In today's passage, we once again are shown a rich man's encounter with Jesus. This theme of worldly riches and how men regard them has been running for some time in Luke, beginning way back when Luke noted how the Pharisees, who were supposed to be holy, godly men, full of all the virtues of even self-denial and love for others. They were, in fact, lovers of money, and it caused them to be small-minded, small-hearted, erroneous in their theology, not knowing God or the power of God or the scriptures, and certainly small-hearted, not loving anyone but themselves. But of course, the Pharisees were refined sinners. And we who are naturally unrefined love money too. So it's an important thing. The love of money, as Paul says, is the source, the root of all sorts of evils. And Jesus says you can't love money and love God. You have to choose one or the other. We saw the rich young ruler going away from Jesus being sad at the apparent cost of discipleship. That's all he saw. My money and all my possessions, I can't do without that. And what am I going to get in return? I'm following him. And the rich young ruler didn't even know the half of it. He didn't even know if the disciples didn't know and understand that Jesus was going to die in just a few days on the cross. So millions of dollars or follow for a few days a fellow who's going to be executed. You choose. The real cause he had for his sadness was much greater though, infinitely greater than he realized because that man prized his earthly possessions more than he did the son of God, the living eternal son of God who offered to him salvation, who offered himself to be his redeemer. Jesus, as you recall, commented on the ruler's poor choice and did so with loving understanding. It's hard, he says. He knows it's hard. It's not easy. Jesus isn't being flippant and saying, ah, your money is nothing. Get rid of it. It's hard for the rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Of course, the crowd said, well, the rich are the important people and accomplished people, and God can use them and their money. If they can't be saved, who can be saved? And then Jesus said, with God, things that are impossible to men are possible. We heard in last week's sermon about an example of one of the things God did, which was impossible for men to do. Jesus, God come into our world and incarnate in a true human nature in all but sin. God gave sight to blind Bartimaeus, and more than sight, he pronounced that he was saved. His faith had saved him. Ah, but we saw that Bartimaeus had that faith before he had his physical sight, and it was that faith that led him to overcome all sorts of obstacles, including the crowd's opposition to him, And to call Jesus correctly by his title of Messiah, son of David, Messiah, he had a knowledge gathered in some respect, probably through listening in synagogues or whatever, having somebody read him the scriptures. But he had faith and saw the right way before he saw in the lesser way with his eyes. This week we come to another example of God in and through Christ doing something that was impossible to men. Now if you think giving a blind man sight is hard and impossible to men and only God can do it, think about taking one of the most avarice, that means really strongly money loving, and despicable characters, changing him into something else. It doesn't require the death of the Son of God to give a blind man sight. Our own medical world has advanced to the point where there can be sight restored in certain cases and with certain procedures. And the advances in that field will likely continue. It didn't require the Son of God to die to give sight or restore sight or improve sight in blind people's eyes, but to change character To give a sinful man a new nature, that did require the incarnation of God, his coming into the world, and the death of God in the person of Christ on the cross. This week we find a selfish, cheating tax collector renouncing his riches for the sake of heavenly and eternal treasure that he found in Christ. Let me say this as far as this truth that things impossible to men are possible with God. Last week that prompted me to say something that I think was misconstrued by some, at least by reports. But I want to say it again because it's a treasure. If you can take it, it's a treasure. Don't worry if it perplexes you. Just wait and pray and you'll maybe grow up and be able to take it rightly. I said that most of us would do well if we did fewer things and took more time to do it. Now, as far as the feedback, it's a good thing, and it's one of the blessed things in our fellowship, and it's actually quite rare to have respectful and appreciative studying of the word, noble-minded comparing what's said from the pulpit with the word. expressing feedback, that's a good