Good morning. I invite your attention to Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. Luke 19 verse one. Luke 19, verse 1, and Jesus entered and passed through Jericho, and behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was chief among the publicans, and he was rich. We just read in chapter 18 about a rich young ruler who went away from our Lord sorrowful for he was very rich. We're told in another place that he trusted in his riches. And then we saw what our Lord said about how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven. It's easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And right here, the very next chapter starts with this man, Zacchaeus, who was rich, all right? In chapter 18, we also read of the Lord having mercy on a man who was a publican. He was a publican who smote upon his breast, crying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Now, Zacchaeus here is also a publican. He's rich and he's a publican, but we do not read of Zacchaeus crying out for mercy. Chapter 18 ends with our Lord saving a blind beggar. Zacchaeus was neither blind nor was he a beggar. He was a man of authority. He was chief at his job. He was the chief publican and he was very wealthy. He possessed many earthly riches, okay? That's who this man is. Now look at verse 3. And he sought to see Jesus, who he was, and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way." It seems likely that Zacchaeus' seeking of this man, Jesus, was similar to that of another man's seeking. named Herod, turn over just a couple pages to Luke 23. And I'll go ahead and tell us that this account is not about Zacchaeus and how he was seeking the Lord. That's not what this is about. Not at all. Look here, Luke 23, verse eight. Luke 23, eight, and when Herod saw Jesus, He was exceeding glad, and let me note, this is as our Lord had been betrayed and was being led to the cross. This is when Herod saw him, okay? He saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad, for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he'd heard many things of him, and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned with, him in many words, but he answered him nothing." That right there is all most people ever wanted anything to do with the Lord Jesus. It was to see some miracle done by him and or to question him with many words. It's telling of Herod's motive in the fact that the Lord didn't answer him a word, didn't He? Again, back here in our text, We don't read of Zacchaeus coming to our Lord with a need. He did, however, have a problem. We just read it. He was short. This text came to my mind last week because my daughter, who's three, said that she learned about Zacchaeus in her Sunday school class. And I thought, man, I would love to study that and preach from that one day. And I hope the Lord's giving me a message. She said Zacchaeus was a wee little man. A wee little man was he. Indeed he was. That was his problem. He was short. He was too short to see this man, Jesus. He couldn't see over all these people that were there. Now what a great picture this is. What a great picture this is of our spiritual state before God. Zacchaeus, he was rich. He was in charge, he was head honcho at his place of employment, and yet he was small. He was small in God's sight. That was his problem. His problem wasn't that he might have been five feet tall. No, his problem was he was small in the sight of God Almighty, and that's our problem too. Because of the fall, that's our problem. We're too small. Zacchaeus, though he had a problem, it was a problem he thought he could fix. He climbed up into that tree, he thought, well, I'm short, I can do something about that. I can do something about that. Climbing that tree represents man's works. I'm short in God's sight, well, time to get to work. It's just like that rich young ruler, what shall I do? It's not what we do. Zacchaeus climbing into that tree did not save him. No, not at all. We must learn, brothers and sisters, that the way up to God is down. Again, I referenced that publican who cried, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. The Lord said, I tell you, this man went home justified rather than the other, for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. May God humble us. This is what you and I need right now. And every day, we need God to humble us. We need God to lay us low where we belong. That's what we need. Verse five right here in our text. And when Jesus came to the place, what place? The tree. The tree where Zacchaeus was. The chapter starts with, he passed through Jericho. As he passed through Jericho, this is where he was headed. He was headed to Zacchaeus' tree, though Zacchaeus didn't know it. Zacchaeus, he said that he was about to pass this way, but he had no idea the Lord was coming here just for him. I tell you, this isn't about Zacchaeus seeking the Lord, it's about the Lord seeking Zacchaeus. Now, why would our Lord do this? There was a multitude of people there thronging him, surrounding him. Why would he do this? I tell you, it wasn't because of anything in Zacchaeus. And not only was he a publican, and those were sinful men. They tricked people, conned people out of hard-earned money. He was the chief. The other publicans reported to him. He was a vile man, okay? Why would the Lord be pleased to come to him? Why would the Lord be pleased to come to his tree? Why didn't he just pass him by? I'll tell you why. That the purpose of God, according to election, might stand. Not of works, but of him that calleth. That's why. That's always why. Verse five, and when Jesus came to the place, the place he was purposed to be, he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down. Again, Zacchaeus, it's most likely he didn't even know what the Lord looked like. The Lord, he's just up there trying to find this man, Jesus, and next thing you know, the Lord is calling him by name. Imagine the shock. How'd he know my name? Tell