Thank you, Mark. It's good to be here with you at Reformed Presbyterian Church. And as Mark stated, I will be at the table after the service in the foyer, and I have ministry brochures and prayer cards and other things to share with you back there. So please stop by after the service. If you have your Bibles with you, please turn with me. to Luke's Gospel, chapter 19. How many of you know what the word metanoia means? We talked about this in Sunday school. I see the same hands going up. Okay. So for the broader congregation, I know you've heard Mark say this before. It means change of mind or repentance. Metanoia is the New Testament Greek word, the Koine Greek word for change of mind and repentance. You may be wondering why would you choose a Greek word from a dead language to communicate the meaning of your ministry to many men and women who have only about an eighth grade education. Well, the reason is we're Presbyterians and we like to make things difficult. So if you can identify with that, say amen. Now you sound like very quiet Baptists. Read the word together. Beginning in verse one. He entered Jericho that is, Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he, Zacchaeus, 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 Jesus, for Jesus was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down out of that tree, for I must stay at your house today. So he hurried and came down and received Jesus joyfully. And when they, that is the crowd, when they saw it, they grumbled. He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I've defrauded anyone of anything, I'll restore it fourfold. And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Brothers and sisters, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of Almighty God endures forever. You may be seated. Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you now for this time to come before your work and to come before you and to hear from you from your word. We ask that you would give us. Eyes to see Jesus ears to hear him. Hearts to receive the lessons that he has the lessons of your grace and mercy that he desires to teach us. Holy Spirit, give us attentive ears. Give us a renewal. sense, a renewing sense of Your presence and of the great grace and mercy of our great God and King. We ask it in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. I wonder if you've ever heard a Christian friend of yours say this statement. Have you ever heard a Christian say, I have a family member or a friend who's not a believer, but they're seeking after God. They're God seekers. Maybe you've said things like that years ago. I'm sure I said something equivalent to that. They're not believers, but they are God seekers. We've had a whole movement in the church built around that idea that non-believers can be God-seekers. It's called the Seeker-Friendly Movement. Filled with well-intentioned Christians. But there's a problem, there's a big problem with saying that non-believers are God-seekers. And the problem is this. The Bible says the exact opposite. The Bible never calls an unregenerate man, a non-believer, a God-seeker. In fact, the Apostle Paul said in Romans that there is none righteous, no not one, no one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one, not one person seeks after God. In case we're tempted to think that that was a one-off for the apostle Paul, he's actually quoting from the Old Testament. And we can see this narrative, this story, play out from Genesis to Revelation, from Genesis chapter three, when Adam and Eve forsake God, when they commit, as one preacher called it, cosmic treason against their creator. They became fugitives and all of their children, all of their descendants, that's all of us, became fugitives on the run from God. I tell prisoners when we go in, when I go into minister that we all come into this world physically alive, but spiritually speaking, we're still born. We are natural born enemies of our creator. And if you need a refresher course in that, read Genesis, or rather, read Romans 1-3 and Ephesians 2, and you'll see how the Apostle Paul makes it very clear that we are spiritually dead, separated from God. Not running toward our Creator, but running as hard and as fast as we can away from Him. So why is it that well-meaning, well-intentioned Christians believe that a non-believer can seek after God? Well, there are, I guess, many reasons, but I read an article once, very good article, that pointed out two reasons. One, they misappropriate or misinterpret Scripture. They'll read passages like Isaiah 55, when the prophet says, seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near. And a believer will say, see, it's right there in scripture that you can seek after the Lord. And if you seek after him, he will be found. But the problem with that is, Whenever a text of scripture is taken out of context, it becomes what? It becomes a pretext to mean whatever we want it to mean. Isaiah is not speaking to the heathen nations around Israel. He's talking to Israel. That is a call to repentance, a call for backslidden Israel to return to her first love, to remember the one