thing. And it's good to know that some sermon points are discussed, but also it's good that you know and realize, and I'm stressing this for this reason, that your pastor readily desires to correct any errors he has stated from the pulpit and to offer a fuller account to those wanting clear understanding. So rather than go back and revisit that saying except to tell you it's a jewel which will change your life if you actually try and do it, And I only had this to say. Some took from this apparently that I was saying do nothing. Most of us would do well if we did fewer things. Fewer things doesn't mean nothing. And it's not bad to be afraid of the truth. The truth is a fearful thing in many respects. It means we give up things we're comfortable with. But if you're wanting clearer understanding, if this is you, come to see me, and we'll talk. And if you feel that you'll be safer, I'll let you tie my hands behind my back. Now, let's go on to Zacchaeus. His natural condition we can gather from two things. One, his name. It comes from the Hebrew word, Zachad, which means pure. Also, in verse 10, Jesus proclaims him to be a son of Abraham. Paul talks about sons of Abraham, children of Abraham in Romans chapter 4. He says, any believer has been circumcised and is truly circumcised and hence a son of Abraham and a Jew indeed. But Jesus is talking about the son, the lineal descendant of Abraham. He's a Jew. And as a Jew, there were other Jewish tax gatherers, tax collectors. But they were always regarded by their fellow Jews as turncoats. The Jews at this time hated the Romans. They had had wave after wave of foreign domination over them. They never were an independent nation. From the time of 586 B.C. when the Babylonians carried the Jews away, there was no nation of Israel on the earth that was independent until 1947, 48. The war for independence and independence. And so they hated, the Jews did, these overlords. And the Romans were the current and the worst of the overlords. And so any Jew who participated in cooperation with the Romans was viewed by his fellow Jews as a turncoat, a collaborator as the Jews viewed collaborators with the German Nazis. That same kind of hatred. So he was in a sense turning and dishonest and inconsistent with his godly heritage. told something else about him. And it's not an insignificant little notice. He was short. He was short. Now, you know, people say we shouldn't profile people and make generalizations, but of course we have to. You can't drive down the road without profiling people. You've got to be able to sense, you know, what's happening. And you develop this sense. You might think you don't have it, but you do if you start thinking about it. You get a feel for certain people and what they're going to do and they're going to turn and they're going to do this and so forth. We profile all the time and profiling works to some extent because it grasps certain truths. Most tall people, for example, have problems with their backs. Apparently, some exceed natural or ideal anatomical height. At the same time, most short people have had difficulty, more or less, with their perspective of the world. I mean, physical, obviously, but it carries over into the mental and the emotional. In an extreme case, it's called the Napoleon Complex, where there's an overcompensating for Now, listen to my words here. Don't twist them. You've got to be careful what you do take away from a sermon. Jesus says much more provocative things than I've ever dreamed of saying or have said. And if you're going to try and take the bone out of the fish and say, look, this food's no good, and throw it away, and not eat the fish either, you're probably doing that with Jesus. But pay attention closely. overcompensating a tendency, it's not true in everyone who's short, but an overcompensation for a perceived defect. In other words, they perceive it in themselves. And some other small-minded, small-hearted people perceive it in them. Ah, get out of the way, shorty. That sort of thing. So, we all have our problems, we all carry our natural crosses. I was one of the bigger persons in school. You know what happens to the bigger people? Everybody wants to pick on you. Why? Because if they bring you down, they are David, they've killed the giant. If they're a punk and you fend them off, you've done nothing. You're laughed at because you fought back against the midget. And if somebody big takes you down, well, you know, he's just gained one up on you. So, taller than usual people, shorter than usual Napoleon complex, average people are just thinking, I'm so boring, nobody ever notices me. So, we've all got our problems. This was his problem. These problems affect all of our perspectives. And this one is just an example where a person's physiology has an impact upon everything