I'm sure you know what this is. It's a Bible. It's a big book, thick book. It's a book filled with words. There are no pictures, no photographs, no diagrams, just words. But they're the truest and the most valuable words in all the world. because they're God's words. They were written by men, but men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. They are God's words. All of them are true. All of them are important. But one of the most important words found in the Bible is the word salvation, salvation. In Greek and in English, the word salvation means deliverance. It implies that a person is in trouble and needs to be rescued, delivered, saved. When the Bible speaks of salvation, it is talking about a problem that all of us have. It's a problem with God. We all have a problem with God. God is our creator. He created each of us individually. He created us for the purpose of knowing him, loving him, living in his communion, walking in his presence, spending our lives worshiping him, And a part of worshiping God is obeying him, doing what he wills for us to do, and he has communicated his will to us in the Bible. The trouble comes with the fact that none of us have lived up to God's design. We haven't loved God with our hearts, We haven't lived our lives in His communion. We haven't sought Him. We haven't enjoyed Him. We haven't used all of our abilities and days to worship Him. And we most certainly have not obeyed Him. We disobeyed Him. And God, because He is God, and He's holy, and He's just, He cannot ignore our sins. He must deal with our sins, and He has purposed to do that by way of what the Bible calls judgment. The judgment of God abides upon us because of our sin. Now, what does that mean practically? Well, in the present, it means that God doesn't walk with us. He doesn't commune with us. He has not promised to answer our prayers. He's not for us. He is against us. But the worst part of judgment is yet to come. Because of our sins and God's judgment, we must die. We will all die. But death isn't the end. After we die, we will each one individually stand before God and we will give account to God for our lives and for our sins. and then God will consign us to be separated from him forever. Forever separated from everything that is good and pleasant, from all mercy, all grace, to experience his wrath forevermore. That's our trouble. Pretty big trouble, right? Salvation is deliverance from all of that. Salvation is forgiveness for our sins. It's God pardoning all our sins. Salvation is God taking the obedience of another, a perfect obedience, and crediting that to our account. Salvation is another taking the punishment that we deserve but cannot bear. Salvation is someone infinitely valuable giving his life in the place of ours. Salvation is a change of heart, a transformation of mind and will so that we become lovers of God and those who delight to do his pleasure. Salvation ultimately is life instead of death. It's a place reserved in heaven. It's to be with God in his glory forevermore. It is to live with him in this world when it is made new and God dwells among his people. That's salvation. It's the greatest thing in all the world. It's the most valuable thing in all the world. It's the most necessary thing in all the world. but it's something that must happen now. It must happen in this world. There is no salvation for anyone once death comes. If we're going to be saved, we must be saved here, now, today. Has salvation come to your house? Have you been delivered, set free, forgiven, redeemed? Have you been saved? Our text this morning is the record, the account of one man's salvation. A man that everybody who knew him would have thought to be not a candidate for salvation. To be sure, a prime candidate for judgment. Open your Bibles again, please, to Luke chapter 19, third book of the New Testament. Luke chapter 19. We've read the text. Well, now let's notice several distinct features of the text, and we'll do that by a series of questions. The first question is this, where did this event take place? The event recorded in Luke 19, one through 10. Well, verse one tells us, he, Jesus, entered Jericho. It happened in a city called Jericho. Archaeologists tell us that Jericho is one of the oldest cities in the world. Jericho was a very important city in the history of Israel. When Joshua led the children of Israel out of the wilderness into the promised land, the first city they encountered was Jericho, protected by high, dense walls. But following God's directions, Joshua and the people of God saw God tear down those walls and the city was captured. Jericho still exists. It's been rebuilt several times. It's on the west bank of the Jordan that's presently under the control of the Palestinian Authority. But in our Lord's day, Jericho was a prosperous trade center. It was a major trade route from countries to the east of Palestine that led through Jericho to Jerusalem. And so people bringing goods to have sold in Jerusalem would bring them through Jericho and there they would have to pay tariffs and taxes. And Jericho was a very wealthy city. Well that's where it happened, that's where these events transpired. Question number two, what was happening in Jericho? According to this text, something was taking place, something unique. What was it? Well, look at verse one again. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. Jesus was passing through Jericho. That's what was happening. At this point, the Lord Jesus was nearing the end of his earthly ministry. He came, ultimately, for the purpose of dying. You say, well, Pastor, we're all gonna die. Yes, but we purpose not to die. We do everything we can to avoid dying. He came for the purpose of dying. He came to lay down his life in the place of guilty, condemned people. Jesus came to secure that salvation that I described just a few minutes ago. He came to purchase salvation in behalf of people who were perishing, who deserved to perish, who didn't deserve to be saved, and who could not afford the cost of salvation. Jesus came to purchase redemption for the perishing, and he did that by going to Jerusalem and dying in their place. The Lord Jesus was passing through Jericho, en route to Jerusalem, where he would die in just a few days. One of the ways by which Jesus demonstrated that he was no ordinary man but was the son of God was by his ability to foretell the future, his prophetic abilities. Listen to what he had told his disciples just before entering Jericho. It's recorded in Luke 18. And taking the 12, Jesus said to them, see, we are going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. Listen, for he will be delivered over to the Gentiles. He will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him. On the third day, he will rise. And when you read the accounts of what happened to Jesus in Jerusalem, all of these things happened. He was delivered to Pontius Pilate. He was flogged. He was spit upon. He was grossly mistreated. He was nailed to a cross. He was killed. But the third day, he rose from the dead. Jesus was going through to Jericho en route to die in Jerusalem. And one of the most astounding parts of this text is the way he could focus on other people and their problems when he knew he was about to suffer the most horrific kinds of death. We have a hard time focusing on the needs of other people anytime, much less when we're about to die. Well, Jesus, because he was such a spectacular, mysterious figure, wherever he went, the crowds followed. And so it was, as he went through Jericho, crowds of people gathered to follow him. to listen to him, to watch him. What was happening in this text? Jesus walking through Jericho. Question number three, what was the particular event during this happening that Luke wants us to focus upon? What was the particular event Well, Luke wants us to focus upon a man named Zacchaeus and the remarkable encounter that occurred between Jesus and Zacchaeus. Now, why would he write about Jesus encountering one man? Why is that important for people of all generations to know? Well, it's because Jesus saves people one at a time. The salvation of God is an individual thing. Jesus doesn't save people in groups. He saves them one at a time. We want him to save everyone in our family, right? but he will not save us as families, he will save us as individuals. And this account is about the salvation of one individual. Whoever you are, Jesus knows who you are. And however you came to be here today, Ultimately, you were here because God, in His providence, brought you here. It may be the first time that you've ever been here. You may not know me, I may not know you, you may never come here again, but you are here today, right now, by the appointment of God. Now maybe you've been here hundreds of times. Maybe you grew up in this church. Still, you're not here accidentally. You are here by appointment. Jesus was passing through Jericho by an appointment, and his encounter with Zacchaeus was on purpose. Question number four. What distinguished Zacchaeus from others in Jericho? What distinguished Zacchaeus from others in Jericho? Well, look at verse two. 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 he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. Who was Zacchaeus? Well, Zacchaeus was what the old King James called a publican. Remember that phrase, publicans and sinners? Zacchaeus was a publican, not a republican. Well, I'm tempted to say something, but I'm not going to. He was a publican. That is, he was a tax collector. In fact, Luke says he was chief publican, chief tax collector. That meant that he was probably the most disliked, unpopular man in the whole city of Jericho. You will notice what the crowd said when Jesus said he was going to spend the afternoon in the house of Zacchaeus. They said he is going to be the guest of a sinner, as though they weren't. But that's the way Zacchaeus was known. He was known as a sinner. He was hated in the streets of Jericho. Why? He was a tax clerk. I don't suppose any of us enjoy paying taxes. We all have a way of scrutinizing the way taxes are spent, and we can all argue that tax dollars are being wasted, and therefore we resent paying them. But for the Jews of the first century, paying taxes was peculiarly provoking. It was like a splinter in the eye. Why? because they had to pay taxes to the Roman Empire. The Roman army was an occupying force in Israel. The Roman Empire virtually governed the world in the first century. Roman army had conquered Israel and had conquered a host of other nations and people. And the Roman Empire required that people conquered and dominated and occupied by Rome would have to pay exorbitant taxes for the privilege of being protected. by Rome, the Jews ever a fiercely proud independent and frugal people