you how, he's God, that's how. And in God's purpose and grace, Zacchaeus' name was already written in heaven in the Lamb's Book of Life. That's how he knew his name. And don't you love what the Lord said here? He commanded him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down. Make haste and come down. I'm telling you, this was not what Zacchaeus had in mind that day. This was not part of his plan. He just wanted to see this man, Jesus, who he was. That's all we read. He just wanted to see who he was. He had no intentions of meeting him. He certainly had no intentions of being called by name. But in God's amazing purpose and grace, this lofty publican is about to come down, and not merely come down from a tree. Verse five, when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. Not only was he coming down from that tree, the Lord of glory was coming to his house. Now there's multiple meanings here in I must abide at thy house. It's of necessity that the Lord Jesus Christ abide in our house. I'm talking about me and you. We need him to abide in us. It's critical. Union with Christ is essential. If a sinner is going to be accepted by God, we must have union with the Lord Jesus Christ. We must. We must. If he does not abide in us and in our house, we have no hope, none at all. But it was also of necessity that our Lord abide in Zacchaeus, house again. He was a chosen vessel unto our Lord. He was a child of God. That's why it was of necessity for the Lord to abide in his house. And note this, Zacchaeus did not invite the Lord to come into his house. But won't you let God into your heart? I've never heard anything so ridiculous. Zacchaeus, he would have been content that day if the Lord never came to him, and so would I. I would have been just fine, or at least so I would have thought. Would not have you been content just going about, living your life, climbing your tree, doing whatever? He did not invite the Lord to his house. The Lord said, I'm coming in. I must abide at your house. He didn't ask. He didn't ask for permission. We don't let God in and God doesn't ask us and see what we think and we come to a conclusion. No, the declaration goes forth. Today, I must abide at your house. Done. Period. Brethren, that's the way it is. That's the way it is. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad it's not up to us? I'm telling you, if anything pertaining to my salvation was up to me, I'd ruin it. I'd ruin it. I'm not just saying that, I believe that, I mean that. Because God has revealed to me what I am, sin. Sin ruins things. Praise God, his grace is greater than all our sin. Verse five again, today I must abide at thy house. He said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down. Verse six, and he made haste and came down. and he received him joyfully. Is it any wonder to you that Zacchaeus made haste and came down?" Does that surprise you? It doesn't surprise me one bit. Not one bit. Why? Because this is God. This is God we're talking about. This is God who came to Zacchaeus in his tree. This is God who he doesn't hope and want to have. He has whatsoever he desires. He has whomsoever he desires. He always has. He always will. He's God. It wasn't up to Zacchaeus in this moment as to whether or not the Lord would have him. Well, my house is too dirty. We have no idea how dirty our house is. We have no idea. And God doesn't wait for us to clean it up. He says, make haste and come down today. I must abide at your house. When it's time. When it's God's time, when it's the appointed time of love, He's coming to our house. Oh. Wasn't up to Zacchaeus. There was no decision for Zacchaeus to make. The decision had already been made. Whose decision is it for us to be saved? It's God's. It's His alone. Salvation's of the Lord from start to finish. I'll tell you what Zacchaeus' decision was. Zacchaeus decided to climb into a tree. Zacchaeus decided to do something about his minor problem. Just like that rich young ruler, well, I've kept all those commandments from my youth up. Well, that's too long. You're still lacking. What are you lacking? We're lacking Christ. You leave it all behind, you follow me, you'll have treasure in heaven. Christ is the treasure. Do we understand that? We either have the riches of this world, we either have a self-righteousness, or we have Christ. Christ is all, it's one or the other. Our Lord, what did he owe Zacchaeus? I love the song, Pass Me Not. Pass me not, O gentle, hear my humble cry, while in others thou art calling, do not pass me by. He could have walked right past Zacchaeus' tree. He could have left him there. He could have let Zacchaeus never see him. He could have never come to him, never call him by name, never command him, make haste and come down. Today I must abide at your house. Would God be right to pass us by, to pass us, leave us alone? Would he be or does he owe us something? Well, doesn't he know who I am? I'm the chief publican. Well, I'm the rich young ruler. Well, listen, if we're gonna be saved, it's gonna be according to his mercy. All God owes us is justice and judgment, that's it. That's what we deserve. It's all we deserve. But by God's mercy and grace, he must abide at his house. According to God's goodness and grace, Telling you, brethren, Zacchaeus was not looking to be saved that day. I was not looking to be saved, but according to his mercy, he saved me. That's just the truth. That's the truth. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he's near. I wouldn't, and neither would you. Christ came to Zacchaeus. That's why he was saved. Christ came to him. Why are we saved? Christ came to us. And as a result of him coming to us, we came down. We came to him. That's the only reason Zacchaeus came down is because the Lord came to him and said, come down and make haste. Notice it was urgent. Today, today, today's the day. Now is the accepted time. Now's the day of salvation. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Did you notice how Zacchaeus received the Lord? I love this. The end of verse six, joyfully. There's no other way the Lord is received. And know this too, the Lord is not, if he comes to us to be received by us, he's not gonna be rejected. He's not gonna be turned away. No, he said, make haste and come down. Zacchaeus made haste and came down. I told you, the decision was made, made by God. We receive him joyfully. No one receives our Lord reluctantly. Well, yeah, I play pickup basketball every week. Sometimes I'm a captain, sometimes I'm last pick. Sometimes we're picking teams, I'm not a captain. Well, I guess we have you. No one receives our Lord like that. Our Lord is not a pitiful Lord. He's the Lord God omnipotent and he reigneth. He has his way, he does what he will. We're in his hands, he's not in ours. We received him like Zacchaeus, joyfully. Verse seven, and when they saw it, speaking of the press, they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. First, I want to point this out. The Lord wasn't the guest. Zacchaeus was. Well, it was Zacchaeus' house. Well, who gave him the house? Who owns everything? Who's our creator? The Lord is. I love how our Lord is referred to as the Lord of hosts. He's the host. We're his guest. We're his guest. And what a sad testimony it is here of these people, this press, Again, often multitudes followed our Lord, but how rarely were people following Him who actually needed Him. Usually the way it was is our Lord would be thronged, like in this scenario, and then there'd be one poor, pitiful person with a need begging to get to Him. You recall the man with the frant, the paralytic, they couldn't get to him, so they climbed up on the roof and dropped him down at his feet. You recall the woman with the issue of blood, she was just crawling through all these people trying to just touch the hem of his garment. Our Lord constantly had people thronging Him. Oh, but how precious it was when someone came to Him with a need. And our Lord always gave the need. If we find ourselves coming to Him with a need, our Lord put that need in us every time. These people here, they said, He's going to be guest with a sinner. Do we have a problem with that? Do we take issue with God making sinners his company? Is that problematic to you? Do we find fault with God for being merciful and gracious to whom he will? Well, that's not fair. What did the scripture say? Nay, but O man, who art thou that replies against God? What are we gonna say to our creator? It just may be the Lord may put us in the field like a beast, like Gabe just told us about, for us to learn who the most high is. Thank God he has mercy on sinners. Praise God he delights to show mercy to all who need it. Thank God he said I will have mercy. Thank God he's the friend of publicans and sinners and eats and has fellowship with them. Praise God. Praise God Christ came to save sinners of whom I'm chief. See Zacchaeus, he was going from being a lofty chief to I'm the worst of the worst chief. Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Do we rejoice in this? Is this news that we can receive joyfully? Or do we murmur and complain at the thought? And I want to point this out. How could God have something to do with Zacchaeus? How could God have anything to do with you and me? We're sinners too. We've sinned against God, too. That's what we are, our brethren. We're sinners. How could God have to do with us? How could He have fellowship with us? How could He eat with us? God does not condone sin. He doesn't. He doesn't. He doesn't wink at it and sweep it under the rug. He does not be it known unto us. He does not. Well, you know, God, He hates sin but loves the sinner. Is that right? Well, Psalm 5, verse 5 says, he hateth all workers of iniquity. The foolish shall not stand in his sight. Then how does he have fellowship with sinners? In order for God to have anything to do with Zacchaeus, you know, they found fault with it. One, they thought that they deserved his company. Well, they were mistaken. In order for God to have anything to do with any of his fallen creatures, he must come down trade places with us, bear our sins in his own body on that curse, he must get in the tree. He must die on the tree in our place. That's the only way he could have anything to do with Zacchaeus. That's the only way he could abide in Zacchaeus. You understand that? And the same is true for you and me. They said he's a sinner. Not in Christ he's not. Not in Christ, he's not. In himself, yes. In Christ, he's perfect. In Christ, he's righteous. He's a just man, no sin. Oh, to be in Christ. It's no wonder after the Lord saved Saul of Tarsus, Paul said, oh, that I might win Christ and be found in him. And he said, not having my own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, Christ. I'm telling you, this is all about Christ. It's not about Zacchaeus. I pray we can see ourselves in Zacchaeus, the sinful man that he was, and I pray that we can see ourselves in Christ. Oh, may we go home today in Christ. Verse seven again. They saw it, they murmured, saying, He's gone to be guessed with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. These are the only words we read of Zacchaeus speaking. And they're wonderful words. The first thing that jumps out at me, he stood up, that implies that he was down, doesn't it? He just stood up. He made haste and came down. The Lord will cause us to stand in him. And what did he say? First word out of his mouth, Lord. He came here this day to see a man named Jesus, but he saw the Lord. Does that bless your heart? Lord. Now, the words he spoke here about restoring to those he'd stolen from and giving to the poor, he's not saying this by means of defending himself and, well, I'm actually not that bad. No, he's owning up to what he was. That's all it is. And know this too, God worked repentance in this man. He does. He works repentance in his people. Here's a difference that I see right here