who had brought her out of bondage, out of Egypt and out of bondage of idolatry and out of bondage to sin and come and seek her first love. The second reason that Christians may believe that non-believers are seeking after God is that they misunderstand the motivations of a non-believer or non-Christian or an unregenerate person. Unregenerate person may look at your life and desire what you have. A conscience that is free from guilt and shame. A soul that has been unburdened from the heaviness that sin brings. A peace and assurance that we sang about this morning. A hope for a future. We grieve when we lose loved ones, but we don't grieve, the apostle Paul says, like the world grieves. We grieve having hope. The world is hopeless, and the world can look at those things and desire those things. Or in the words, I think it was Thomas Aquinas who said this, that the unbeliever will desire the good gifts that come from the hand of God, but they never desire God for himself. And so we come to our text this morning, and you were wondering when I was gonna get there. Said, I thought this was gonna be a sermon on Zacchaeus. It is, I'm taking you somewhere and just follow me. We come to our text this morning and we read about a greedy, self-centered, selfish tax collector who's seeking to see Jesus. Now, if you're a selfish, self-seeking, self-centered like Zacchaeus is, You know this man's not a believer. You know that from reading the text, the way Luke lays this story out, that Zacchaeus, when we first meet him, when he's first talked about as the chief tax collector, he's not a believer. And if you've been paying attention to my introduction, you may think I have a big problem now. Because I just spent about five minutes telling you that a non-believer will not seek after God, but here you have a non-believer seeking to see Jesus. So how am I going to resolve that problem? Well, I'm glad you're asking that question, but I'm not gonna answer it just yet. Let's let it hang out there for just a moment, then we'll answer it. But first, I want us to get to know Zacchaeus for just a moment. Let's get to know this man that Luke introduces to us named Zacchaeus. Luke tells us several things about Zacchaeus. First, he tells us he's a chief tax collector. That's important to this story for several reasons. Zacchaeus is a chief tax collector. He's not your average run-of-the-mill tax collector. He is a chief tax collector. And as one commentator put it, that means that Zacchaeus stood at the top of the tax collector's pyramid scheme. After Rome, he got the biggest cut. because he was a chief tax collector, and he had all his little tax collector buddies underneath of him doing the dirty work. He'd been there, and he worked his way up to the top of the pyramid scheme. Now he's sitting fat and happy. He was a chief tax collector, Luke says, and he was very rich. He was very rich. because after he gave Rome their portion, he took his portion, and then the rest of the tax collectors divvied up what was left over. You know this because you know your Bibles, that the tax collectors always collected more than what Rome wanted, and they laid heavy burdens upon the people. because of what they extracted, what they extorted from their own countrymen. So he was a chief tax collector. He was at the top of the pyramid scheme. Because he was at the top of the pyramid scheme, he was really rich. This isn't stated by Luke, but it's made clear throughout the Gospels. He was a despised man. He was a despised man because he was viewed as a traitor. He was a Jew working for the hated Romans, and the Jews hated paying taxes to the Romans. It's not that they were unfamiliar with paying taxes. It's not that they hated paying taxes. I don't mean to imply they loved paying taxes, but they wanted to pay taxes to their leaders. They wanted their own king. They didn't want an occupying force in their country telling them how to spend their money and taking their money from them. And Zacchaeus worked for these people who were the occupying force. Zacchaeus was a traitor. And don't you know that there were zealots in Jesus' day, because he picked one to be his disciple, that would have put a knife in the back of Zacchaeus, literally, if they could get away with it. Old Zac probably had his own security detail. He was a chief tax collector, he was very rich, he was this despised man, he was viewed as being a traitor, and the one that I love, And we used to sing about all the time as little children, right? Zacchaeus was small of stature, number four. He was small of stature, a wee little man named Zacchaeus. A wee little man was he. Now, I think it's interesting, don't you, when you think about the details that the gospel writers put in their accounts of Jesus. And I've always loved John's words at the end of his gospel. If all the stories about Jesus were written, the world's record books couldn't contain all of it. The world couldn't contain the books it would take to write all the stories about Jesus. And Luke writes a detail here about Zacchaeus, that he was small in stature. Now, I was never a psychology major. I took it in