despised this intrusion and this taxation by the Romans. But if possible, what was even worse, what the Jews hated even more was that they had to pay their taxes to a fellow Hebrew who represented the Roman government in coming to them to collect. the revenue. Romans were very shrewd. Whenever they conquered a people, they chose inhabitants of that people, citizens, natives of that people to be the tax collectors because they knew who the rich people were and they knew how people hid their money. Zacchaeus was a Jew, but he represented the Roman Empire in collecting taxes. Oh, he was hated. It would have been tantamount to a French citizen collecting taxes in France for the Nazis during World War II. How that man would have been hated. But what made the situation even worse? The Romans allowed tax collectors to charge over and beyond what the Roman government charged. In fact, if they were going to be paid for their work, they had to get that pay from the people they taxed. So the Roman government levied a tax, but then the tax collector added on to that what he thought he could get for himself. And so it was that tax collectors were viewed as traitors who were thieves. They were notorious for extorting exorbitant amounts of money, hiding behind the power of the Roman army. Zacchaeus was chief tax collector. It's the only place in the New Testament that that expression is used. We don't know exactly what it meant, but it meant that he was probably wealthier than anyone else in Jericho, and he was most certainly most despised. Well, given who Zacchaeus was, we are particularly surprised that he was so eager to see Jesus. Verse three, he was seeking to see who Jesus was, If he knew anything about Jesus, he must have known that he was a holy man. He was a holy man. He was poor. He could make others rich, but he chose not to make himself rich. You would think that Zacchaeus would want to hide from Jesus. He didn't. He was curious. He wanted to see this man. I wonder why. Well, perhaps it was because of the widespread fame of Jesus. There wasn't a lot of entertainment in the first century. And if some guy came along who did tricks, or somebody came along who was an exceptional orator, well, what better but to go and see him? See what he did, see his tricks, listen to him speak. Perhaps that was why Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Or it may have been because he had heard that no longer than Jesus had been in Jericho, he had already performed an astounding miracle. He encountered a man born blind and gave him his sight. Right there, but this side of the road. Perhaps that piqued his interest. Or, or you know, It may have been that Zacchaeus had heard that Jesus treated tax collectors better than any Jewish rabbi they had ever known. Maybe he heard that Jesus had had meals with tax collectors and he didn't call them ugly names. Perhaps he had heard that one of the Lord's disciples had been a tax collector. Jesus was known among outcasts as a friend of sinners. Well, whatever his curiosity, Zacchaeus had a problem trying to see Jesus. He was exceptionally short. One commentator said, by virtue of what we know about people of that time and place, for Zacchaeus to have been exceptionally short, he must have been under five feet tall. He was a very short man. Being so short and being so hated, Nobody in the crowd would get out of his way so he could see. When I was a kid growing up in Winston-Salem, one of the highlights of every year was the Christmas parade. Thousands, tens of thousands of people would crowd the streets of downtown Winston to see the floats and the high school bands and the clowns. One of the things I observed even as a child and it impressed me, total strangers who perhaps had been there for hours to get a prime location on the trade route or the parade route would get out of the way and let little children, strange little children come and take the prime place. Well, nobody was going to do that for Zacchaeus. He may have been no taller than a 12-year-old, but nobody was gonna make room for Zacchaeus, so he couldn't see Jesus. And so the little man, being a determined guy, decided that he would do something rather unconventional, something that you wouldn't expect a dignified businessman to do. There was one route through Jericho toward Jerusalem, and he saw Jesus coming down that route, so he ran way ahead of Jesus, and he climbed up in a low-hanging sycamore tree and waited to see Jesus pass under the tree. Jericho was famous for palm trees. This wasn't a palm tree, it was a peculiar species of a sycamore tree. And that's where Zacchaeus went to see Jesus. Surprising. But even more surprising than his curiosity and determination was his response to Jesus. When Jesus came and called him to climb down from that tree and to hurry up, get down from that tree because I have to spend today at your house, we're told that he came quickly and joyfully. Verse six, he hurried down and came down and received him joyfully. Joyfully. Why? Again, he's a sinner. Everybody knows it. He knows it. Jesus is holy. Why joyfully? Maybe something was already working upon his heart. Maybe. Or maybe Zacchaeus was thrilled simply that somebody wanted to come to his house. I can't imagine Zacchaeus had many guests. Not many people wanted to come to his house. And particularly somebody famous like Jesus. Beloved, we should not underestimate the impact of being hated upon Zacchaeus. He belonged to a truly despised minority. I wonder if the money he took was worth the hatred he endured. I often think about people who died in their sins, who rejected Jesus because they didn't want to give up the pleasure of sinning. I wonder in the regions of God's wrath, if they really do think the pleasure is worth the pain. Well, the most surprising information about Zacchaeus is found in verse eight. Look at verse eight. 