in them. And it does in all of us, because we are body, emotion, mind, soul. And this is a complex. And we can distinguish these components, but we can't separate them. And they all mutually condition one another. So anyway. He tended to overcompensate for a perceived defect. And he certainly did in a capital way here. He became not just a tax gatherer, but the chief tax gatherer. And he was rich, we're told. He was rich. He worked hard, zealously. And from his own words, where in that occupation he became rich, he had a high position, he also seems to indicate that he wasn't above cheating every so often. If I have defrauded anyone, he says to Jesus in verse eight. So this was his natural condition. Who is gonna seek out this guy to be your best buddy? I mean, we all, why do you think so many presidents are tall, hmm? We all think, oh, he's a tall, big, strong man, and he'll make a great leader. And some of them have, tallest have been some of the worst. But same thing, you're gonna go to Zacchaeus, and you're a Jew, you're gonna go to Zacchaeus, say, hey, why don't we have, why don't we become friends? I mean, you've got everything going for you. You're short, and everybody ridicules you for that. And you curse it yourself, because sometimes, you know, you can't see, as in the passage today. You've got a job that all people esteem. Of course, the opposite is true. Nothing. Nobody's going to like this guy whatsoever. He's outcast and despised by all. But this man's natural condition, we have the privilege, and it's actually quite a rare privilege, of seeing change before our eyes. You have something akin to this, most closely akin to this, only in the case of the Apostle Paul, where he was Saul of Tarsus at the height of his pride and prejudice being encountered by Christ. on the road to Damascus and changed. We get to see the effectual calling. What are we talking about when we talk about effectual calling? It means God is calling all people everywhere to forsake their sins, have trust in Christ, and be saved. But not everybody heeds that call, but some do. And when they do, it's called effectual. It's God's effectual calling. And that's what we see in our passage today. His supernatural encounter with Jesus changed everything and changed it radically and lastingly in Zacchaeus. Well, it starts with him having a conscious agenda. He wanted to see Jesus. Now this is, Lucas changed the order around here a little bit and put these two accounts of Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus together for several reasons and this is one of them. This picks up where we found Bartimaeus. In other words, the thing he asked for wasn't that I might be saved from my sins and go to heaven. What would you have me do for you, said Jesus, that I might be saved and I repent of my sins. I'm sorry I've done this sort of thing and everything. He doesn't ask for that. He says, I just want my natural sight. Okay, you and I looking at that, every one of us would think, that guy's not saved. Nothing's happened to him. He's asking for something that's infinitely less than what he should be asking. because he already had it. He already was saved. He was a new creature in Christ and trusting the Messiah to come. And now, you know, he's with him talking to him. So he asked for his eyesight. And Jesus restored that and proclaimed that he is saved. All right, we start with Zacchaeus. Nothing wrong with his eyesight apparently. He could see to count the money. He could see to count it, you know, to his advantage. He had eyes, but he was misusing those eyes. He wasn't using it in any way to be righteous, fair, holy, good, loving, true, worshiping God, you know, doing his work responsibly and diligently by God's enabling power and for God's glory. None of that was in his thought. But that day, he wanted to see Jesus. Well, why not? In fact, he has had no friends. And maybe Jesus, at least he's, you know, it'll be a spectacle. It's a diversion. I mean, I've got all this money. You get to a certain point, you know, if you do accumulate money, if you want to do that, it's going to ruin your life because you get to a certain point where you realize, It doesn't buy me happiness. I thought it would buy me happiness. It doesn't. At least poor people can still have their dreams. If I could get some more money, I'd be happy. So he's just curious. Everything indicates curiosity. Probably he wasn't seeking a savior, but he was seeking a spectacle. More likely he went out of curiosity. We read in Luke 15, one that, uh, many tax gatherers started talking about Jesus. So Zacchaeus may have heard about Jesus. And now everybody's saying, somebody's coming. Somebody's coming. Who could it be? And he went out to check and see, maybe it's this guy, Jesus they're talking about. Uh, but his. His