college. And I'm not a psychiatrist, but I'm going to play one for just a moment. I've told people I'm not a psychiatrist, but I've known more than one that wanted to get their hands on me. Now, think about Zacchaeus for just a minute. If he was a wee little man, if he was small in stature as an adult, it follows reason to think that he was a small child and he was a short teenager. Now, we all know how loving and accepting children can be. And so do you think Zacchaeus had trouble with children growing up, if he was the smallest of the bunch? How many teams do you think Zacchaeus got picked for? Do you think he was a target of bullies? Of course, he was the smallest one there. Have you ever known or thought about that special family member and wondered how that person turned out to be the way they are. Maybe you're the special family member. But you're wondering, how did this individual develop to be the person that they are? How did Zacchaeus turn out to be the type of man that he was? Well, this is conjecture, but humor me. I think he was picked on a lot as a kid. What do we call that? A Napoleon complex. I think Zacchaeus had a Napoleon complex. And I wonder that as a small kid and as a teenager, he didn't say to himself, one day, one day I'm going to be the man. One day, I'm going to be the wealthiest individual. One day, I'm going to have the biggest house. One day, I'm going to walk around in the finest clothes. One day, I'm going to have the most toys. And everyone is going to be green with envy when they get a look at me. I'm going to be the man one day. And Zacchaeus made it. backs of his fellow countrymen to climb the ladder. He didn't care who he had to cheat, defraud, lie on, destroy the reputation. He clawed his way all the way to the top of being the chief tax collector. Not everybody makes it, but Zacchaeus made it. He was at the top. Now all that's conjecture, but I can say this based on the authority of God's Word because Scripture testifies to it everywhere. That he may have been at the top, his bank accounts may have been full, but his soul was empty. and he was a lonely, restless man. For Saint Augustine once said beautifully, God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee. Zacchaeus was a restless, empty soul. He was a lonely man. He wasn't living, he was merely existing. For outside of Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, there is no life, there's merely existence. And that's all Zacchaeus was doing. And if you're here this morning, or if you're watching by video, if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, if Jesus Christ has not called you to himself, you are not alive this morning, you're merely existing. Zacchaeus was merely existing, and he must have thought to himself, is this it? All that work, all that struggle, all that conniving, all the hands I had to grease, the people I had to alienate, I had to bring close and then cut them off, all that for what? My bank accounts are full, I live in a big house, but it's empty. My clothes and my toys don't satisfy the longings of my soul. Is this it? I'll never forget sitting with a very successful businessman years ago. This man had flown corporate jets all over the world. He was powerful. He was an influence. He was one who influenced many. And he looked at me and he said just that, he said those words, is this all there is to life? He thought once he got to the top, that that would bring satisfaction only to find out that it was all empty. That once he had it all, it didn't satisfy the deepest longings of his heart. And aren't we as Christians tempted to think that way as well? I know I am. If I just had a little bit more, if I just knew that my retirement account had what it needed, and I'm a preacher, so you know it doesn't. If I just knew what tomorrow would bring, if I only had this asset or This piece of property or whatever, fill in the blank, it's all idolatry. And idols are deaf and dumb. They can't save. And we become, how does the prophet put it? We become as foolish as those, or maybe it's the psalmist, we become as foolish as the idols we serve. We become as deaf and dumb as the idols we serve. Zacchaeus was thinking, I've worked so hard. Is this all there is to life? But one day, Zacchaeus heard about a Galilean preacher who was turning the countryside upside down. And he was upsetting all of the other preachers. And that got Zacchaeus' attention. Because the preachers of his day didn't want anything to do with him. They'd take his money. They'd look the other way and take his money. But they didn't want anything to do with Zacchaeus or anybody like Zacchaeus. But then Zacchaeus heard that Jesus had made Matthew, the tax collector, one of his own disciples. Jesus's reputation preceded him. He raised the dead. He opened the eyes of the blind. He did miraculous things. I'm sure that got Zacchaeus's curiosity, sparked Zacchaeus's curiosity. His preaching was different. It came with power, I'm sure that grabbed his attention. But I think what got Zacchaeus' attention more than anything else was this, that Jesus hung out with people like him. And the people of Jesus' day