the wheels on your buggy. I can tax all the axles that hold your wheel and all the spokes in the wheel. I can tax the goods you're bringing in to sell, and I can tax the goods you buy and leave with.

I can tax whatever I want. I'm a tax gatherer. And the Jewish people hated the tax collectors because they would just soak people dry. And here was Zacchaeus. This guy was rich. He had all kinds of money. And so he was despised by the Jewish people. And the Bible says that he was a little man.

And he was a little man. But he wanted to see Jesus. And so I'm sure he tried the jump up thing, you know, when you try to see Jesus and try to look over everybody. He just couldn't get up there. And he couldn't ask anybody, hey, hey, can you give me on your shoulders? Because everybody hates him. Nobody wants to hold him. You're not going to get on my shoulder. Get away from me, you tax collector. I don't want to have anything to do with you. And so he couldn't get on anybody's shoulders or anybody's back.

So he finds a tree, a sycamore tree. It's like an oak tree. It's got a huge trunk, but the branches are lower to the ground. They're thick, easy climb. If you've been to Israel with us, if you've been to this past year, we went to Jericho, we saw one of those sycamore trees. You're able to see those things. They grew in that particular area of the world. So Zacchaeus knows the route that Christ is going to go. And so he goes to this tree, climbs up in the tree. It's a little guy. And he perches himself like a bird in the tree to see Jesus.

He wants to get a glimpse of Jesus. Now he has no friends. Only friends he has are tax collectors. There are two tax collectors mentioned by name in the Bible. Zacchaeus, Matthew. You can bet Zacchaeus knew who Matthew was. You can bet because that's the only friends they had were tax collectors. And he probably had heard about this transformation in Matthew's life. He left his table and he went to follow Jesus the Messiah. Why would he do that? So of course his curiosity is piqued. Why would Matthew follow him?

Why would anybody follow him? He had heard of the miracles. He had heard of the healing power of Jesus. He knows about the resurrection of Lazarus. Everybody knew about the resurrection of Lazarus. It went all the way to the top in Jerusalem where the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus and kill Lazarus because of the testimony of the man. So everybody knew about the resurrection power of Jesus. The popularity of Christ was overwhelming. And Zacchaeus knows about the popularity. But Zacchaeus knows he's alienated.

He's isolated. He has no friends. He's miserable. Get a glimpse of Jesus. Who is this Jesus? Who is he? What can I know about him? Now Jesus knows all about this. How do we know? Because Jesus is in Jericho. He's walking and he stops. He looks up. He says, Zacchaeus. That alone would cause Zacchaeus to wet his pants. Let's be honest. Okay. How does he know my name? He's never met me before. How does he know my name? Zacchaeus. Boy, I tell you, I'd have been a nervous wreck. He wants to see him. Not so sure he wants to talk to him, but he wants to see him.

And Jesus stops at the base of the tree. Zacchaeus, he says, hurry and come down. It's a command. He gives Zacchaeus a command. For today I must stay at your house. And he hurried and came down and received him gladly. He obeyed the command. It wasn't like, hey, what are you doing up there? Who are you? Have I met you before? I'm Jesus. What is your name? No, he knew his name. Hey, you know, how about we get together, have a little dinner, have some falafel, you know, have some, you know, have some good old, you know, Jewish food.

Let's get together and have a good time together. You want to do that? No, Jesus didn't ask to be with him. He commanded him, hurry and get down here. Why? Because I'm going to your house. I must go to your house. Because the sovereign God of the universe not only knows the place of your conversion, but knows how and when you'll be converted, because he's in charge of it. And that's a story of Zacchaeus. He says, I must go to your house. Of course, everybody begins to murmur, grumble. They saw they all began to grumble saying he has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.

How could he do that? You must imagine all these people and they're thinking to themselves, why would this self-proclaimed Messiah eat with the tax gatherer? Remember, he's been called the friend of sinners and tax collectors. That's a title that was given to him. That's why they said he was of Satan because of who he hung out with. See of all these people, the blind man's already been healed. The blind man's already on the path to follow Jesus up to Jerusalem. He's with them. Jesus stops, says Zacchaeus, hurry and come down.

I must, I must go to your house today. Now that's very important. Why? Because there are seven of those in Luke's gospel. They're called divine musts. All describing the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of the Lord God of Israel. It begins back in Luke chapter two, verse number 49. Remember that? When Jesus was left in Jerusalem by his parents because they were going back to Nazareth and they forgot or didn't have Jesus, had to go back and get him. Remember that? On the third day, they found him in the temple.

And what did he say? Don't you know, I must be about my father's business. The divine must, the very first one.

He's 12 years of age. It's the only thing we know about Jesus outside of his birth. And when he begins his ministry at his baptism, that there's something about Christ and what he knows about his life. I must be about my father's business. I must serve in truth. I must. The second one is found over in Luke chapter four, verse number 43.