physiological nemesis plagued him. The crowds were there. I remember being in a crowd at an outdoor concert with my grandson and he was really in a kind of sour mood. And observing that, I thought, what's wrong with him? And then I thought, look, you know what it's like. to be a kid, you know what it's like to be shorter and in a crowd of adults. And suddenly, as soon as I opened my mind to that thought, that's it, he's completely surrounded by a crowd of adults. Nobody wants to be in that kind of situation. Well, there was Zacchaeus. Like Bartimaeus, the crowds proved to be an impediment to him. These crowds, incidentally, were not very good evangelists. However devoted some of them seemed to be to Jesus. Even Jesus' own disciples tried to turn away the babies. So none of us was nearly evangelistic as we should be. But like Bartimaeus, Zacchaeus ingeniously overcame the obstacle. Is this faith at work? We can't know for certain. But he could have just continued to have a strong determination. If he had succeeded in becoming a chief tax collector and made himself rich, he's not the kind of guy to give up easily, I would expect, just naturally. So we don't have to, he could still be in his sin and blindness and spiritual death. But he runs, he runs ahead, gets up in the sycamore tree and waits to see Jesus. Okay. There's nothing really that remarkable about this man. He's, you know, reads in a psychologically realistic way. He's not at all very desirable or commendable. In many ways, he's despicable. So there we are, this crummy little man. And we all want to just say, get rid of him. I don't want my daughter to marry somebody like that. I don't want him in my family. I don't want him as my neighbor, and so forth. Nobody's going to say, come on, come to my house for dinner. Nobody naturally would say that. So what's left to be said? Well. Zacchaeus doesn't say anything. He doesn't ask anything. He's just in the tree as a spectator. He does nothing. He doesn't have anything to commend himself and he doesn't even appeal for mercy. But what we find is Jesus taking the initiative to see and save this despicable spectator. To see and save. See, Jesus uses his eyes rightly. He had human eyes. God had human eyes in his incarnation in Christ. And he used those human eyes correctly. Yes, he's short. Yes, he's up in the trees there just to see a spectacle. Yes, he's a chief tax gatherer. All of that Jesus knew and saw with his eyes. But Jesus saw a sinner. And he, as he makes clear in the end of our passage, precisely for this reason came into the world, the son of man. Aim to seek and to save that which was lost. There you are. There you are. The one I've been seeking. I've been seeking. Did Zacchaeus get up that morning and think to himself, oh, the Son of God is seeking. He's got a warrant out for my arrest. He's going to apprehend me today and change me into a new person. He didn't think it in any fearful way. There's no sense of consciousness, of conviction, of sins. There's nothing, there's no indication of any spiritual work being done in him whatsoever. But Jesus saw him. And he looked up seeking him. He, Jesus, is not one to just give himself as a spectacle. And sometimes we try and make him that. You know, generate pictures of him in our mind, get concepts, just to look at and go, oh, he's so wonderful, he's so holy, he's so great. But there's a distance, a distance. And we think, well, that's gotta be that way, because he's infinite and eternal, and God, and I'm not, and I'm a sinner, and he's perfect and righteous and all that. Distance, distance, distance. Jesus said, look, I want this man closer to me. He looked up, seeking. If your heart is seeking, you'll use your eyes rightly. If your heart is seeking for things godly, true, honorable, good, excellent, loving. Your eyes will see all the time what to do, what to do, who to speak to, how to speak to that person. Measuring everything, all of your components, not just spitting out words, but communicating the proper emotion, the one you really want to communicate. He was not to be seen, but rather to see, to know, to save this man. And Jesus didn't just look up and see. You see, Zacchaeus, we're told, was looking twice to see Jesus, to see Jesus. He didn't want to talk to him. He didn't want to ask him anything, just to see Jesus. And Jesus looks up and sees him. But it doesn't stop there. He said to him, he spoke words to him. naming him Zacchaeus. How did he know the man's name? No, it could have been that he's a rather, you know, significant person and everybody knows him. Notorious, not admirable, but oh, that lousy chief tax gatherer, Zacchaeus. Jesus may have heard of him, but I don't think Zacchaeus would have thought Jesus had ever heard of him. Jesus calls him by name, though, not to just demonstrate, I