Take your Bibles if you would this evening and turn to Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. I'm going to begin reading in verse 1. I'm going to read Luke 19 verses 1 through 10. Luke 19 verses 1 through 10. And here the scripture says, Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said to him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay your house. So he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, He is gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner. Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor. And if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold. And Jesus said to him, Today, salvation has come to this house, because He also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Last week, we began a short series around this holiday season, Why Did Jesus Come? And we're looking at reasons that Jesus Himself gave for coming to earth. We think about his coming this holiday season, this Christmas season. We are reminded that Jesus came from heaven's glory to be born on this earth. But why did he come? Well, we saw last week, last Sunday evening, that Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets. This morning we saw, from Jesus' own words, that Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. And now we see, from this passage before us, that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. Growing up, any spare time that I had, I pretty much would go ride my bike or go hiking in the woods. So I spent a lot of time in the woods. Just spent a lot of time in the outdoors. Enjoying hiking. Just enjoy being in the outdoors. So when I got to Northland, Northland was the Bible College, Bible University that I went to. When I got to Northland, Northland was situated in the middle of vast amounts of outdoors and wilderness. On the Northland campus, on the property of Northland, I believe there were four lakes. Just to give you an idea, this is out in the middle of nowhere. Woods all around. One day, some friends of mine said, let's go hiking. And I figured, hey, that's a great idea. Let's go hiking. I like being outdoors, get our mind off of studying, get some fresh air, so we went hiking. Now, normally when I would go hiking as a boy, I would either go hiking and I would start on clearly marked trails, and then if I got off the clearly marked trails, I would keep a pretty good eye out to where I was, relative to those clearly marked trails. Well this time I went with two of my friends and I thought that the two of them had already been in this area that we were hiking. So I didn't take really any notice whatsoever what direction we were going. We just went hiking and after about two hours of hiking we were thinking, you know what, we probably better get back because we're supposed to be back in time for supper. So my friends asked me, so how do we get back? I'd never been in those woods before, and I wasn't even paying attention, really, to much more than just our antics as we're hiking along. And we found ourselves, and maybe some of you have been in this situation, we found ourselves in the woods and we were walking the same route. We would find ourselves, okay, let's try this way, we'd go walking and somehow we'd end up at the same place. We were like, okay, we better go a different way. This time we'd find ourselves in the same place again and again and again. And we were lost. And I remember the feeling of helplessness. There were miles and miles of woods around. And it was quite possible that we would just be lost and they would have to send people out for us. I remember that feeling of helplessness. that there was nothing that I could do at that point, having tried so many different ways to get back to areas that we recognized. How can I do it? I was completely lost. By God's grace, we were able to find our way back. And that's a whole other story, which I attribute to God and His gracious providence. We were able to find our way back. And by the way, when we actually found our way back, we were far enough away, we kind of came up over this hill into a field, and we could look far in the distance and just see the peak of the water tower of our Bible college. But we found our way back. And it was so good to be found. Jesus said that he came to seek and to save the lost. As we think about the lost people that Jesus came to seek and save, Jesus did not just come to try to find people who were in the woods and had taken a wrong turn and weren't paying attention to where they're going. Jesus came to find people that were lost in a much more profound sense than that. He came to find, to seek, and to save people who were lost in See, it's one thing to be lost in the woods. It's one thing to be lost in the wilderness. If things are severe enough and you can't find your way back and you can't live off the land, you could lose your physical life out there. It's quite another thing to be lost spiritually. A person who is lost spiritually and is never found will not just lose their life physically, they'll lose their soul eternally. Jesus says, I've come to seek and to save that kind of person. I mentioned this morning about how all of us are sinners. Jesus came to seek and save sinners. people lost in sin, Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. We think about someone lost in sin, we might have a tendency to think of people that maybe are obvious sinners. That guy is lost in his alcohol and drug addiction. That person is lost in their violence. That person is lost in their life of crime. But the reality is that all of us, apart from Christ, are lost. See, you can be lost in the gutter, and you can be lost on Bay Street. You can be lost in the church pew. And a lot of people are. A lot of people attend churches without ever really having trusted Jesus Christ. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. As you read through the book of Luke, one thing that comes up over and over again is that God cares about lost people. Here, in Luke chapter 19, we have the story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a tax collector. We don't really like tax collectors today. Not many of us are trying to look up the name of the local CRA agents so we can have them over for Christmas. But back then, tax collectors were even more hated. Because it was common practice that the tax collector would not only force people to pay the taxes that the government said were owed, But they would also add more to that, so the people would end up becoming even more impoverished, and the tax collectors would get even more rich. Zacchaeus would have been a very hated person in society. In fact, just to give you a bit of an idea of how hated tax collectors were, read through all the Gospels and note how many times the word tax collector and sinner are noted together. It happens a lot. They were the despised element of society. They were rich, but everybody hated them. Jesus coming by, Zacchaeus, wants to know what Jesus is like. He's never met Jesus. He's never seen Jesus. We know the story. We just read it a moment ago. He's short, climbs a tree so he can see Jesus. Jesus passed by, looks into the tree, calls Zacchaeus by name, going to your house today. Zacchaeus comes down, receives Jesus into his house. And of course, as we looked at the story this morning, the religious people got all upset again. What's he doing hanging out with sinners? What's Jesus doing hanging around sinners? And of course, Jesus came to seek sinners. Jesus came to save sinners. And the sad thing is, the people that were all on Jesus' case for hanging out with sinners were sinners themselves. Just as much in need of Jesus as people like Zacchaeus. They were the ones that were lost in the church feud. They were the ones that were lost in religion. Well, we see what happens in Zacchaeus' life. Zacchaeus repents. People don't like his repentance. They're still murmuring. And Jesus puts them in their place. He says, today salvation has come to this house. The Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. Jesus came looking for lost people. God cares about lost people. You don't have to read Luke 19. You don't even have to get that far in the book of Luke to see just how much God cares about lost people. Luke chapter 15. There's a series of stories that Jesus tells. And he tells them because the religious leaders are all upset that the sinners are listening to Jesus. He tells a story of a lost sheep. He tells a story of a lost coin. He tells the story of a prodigal son. In every case, what was lost was found. The point that Jesus is making to these religious leaders is, if you're really into God's program, why aren't you happy when sinners come to repentance? Jesus seeks the lost. In fact, we read this morning, John 1.14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus didn't just stay in the ivory palaces and send good wishes our way. He stepped in to our humanity to save us. He stepped into our humanity to look for lost sinners. He found lost sinners. But I'm so grateful that Jesus didn't just seek the lost sinners. He also saves lost sinners. Jesus' own name means Savior. If you remember in Matthew chapter 1, the angel tells Joseph, you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Jesus doesn't just seek, he saves. We look in scripture and we see from Christ's own incarnation, the fact that he laid aside his heavenly splendor to walk among us, we see the willingness of Christ to save. But I'm so thankful that Jesus wasn't just willing but unable. I came across an article as I was doing some study and thinking about this message, I came across an article, the title was this, Canadian Search and Rescue. Courage without capacity isn't enough. Courage without capacity isn't enough. And isn't that the truth? A person may have the courage and the will to go in and save a person, but if they don't have the capacity, it's not enough. Jesus not only had the will, he had the strength to save sinners. We look back in the Old Testament and we see in Isaiah chapter 63 verse 1 this expression that our God in the midst of us is mighty to save. See, no one's come to Jesus looking for salvation from their sins only to find Jesus wasn't able to do it. Jesus doesn't have quotas. He doesn't get tired of receiving sinners. He doesn't have some sort of limited resources and, oh, I'm sorry, I'm out of those resources today. I can't save anymore. He is mighty to save. He saves perfectly and eternally. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. So my question for you this morning is, Have you been found by Jesus? Have you been found? Or are you still lost? Are you still lost as that sheep that's gone astray, that's turned to his own way? Jesus saves the lost. He is a perfect Savior. He says today, come to me. all that are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest." He says today, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Come to Jesus, He will save you. There's none too lost to be saved by Jesus. There's none too sinful to be rescued by Him. There's none so low that Jesus can't raise them up by His power. There's none so dark that He can't bring light into their life. Jesus saves the lost. And so I appeal to you today, if you have not trusted Jesus, go to Him. Turn from yourself and your sin to trust Christ for your salvation. But I also want those of us who have trusted in Christ to just dwell on this thought for a moment. We were lost. We were helpless. We were absolutely hopeless. This Christmas, it's good for us to just pause to remember that Jesus, He went all in for us. He left heaven to come to earth. He left glory to be born in a stable. He left the praises of the angels to hear the curses of men. He left the light of the glory of the presence of God to enter into the darkness of this world. Jesus, what a Savior. As we think this holiday, this Christmas season about what Christmas really means, those of us who have trusted Christ ought to have hearts that are filled with wonder and joy that Jesus saved us. And then, as I mentioned this morning, Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Join Him in His mission. There is a world around us that does not know Jesus. We are called to be ambassadors, representatives of our great King, Jesus. Reaching out, pointing others to Christ. Pointing the lost to the One who will save them. And so, Jesus said, I've come to seek. and I've come to save the lost. If you're lost today, trust Him. If He's found you, rejoice in that salvation that you have and join Him in His mission. And may we, this holiday season, really truly rejoice because our Lord has come. He's come to seek and to save people like us. We're going to conclude today