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. Now Luke is writing in a very abbreviated, condensed way. So we cannot tell for certain when Zacchaeus made this statement or who heard the statement besides Jesus. It was made to Jesus. I see this, and I think there's evidence in the text. I see this statement as being the result of the private conversation that occurred between Jesus and Zacchaeus in the privacy of Zacchaeus' house, perhaps over lunch. I think Jesus went to his house. I think they spent private time together. I think Jesus spoke to him, and this statement was a result of that. This truly remarkable, surprising statement was made to and in response to Jesus. But, but, there is a distinct possibility that many other people heard it. There is a distinct possibility that Zacchaeus got up from the table and went outside his house where the multitudes were waiting for Jesus. And he made this statement, not just to Jesus, but to the multitude. When he said, when we were told, he stood and said, behold, That indicates a formal statement, not a casual statement, a formal statement. He stands to his feet, he says, behold, Lord, this was a formal statement. I think there's a distinct possibility that he went outside and made this statement to Jesus and all the crowd. In any case, it was a bold commitment It was a commitment to God, it was a commitment to men. It was a statement of repentance. It was a statement of repentance. Zacchaeus was making a confession of his sin. He was confessing that he had been greedy. He was confessing that he had loved money more than God, and he had loved money more than people, more than his neighbors. He's confessing that. He's confessing that he had defrauded, he had extorted money, he had exacted more taxes than he had a right to do. But most significantly, he was not just saying, I'm sorry, He was showing the fruits of repentance. He was going to demonstrate his repentance by restoring not only what he had taken, but more than what he had taken, much more. It's striking that in this statement Zacchaeus uses the present tense. He doesn't use the future tense. He's not promising to do something in a day, week, or month. He is saying I'm doing this now. And there's a distinct possibility that he brought his money with him outside the house and brought the tax records. and divvied out money right there and then to people who were there. Have you ever thought seriously about how much money Zacchaeus gave away? Half of everything he had, half to the poor. Half. If he had a million dollars, he was giving away 500,000. If he had 500,000, he was giving away 250,000. If he had 10,000, he was giving away five. Half. But then, of what he had left, he was gonna restore fourfold For everything that he had taken by fraud, fourfold. Mosaic law required 20%. If you stole $20, you repaid 24. Zacchaeus is saying, if I've taken 20, I'll restore 80. You think about that. I can see people saying, you didn't take any from me, but I'm willing for you to. It's often been said the measure of giving is not how much you give. It's how much you have left over after you give. Zacchaeus would have been considerably less wealthy at the end of this day. than he was at the beginning. Now what's the point? What's the point? It's very important that you understand what the point is not. The point is not that Zacchaeus was trying to buy his salvation. He was not bartering with God I will give away my money if you'll forgive me. I'll give away my money if you will take me to heaven. He was not doing that. No man can border with God. No man can do anything that meets the approval and satisfaction of God except Jesus alone. He was not trying to buy salvation. What's the point? The point is that Zacchaeus had been changed in his heart, in his affections. Zacchaeus had discovered something far more valuable than money or all the pleasures that money can provide. What he is doing here is showing the evidence of a repentant heart Here's a person whose spiritual eyes have been opened to the treasures and satisfactions that are found in Jesus and nowhere else. The things of this world had grown strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. He's been in the presence of Jesus. And now he knows who he is. He knows things about him that thrill him. He wants Jesus. He'll give up everything to have Jesus and to have what Jesus alone can do for him. You see, this is the point of the story. Zacchaeus is a completely different person at the end than he was at the beginning. He's a saved man. Now, last question. What made the difference? What made the difference? What changed Zacchaeus? Well, it was Jesus. That's evident, isn't it? It was Jesus. It's what Jesus did. It's what Jesus said. Well, what did Jesus do? Look at verse five. When Jesus came to that place, that tree, with Zacchaeus up in the branches, he looked up and said, Zacchaeus, hurry, come down, for I must stay at your house. Now