know you, and I'm a clever man. I can find out these things. But he called him by his name because Zacchaeus had, by his life, renounced his name. He was not pure. He was not Jewish. He was not one of the people of God. He was not in fellowship with God. And he calls him back. This day, your nature is going to measure up to your name. I know my sheep, said Jesus, and my sheep know me. Zacchaeus. Now, we can't be precise, and there's really no point in trying to be precise and say, exactly here is where effectual calling took place. Exactly here is where we see regeneration spring up. Exactly here we see faith and exercise. It all happens almost instantaneously. And it's a marvel. Come down, he said. Come down. Now, this isn't just logistical directions of location. You're up in that tree. I want you down here on the ground. This is highly significant. Zacchaeus had spent apparently much of his adult life, if not all of it, trying to overcome his perceived natural defect. I'm a short man. So I'm going to get a big job and a high position and lots of money. And when I have to, I'm not going to ask these people, could you part? That would be a sign of weakness if I had to ask them. I will make myself tower over them by finding and using an instrument, in this case, a sycamore tree. So he was where he was, perched where he was by his own ingenuity, and he didn't need anybody's help, and he didn't want anybody's help. Jesus had come down. not just off that perch, calm down. Out of that puffing up you have achieved through empty vanity and worthless things such as money. Come down, humble yourself, man. You think you're too low? You don't know what low is. Come down, come down now. His career of exalting himself had come to an end, or had it? What would you think would have happened if Zacchaeus had said no? And you say, how would we know that? And it's silly, it's to speculate. It's not to speculate. Thousands, perhaps millions say no to Jesus every day. Believers say no to Jesus. Don't look at that woman to lust after her. No, I'm gonna. No. What would have happened? Nothing. Nothing. He wouldn't have been struck by lightning any more than you're struck by lightning for the sins you've committed this week. You've said no to Jesus. I've said no to Jesus this week. Nothing would have happened. He would have stayed in the tree. Jesus would have passed by. He would have gone back to his life, and that would have been it. Nothing would have changed. But now he is called to humble himself by the Lord. And as a humble man. He will obey. In an instant, no argumentation, no long, elaborate sermons. In an instant, he obeyed and he obeyed and did not only what Jesus told him to do, but more than Jesus told him to do. He hurried. Jesus didn't say hurry. He hurried and came down. He said, well, you just told us to take more time to do less things. Yes. Does that exclude hurrying when that's appropriate? No, it doesn't. This is a time to hurry. Come down. For today, I must stay at your home. He came down in a hurry. When Jesus says, come down though, he says, today I must stay at your house. Now that is an odd thing for him to say. It's very likely, as some of the commentators suggest, that Jesus was walking from the north of Galilee through Jericho and met Zacchaeus came back to Jericho, because nobody offered him housing in Jericho, and they are met Bartimaeus. And it seems to make sense to me. If that's the case, it makes sense, too, that Jesus says, I must stay at your house. In other words, there's a necessity. I've got nowhere else to stay. But what kind of thing is that to say to a man? Come to seek and save sinners. By the way, I need to stay at your house. I mean, this is really offering Zacchaeus a way out. He's a man not to give, but to take. As soon as this spiritual baby is born, Jesus is testing him. Testing. Today I must stay at your house. Are you going to stumble over my weakness? Many people do. The weakness of God. The Jews despise the weakness of God. The Greeks despise the foolishness of God. And God expresses things that, from a certain perspective, can seem foolish and seem weak. Mocking Jesus on the cross. He would save others. He can't even save himself. That's both foolish and weak. But you see, Zacchaeus doesn't take the bait because he's a new creature. We've seen it. Exactly what millisecond, we haven't captured that, but we've seen it. He has become a new creature. What kind of Savior, what kind of Redeemer, what kind of refuge lacks the basic resources such as housing? Ah, He though, this Savior, is precisely what sinners need. We don't need more money. That won't make us not sinners. We need salvation from our sin. And this Redeemer, This Jesus who called Zacchaeus to come down and say, now come down and do me this service. I need a place