that did not exist at the beginning of this text. He's now ashamed of himself and the things that he's done and the way that he is, the sin that he knew was in him. Whereas he wasn't before. Has that been your story? Do we find ourselves now ashamed of ourselves, whereas before we just flat out didn't care? Now notice, notice who he spoke to. They said, he's a sinner. He stood up and he talks to the Lord. His only concern was the Lord. That's who he had sinned against. David said, "'Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil, and Thyself.'" Our sin is against God. Yes, we wrong each other, but our sin is against God who made us, and God who will judge us. That's who we need to be concerned about. That's who we need to be confessing our sins to, is God. Not men. It matters not what men think about us. You know, the scribes and the Pharisees, the religious people, all they ever cared about was what men thought. That's all they ever cared about. About pleasing men, being justified before men, being seen of men and praised of men. I ask this question. Do we seek to please men or God? Interested in having man's praise or being found accepted by God? That's what matters. How we stand in God's sight. Zacchaeus was not giving to the poor and restoring money to those he'd stolen from in order to please these men. No, I'll tell you why he did these things. It was simply out of thanksgiving, abundant thanksgiving to his Lord. Lord, thank you. You've come into this world to make yourself poor in order to make a sinner like me rich toward God. This is the least I can do to say thank you. He wasn't doing it to be saved. He did it because he had been saved. That's the difference. Again, this is not written for Zacchaeus' praise and glory, but for Christ, only Christ. Zacchaeus confessed his sins to his Savior, and by God's grace, we will too. By God's grace, we will too. He had no desire to continue in sin that grace may abound. God forbid we do too. God forbid we just, well, God saved me by grace. Let's just live like hell. No, let's desire to please our Lord. Let's desire His glory. With all that we do, may we seek him first and seek his praise and his glory. Lord, help us, help us. Verse nine, and Jesus said unto him, this day is salvation come to this house. For as much as he also is a son of Abraham, this is not an account of a sinful man turning over a new leaf. This is an account of eternal salvation from sin. by the sacrifice of God Himself, God who came down. Salvation came to Zacchaeus's tree, the person. Salvation Himself came into Zacchaeus's heart and he came into Zacchaeus's house. Perhaps he had a family just like many of us. Perhaps he had little children just like I do. And perhaps our Lord revealed salvation to all in His house." He often did, you know that? He often did. He often did. Why is that, Kius? Again, there were a lot of people here. Mentioned earlier, our Lord passed by tons of people. Why did so few come to Him? Why did so few come to Him with a need? Well, we just read in verse nine, the end of the verse, for so much as he also is a son of Abraham, he was a son of Abraham. He was a Jew, not merely outwardly, but one inwardly. They which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. The children of Israel, all Israel shall be saved. It's not talking about the country, in the Middle East that's currently at war. The war for Israel's already been fought. The war for Israel's already been won. Israel, all Israel, all children of Abraham shall be saved, the children of promise. That's what Zacchaeus is, a child of promise. That's why Christ came to him that day. And that's the only reason Christ will come to us. if we're a child of promise given to Christ in the covenant of grace before the world began. Pray it might be so. Verse 10, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Oh, praise God, he came, the Son of God, the Son of Man. He came down, he who is high and lifted up, came down, condescended, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, that we might be saved from our sin forever. Zacchaeus was lost and he didn't know it until the seeking and saving Son of Man came to his tree. It goes without saying that many people, dare I say most people, dare I say most people who profess to be a Christian Many shall say unto me, Lord, Lord, and He'll say, I never knew you. Many who profess to be saved, profess that glorious name, Jesus, who do not know the Christ, the Son of the living God, who's the Son of Man, are lost and do not know it. May God reveal that to us. May God get us lost that we might be found. You ever heard someone declare from the pulpit, may God get us lost? Everybody's saved, just like that rich man. Oh, he was too good. That's his problem. He was too good. We need to understand we're too bad. The Lord said, why are you calling me good? There's only one good. It's not us. It's Christ, the Son of Man. You know, it's not our sin that'll keep us from Christ. It's our self-righteousness. I'm telling you, the way up is down. We need to be brought down. We need to know our sin. Look to Christ, and Christ alone, the Son of Man came. Praise God He came, and He came for this reason, to seek and to save. He does the seeking, He does the saving. What was Zacchaeus' story? That God be the glory, I'm only a sinner saved by grace. He did it all. Oh, what a glorious day this was for him. The whole reason Christ came into this world was to become a man and trade places with His people and for the glory of Him, for the glory of the Son of Man, that we might be saved to the praise of His glory, to the praise of the glory of His grace, the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that He might be pleased to come to us, just like He was pleased to come to Zacchaeus this day. May He be pleased to come to us, abide in our house, and may He abide in our house with our family too. Lord, abide in us, abide with us. For Christ's sake, for His glory, amen.