Zacchaeus, he was simply hoping for a clear view of Jesus as he walked by. But Jesus stopped and he astounded him. He knew him. He called Zacchaeus by his name. And he said, I would like to stay at your house, if you'll have me. He said, I must stay at your house today. Seems like he had a plan. Zacchaeus was there out of curiosity. Jesus was there according to his father's plan. And he knew the man in the tree. And according to the father's plan, he must go to that sinner's house and deal with him. I said earlier, if you're here today, and obviously you are, it's by providential appointment. There's a plan that you don't know anything about that has brought you to this place. God purposed that you would be here today. Now, I don't know what God's plans for you are, but you're here and you're hearing about Jesus. And I can tell you, if there's something inside of you that is responding and feeling a tug and a drawing toward Jesus, you ought to see that as something God is doing, not something you are doing. Jesus had an appointment, he calls Ikeas down, and then Jesus went and had a private meeting with his sinner. Now, I very much would like to know what they talked about. Luke doesn't tell us, but I think we can draw a few reasonable conjectures. For one thing, I think Jesus spoke very bluntly to Zacchaeus about his sin. Zacchaeus, I know you know that you've been stealing from people, poor people. You made yourself wealthy on the backs of the poor. That makes you a scoundrel. But even worse, you have loved money more than you've loved God. God gave you all that you have. but you have loved it, material things, more than God. I think Jesus spoke very directly. That's the way Jesus deals with people. There may be, as you're seated here right now, there are things that are coming before conscience, things that I can't know and have nothing to say about, but you know and God knows, and God's bringing those things to your attention. That's what God does. He convicts. I think it's entirely possible that Jesus explained to Zacchaeus where he was going and what he was going to do, that he was en route to Jerusalem. and that once he was there, he would take the place of bad people like Zacchaeus. And the guilt of people like Zacchaeus would be laid on him, and the wrath of God drew those people and their sins would fall on Jesus, and he would take it, and by the value of his person, he would satisfy the justice of God in the place of rascals like Zacchaeus. And I think it's likely that he said, Zacchaeus, you're a bad man, you deserve to go to hell. But I've come to bring salvation to you. And if you will repent of your sins and trust me, I will impute to you my righteousness and the value of my death and you will never perish. The bottom line, Zacchaeus had private hard dealings with God. He had face-to-face dealings with Christ. He was transformed. He was changed in his heart, but even beyond that, he was forgiven, and he was reconciled to God, and he was taken out of death and placed into life. Notice what Jesus said in verse nine. Today salvation has come to this house since he is also a son of Abraham. What does that mean? It means that Zacchaeus believed the word and promise of God the way Abraham had believed. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Zacchaeus believed. Will you believe? Will you believe in Jesus? Will you call upon Jesus, confessing your sins as Zacchaeus did, turning from your sins as Zacchaeus did? Will you call on Jesus, entrust your soul, your sins, your eternity to Jesus? If you will, salvation will come to your house today. Jesus will do for you what he did for him. You said, how can you be sure, Pastor? You don't know me. You don't know the bad things I've done. You don't know the hatred that I've carried around in my heart, the rebelliousness, the pride. You don't know me. How do you know that Jesus will do for me what he did for Zacchaeus? I know he will. And I know we will because of the last statement of this text. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. He has you here today. He has you hearing about Jesus. He has you hearing about sin. He has you hearing this invitation. Are you a sinner? Are you estranged from God? Are you condemned? Come to Jesus. He will forgive you. He'll cleanse you. He'll give you life. He'll change you. No one else can. Church can. I can. No preacher can. No one can but Jesus. And he will. He will. He did it quickly for Zacchaeus. He'll do it quickly for you. Let's pray. And as we're preparing to pray, let me say if God has been dealing with you and you have some questions you'd like to have answered or you would like for someone to pray with you, Down the hall to my right, there is a conference room. If you would like to go to that room, there will be pastors there to minister to you more personally. I urge you to do that, but above everything else, I urge you to go to Christ. We thank you for the word of the gospel. We thank you that by that word, you create faith and life. You change people by that word. There are people here who need to be changed. There are young people here who need to repent. Perhaps there are older people here who need to repent. And we ask you to have dealings with them the way you had dealings with Zacchaeus. And may this be the day of their great transformation. Put your blessing upon us and upon the hearing of your word. For Christ's sake, amen.