to stay. I must stay at your house. He became poor. That's why he didn't have a house. He became poor. Foxes have places to, there are holes to live in. The son of man has no place to lay his head because he was bearing our sin. We forsook everything. We forsook the world. We forsook our lives. We forsook our relationship with God and our sin. We forsook everything. We possess only condemnation and wrath. And we're by nature children of that wrath. But Jesus became poor so that we might become rich. He was without a house so that Zacchaeus could have a house, and more than a house, a refuge. And he's going to need that refuge in just a second. Look, Jesus is homeless to afford this man being before our eyes, effectually called by God, to come into a new relationship, new life, new opportunity to hear the Savior's knock and open the door to fellowship with that Savior. And Zacchaeus does. Yes, Lord, let's go home. He hurried down and joyfully received Jesus. And that is him, friends, showing love for God with all of his heart, all of his soul, all of his strength, and all of his mind and resources. Suddenly, it's all at his disposal, not mine, not mine, not my will, Lord. Thy will be done. You have to renounce your will if you're a Christian. You have no will. You can't exercise it. As I said, we do it all the time. We know that we shouldn't sin in certain ways, but we do it. But we don't have to do it. We're not obliged to do it. We have new natures. We have the light of God's word. We have the ministry of God's Holy Spirit. We have the encouragement of our brethren. But also, Zacchaeus showed new love for his neighbors in verse 8. where he says to Jesus, I will give half my possessions to the poor. Now, you might say, oh, that's not as much as that Jesus demanded. He demanded all of the rich young ruler. Well, Jesus demanded all of the rich young ruler. That was the rich young ruler. This is Zacchaeus. He doesn't demand anything of him. He just says, I need to stay at your house tonight. And that was the extent of the demand. But with such a reasonable and small request on the part of Jesus, look what he gets. That key is this, I will give away half my possessions to the poor, just right off the bat. And then if I've defrauded anyone, I'll give back four times as much, more than the law of God requires, four times as much. In other words, the man has changed. And he's changed because Jesus saw him and saw him as he was. And here he has built a lifetime, his life of building this character around himself, this shell, this armor. I don't want you to see me as I really am. I'm short and what's more, I'm sinful. I'm despicable. If you knew my heart, you would know the worst of me. So I'm going to succeed. I'm going to succeed. I'm going to get educated. I'm going to get a good job. I'm going to become rich. And I'll tower over and dominate other people and defraud them just because I can do it. Jesus saw him in all that and loved him and gave himself for him. We don't even love our own children with that kind of love, do we? When they misbehave, you know what? It really makes us mad. It hurts us, yeah, but it makes us mad, too. Because look at this. Now people are going to see, especially if they've done it in public, people are going to see, and they're going to think, what kind of parent are you? You made me miserable. Well, Jesus runs that risk. And this is the thing that is most marvelous that Zacchaeus did. that you would miss if you were committed to doing lots of things in your life and taking more and more time or less and less time to do it. Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. Diligence, diligence, diligence. What is the sign of a new nature in Zacchaeus? When he shows not only love to God by coming down and bringing Jesus to his home, but also giving away his money, he shows love to his neighbor. He's fulfilling the royal law. What was the most significant thing he did apart from these things? Nothing. Nothing. He immediately ran into Jesus as his refuge. When the crowd is grumbling because Jesus was going home with this sinner, Zacchaeus would have felt that. He shows, you know, people who are super-competent or overcompensators are very sensitive to criticism. He would have felt that. But he says nothing because now by faith he knows, I have one who vindicates me." And Jesus took the criticism for Zacchaeus and Zacchaeus receives the reward. Jesus, Jesus, says verse 9, today salvation has come to this house. That's something the poor rich young ruler, unless he repented later in his life, never got to experience. You think, cost, cost, cost. Jesus is telling me to give away all this stuff. You know what he's telling you to give away? Junk. All of it. And most of us don't have much money, so it's not like he's saying give away all your