had a saying, and it went like this. the tax collectors and the sinners. That means the tax collectors belonged in the same category as the women of the night, the drunks, the alcoholics, the deadbeats, the no good, the outcasts of society. That's who the tax collectors belong to. And Jesus hung out with them, and he was changing their lives. All of this got Zacchaeus' attention. But Zacchaeus could not explain that every time he went to count his money, all he could do was think about this Galilean preacher. And when he would lay down at night, he could not get Jesus off his mind. It was like someone was calling him. OK, now we'll go back to the question. Why was this self-centered, greedy, good for nothing, tax collector, cheap, traitor, seeking to see Jesus. He was seeking to see Jesus because the effectual call had left the throne room of heaven and God Almighty was seeking after this sinner to save him and to make him his own. Jesus was on a divine mission predetermined and predestined by God Almighty that he would have an encounter with Zacchaeus. And once Zacchaeus had an encounter with Jesus, his life was never the same. God's effectual call to the sinner is always efficacious. What does that mean? It always accomplishes the purpose for which it is sent. I don't care if it's sent to the White House or if it's sent to the prison house. If it's sent with the efficacious call, with the purpose to save a sinner, it will always achieve that purpose. Another way of saying it is, God always gets His man, God always gets His woman. If He's marked you out, He's going to find you out and He's going to rescue you. Sovereign grace. Sovereign mercy. Zacchaeus. was being drawn. I like how R.C. Sproul used to put it. He wasn't being wooed. He was being drawn by a mighty sovereign hand. So Zacchaeus leaves the safety of his mansion. If you slow down, that's why we need to read the scriptures slowly and think carefully as we read them. That was a big deal for Zacchaeus to leave and go out among the town folk, why? Because he had robbed all of them. And you know a city as big as Zacchaeus's, the one that he lived in, there had to be somebody out there that wanted to get their hands on it. but so powerful was the calling of God that he had to come. You know, I see that in the prisons, and men have told me, I don't even go to chapel, but I was drawn here today. I don't go to chapel, and some of them can't go to chapel because they're afraid of who they might run into there. But when they're being drawn by God, they can't explain it, but they come. And Zacchaeus couldn't explain it, but he was being drawn by the Spirit of the living God. And he walks out among the town folk. And the Bible tells us that he could not see Jesus because of the crowd. Now, I've got to camp out there for just a minute. Let's think about this crowd for just a moment. Zacchaeus could not see Jesus because of the crowd. This morning, are you Zacchaeus? Are you trying to see Jesus? Well, let me tell you, if you are, there's always going to be a crowd that's going to try to keep you from Him. Maybe you're not Zacchaeus, but are you a part of the crowd? Are there things in your life and the way you live and the attitudes of your heart that keep people from seeing Jesus? That's something you have to pray about. None of us, from me to anyone who hears this sermon should answer that quickly. That's something we gotta pray about. Because an attitude of the heart buried deep In the recesses of our heart, an attitude like, I hope a person like that never comes to this church, that's keeping Zacchaeus from seeing Jesus. The same Jesus we need, and we would hinder some poor sinner from seeing Christ? Are we, Zacchaeus, Or are we a part of the crowd? Are we hindering sinners from seeing Jesus? Zacchaeus goes out among the crowd in his fine designer clothes that the crowd's paid for. And he goes out heavy laden and burdened and weary. I don't care how much money you have. I don't care how well you dress it up. If Jesus is not your savior, you may be wearing the finest clothes, driving the fanciest car, living in the biggest house in town, but you are weary and heavy laden, burdened and weighed down. And that's how Zacchaeus was, he went out He would not be denied. He found the sycamore tree, a sycamore tree that had been put there just for him. And he climbed that sycamore tree carrying the burdens and the weight of his sin. And he looked down the road. Coming down the dusty road was the Galilean preacher who'd put that sycamore tree right there for him. For coming down that road, as John says, was the Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. And all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Jesus had put that sycamore tree there. God had put that sycamore tree there for Zacchaeus. And Jesus walks right up to that sycamore tree and says, Zacchaeus. Now, I always imagined Zacchaeus to be a little bit older. He's a chief tax collector. It took time for him to work his way up. Jesus, we know, is about 30 years of age at that time. Well, no, no, he's older than that. He's on his way to Jerusalem. But he's between 30 