But he said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God and to the other cities also for I was sent for this purpose. I must not only serve in truth. I must speak the truth. I got to tell people about the kingdom of God. I must preach the gospel. I must do this. And then over in Luke nine, verse number 22, Luke nine, verse number 22, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised on the third day.

I must serve in truth. I must speak the truth and I must suffer for truth. And then the fourth one is over in Luke chapter 13, verse number 33, which says, nevertheless, I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. I must be sacrificed for the truth. And then Luke 19 five, I must stay at your house, Zacchaeus. I must save people with the truth. Seek them and save them. Then Luke chapter 22, verse number 37, crisis. This is number six, Luke chapter 22, verse number 37.

For I tell you that this, which is written must be fulfilled in me. And he was numbered with transgressors for that, which refers to me has its fulfillment. I must submit to the truth. And then the last divine must is Luke 24, verse number 44. These are my words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scripture. The seventh divine must is you must see that truth.

Seven of them. And one of them is recorded here in our passage in Luke chapter 19. I must go to your house. This is a pre ordained appointment. This is a divine appointment, Zacchaeus. It's what we call in theology, the irresistible call of God. Zacchaeus could not resist because God had called him. The Bible says here, he came down and received him gladly, gladly.

And all the people would begin to grumble about what Jesus was doing in this last personal encounter before he arrives in Jerusalem. And the last encounter tells us about the purpose of the Messiah to seek and to save that which is lost. And what God does, listen carefully, what God does in the life of Zacchaeus is what he has done, is doing, and will do in every single person's life who comes to Christ without exception. That is a total transformation, a new creation. Zacchaeus becomes once again, an example of how God transforms a sinner into a saint, how he takes the unrighteous and makes them righteous, the impure and makes them pure, the unclean and makes them clean.

So what his name means, he can live according to because of what God does in his life. And throughout the scriptures, there was this running theme about the conversion of sinners. And that theme is you do become a new creation, not next week, not three years down the road, right there. That is the supernatural power of God intervening in the life of a sinner to transform them and save them. It's unmistakable in scripture. I know you've heard other people say things and you've read books and you've watched the movies.

You know, don't do that. Keep your finger in the text. What does the Bible say? That's all that matters, a transformation of the life. And you will see in Zacchaeus how one man's life in one moment of time is completely transformed. So much so he's willing to give everything away. Christ has already said about the rich young ruler that it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And the disciples said, well, then who can be saved? Answer, Zacchaeus.

Because Zacchaeus is about to go through the eye of a needle. Zacchaeus is that person who realizes that when Christ calls you, you come and are born again, a new creation, you're transformed. Zacchaeus becomes a living illustration of conversion. That when we read it in next week, we'll go into great detail about it. He's called the son of Abraham. He goes to the Lord God and says, half of what I owe, I'm going to give to the poor. Half of what I have, I'm going to give to the poor. He's going to give it all away.

Why? What should I profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? It's the living illustration of Luke 9, 23. If any man came unto me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. It's that once again, divine illustration of what conversion looks like. And if your life doesn't look like that, you're not converted. I don't know how to say that. If your life has not been transformed, where you are a new creation, old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

You need to go back and ask yourself, have I truly given my life to Christ? Because when Jesus calls you, because he came to seek and to save that which is lost, that when Jesus calls you to himself, he calls you by name. He calls you by name. He knows your name. He knows your name. He says, hurry and come here. And you come. And how you come? Gladly. You come gladly. You don't come, well, you know what? Let me think about it for, I'm in the tree.

It's kind of shaded right here. Let me think about it for a while, Jesus. And I'm not sure you're so sure you want to come to my house because, you know, I'm not well liked here in Jericho. He hurries, comes down. She's in gladly. And on the way to his house, without any record of the conversation, he's totally transformed. This is what conversion looks like. And this is that last personal encounter that Jesus has. Remember, we told you there's only four more people going to get saved. Blind guy last week, Zacchaeus next week, the man not there yet.

That's the next verse. And then you got the thief on the cross. And you got the Roman centurion at the foot of the cross. That's it. Just four more people are going to be born again, going to become new creations, are going to give their life to the Messiah, just four more. And we have the opportunity to study their conversion. We're not going to rush through it. We're going to bank, sit down and soak it in and say, what happened to Zacchaeus? What did God do? Because God did it because he's in charge.

Pray with me, would you please? Father, we thank you for today. What a joy to study the scriptures, to realize the power of Almighty God. Thank you, Lord, for the story of Zacchaeus, his conversion, and how Luke has put it into his gospel that we would understand what it is Christ is doing. There are people who are willing to forsake all and follow him. Those are the people you've called. Nothing in the world is so dear to them. They'll hold on to, to neglect you. They'll give their life to you and follow you and serve you.

That's our prayer for all of us today, that there'd be nobody here that's willing to hang on to this world's goods, to hang on to this world's relationships that will keep them from forsaking everything to follow Christ, who is the seeker and the savior of man. In Jesus name. Amen.