money. But we do have a lot of clutter in our lives. A lot of false views, a lot of bad habits, a lot of actions that we perform that we do and then somebody says, oh, that hurt me or that offended me and we immediately entrench and become defensive as though we've got reasons and this is why we've done it. But we don't have reasons. We did the deed because we're sinners and loveless and then we're trying to make up reasons to justify it afterwards. You don't see that, friends, in Zacchaeus. This is clean, clean. He doesn't parse. See, this is why I say, do less, do less. By focusing on the significant and the essential, do less and take more time to do it. I'll give back. I'll give to the poor half right off the bat. Nobody commands that of me. Nobody argues me into it. Nobody threatens me. I'm doing that. Because this man now is seeing needy people, seeing the poor with right eyes. He's got a heart, a new heart. He loves them. He wants to help them and bless them. How do you know that this man, how does Jesus know this man is saved? Today salvation has come to this house. By the way, when Jesus says, I don't have a house, I've got to come to yours. It's not because he doesn't want to get rained on. It's because he wants to clean up your messy house and bring and fill it full of infinite and eternal treasures. Or he too is a son of Abraham, he's restored that which was lost by his own folly and sin has now been restored. Jesus is like he has found his refuge in Jesus. Jesus saw fruits of new life in Zacchaeus, offering to give of himself in this way. And Jesus found his highest nourishment in Zacchaeus and what he did in relation to him. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Why is it Jesus' highest nourishment? As He told that Samaritan woman or His disciples when they came back after He had been with the Samaritan woman. You're hungry, eat. I don't need to eat. Why don't you need to eat? You're hungry. I've been doing my Father's will. And what does my Father tell me to do? One thing. Love. Love that woman. Go show holy love to that woman. And He did it. Saving love. Two, not just general common grace, but saving grace. And Jesus was filled with it. The fruit of the spirit starts with love and follows with joy. You're sad, you're depressed, you're angry, you're upset. You're not living like a new creature. That's the problem. That's the problem. In closing, let me just read these words to you and to me too. I need these things twice. I need them double. 2 Peter 1, beginning at verse 2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. For by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. And you can lust after money, too. This is Zacchaeus, a new creature, all by God's doing. It's all by God's doing. Now, for this very reason, also apply all diligence in your faith. Supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge. And in your knowledge, self-control. And in your self-control, perseverance. And in your perseverance, godliness. And in your godliness, brotherly kindness. And in your brotherly kindness, love. Love. It's not that that's the last, it's that it's the ultimate. And the first and the last and everything in between. But here's the point. If these are yours and increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And a believer can lack true knowledge. Did you know that? You can lack true knowledge of Jesus Christ because you're so busy exercising your sins and ignoring Him and justifying. And you're mad. You're mad at God. You're mad at other people. For he who lacks these is blind. He wanted to see Jesus, and he saw Jesus, the real Jesus. And it changed his life forever. He's blind, he's never seen Jesus in the first place, or short-sighted, sees him poorly, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Something's happened to me. If you're a Christian, something's happened to you. And it's not that you went forward at a crusade. He said the living God touched you at a certain point, made you a new creature, planted the seed of his nature in you. And that nature is growing, growing, and will grow. It'll grow better under the means of grace, better with you being diligent and working out your salvation. But it'll grow one way or another. Therefore, brethren, Be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you. How do I know He's called me and chosen me? How do I know? And then you bring out the good works. I've done this, that, and the other. Not quite. Go deeper. Don't look back and say, I did this, I did that, I did the other. What are you going to do now? What are you going to do now? Who's on your radar? What need are you looking for so that you can love that person and minister lovingly and effectively to that person? That's your assurance that God lives in you. Nothing else will do. Amen.