and 33. He's a young man. And this young preacher looks up and says, Zacchaeus, get out of that tree. I'm going to your house today. Now, I don't know how you would have reacted, but had I been in that tree and a stranger called me by name, I would have had a heart attack and fallen right out of that tree. I've heard other preachers say that too. Maybe it's a preacher's thing. I don't know, but that's how I would have reacted. I would have had a stroke, fell right out of that tree. The Bible says that Zacchaeus received Him with joy. But before the joy, there must have been a question that ran through Zacchaeus' mind. Who is this young preacher who knows me? Well, Zacchaeus, move over, shove over. Let this prison preacher up in the tree for just a second. I'll tell you who he is. He's El Shaddai. He's Adonai. He's Yahweh. He's Jehovah Jireh. He is Jehovah Nisi. He is Jehovah Sitkanu, our righteousness. He is Emmanuel, God with us. That's who he is. And the text tells us that Zacchaeus received Jesus with joy, and so did the crowd, right? The crowd rejoiced. Jesus is going to rescue another sinner. That's how they reacted, right? No. They were repulsed. They were upset. They were irritated. Jesus was once again not meeting their expectations. He's going to be a guest of a man who's a sinner. That tells you everything you need to know about that crowd. What does it say about us? Is that our attitude when God's grace is on display? Now be honest. When you see someone receive the grace and the mercy of God, who has harmed you in some way or has harmed society in some way? Is the attitude, they don't deserve it. Or is it, do you have a begrudging attitude? Well, I guess God can save anybody. Or do you rejoice? Do you rejoice at the sight of grace? The crowd didn't. We're not told what was said at the house that day. We don't have to know what was said. All we need to know is the Savior was in the house. Because Jesus was in the house, somebody's life was going to be changed. And Zacchaeus' life was changed that day. Lord, half of what I give, or the half of what I have, I give to the poor. If I've defrauded anyone, I'll pay it back fourfold. Did salvation come to Zacchaeus because he got about the business of doing good works? No. He started wanting to do what was right because salvation had come. because Jesus had redeemed him, because Jesus saved his life. No record of Jesus listing all of Zacchaeus' wrongs and evil deeds. He just had to be in the presence of Jesus. Here's another little rabbit trail. You want to grow as a Christian, You want to be more godly? Just get in Jesus's presence. Quit making all the lists of all your to-dos and don'ts and get in his presence, get in his word. As we've been exhorted already by Pastor Adu this morning, get in his word, get in the fellowship of believers, get in his presence and watch what he does. Righteousness never happens, is never produced through the angry attempts of the flesh. Get into Jesus's presence. Zacchaeus was in Jesus's presence, and he was changed that day. He laid at the feet of Jesus all of his heavy burdens. He heard Jesus say to him, Zacchaeus, you're weary and heavy laden, come to me. Take My yoke upon you. Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. Lay your burdens right down at My feet right here." And we're invited to do the same thing this morning. Non-believers, you're invited to do that this morning. Lay your burdens down at the feet of Jesus, you see. Because Jesus picked up the burdens of Zacchaeus and of every elect sinner for all the time. And He went up a tree. He went up Calvary's tree. And they hung Him high, and they stretched Him wide between heaven and hell, and He hung there. until every sin of every chosen sinner was paid for. And He drank the cup of wrath for us. that you and I might know the joy and the liberty that only the sovereign seeker can bring. I can only imagine that Zacchaeus' song from that day forward was something that we used to sing as a child. I didn't grow up Presbyterian, so this isn't going to sound very Presbyterian. But I used to remember singing, Jesus, I'll never forget what you did for me. I'll never forget how you set me free. Jesus, I'll never forget how you brought me out. Jesus, I'll never forget, no never. How can I forget when way down in Egypt's land, how you brought me out with your mighty outstretched hand? You broke the bond of sin and you set this captive free. Gave me joy and peace and victory. Is that your song today? It can be. Is that what you sing today? If you're hearing the voice of the Sovereign Seeker, come to Him today. Lay your burdens down and know that He is more than able to save you and to keep you until the end. Praise God for His glorious Gospel and for the wonderful truth that the sovereign seeker seeks and saves the lost. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word today. We thank You for all that You've accomplished for us in Christ Jesus. We ask that You would take the truth of Your Word now and seal it upon our hearts, that we might know the great joy of the salvation that only You can bring. We ask it in Jesus' mighty name, Amen.