The story of Zacchaeus

Sermon notes from Sunday 9 and 16 February 2014

Luke 19 verses 1 – 10

A wonderful day for Zacchaeus and for Jericho.  Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem yet he came through the city of Jericho.  Jericho had been cursed by God in the Old Testament yet he would enter into this place for you and me.  It was a wonderful place for Zacchaeus’ home.  There is never a day like the day when Christ comes into our hearts and lives.  Verse 5 “and when Jesus came to the place.”  The place being of course the sycamore tree into which Zacchaeus ran and found shelter.

The place of elevation.  Verse 3 tells us something of Zacchaeus.  A little man of stature.  It left him with a mighty problem naturally and physically speaking.  This man could not see Christ.  The moment he came out of his front door there was such a massive crowd on the streets of Jericho.  This man had a problem physically speaking.  He couldn’t see the Lord with his natural eye.  He had to get into the place where he was elevated.  He saw the Lord approaching, every feature of him as he passed by that way.  Naturally speaking we cannot see the Lord Jesus Christ.  Why?  Because the god of this world has blinded our minds that we might not see the Lord with our natural eye. (John 12 verse 40)  We have to get into the place of elevation to see the Lord himself.  There is only one that can do that – the Holy Spirit himself.  This man could have stood in the crowd and missed the Lord.  This was the time of the Jewish Passover.  Naturally there were a large number of people in the city, a mighty crowd of people.  This is what attracted them to Jericho.  News of the man, the Messiah and the things he was doing.  He might have attracted a large crowd.  They wanted to see this man and to see what he would do.  When Herod sent for Christ he wanted to see a miracle done by his hands.  Jesus actually never spoke to Herod because Herod had silenced the voice of John the Baptist who spoke of Jesus Christ.  You know we can silence the voice of Jesus for one last time.  Zacchaeus was hindered from getting a glimpse of the Saviour.  He needed an elevated place, a place where he could see the Lord.  It is important we gather in a place where the word of God is opened and the name of the Lord is exalted.  This man felt his responsibility.  It was not on a man nor on a place.  He knew the only way to see Jesus was down to him.  Remember John the Baptist one day when the crowd was all around he said “behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.”  He pointed to the Saviour as the only one who could save.  He is the only one that matters.  He came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost, to die on the old rugged cross that you might be saved.  “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men; who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” Romans 1 verse 18.  People in that day were oppressing the truth, hindering the truth.  Paul went on to say “For Christ sent me not to baptise but to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” (1 Corinthians 1 verse 17)  I don’t want to use any language to make the cross of no effect “and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2 verses 4 and 5)  Am I elevating myself or Christ?  Paul asked himself.  That is why you and I need to be so careful as to our conversation and conduct not only in every day life but in the very place where we gather together.  We need people to leave the house of God with that fragrance of the Lord on them not with some witty phrases from the preacher.

The place of revelation.  In this tree Jesus revealed the plan and purpose for him.  I’m sure Zacchaeus was amazed.  He was a tax collector, the chief of them, hated by all men.  Here was the Lord making conversation with him.  Maybe never thought the Lord might speak to his heart and soul.  Heard about Jesus and made effort to get into a place of elevation.  He heard his name being called from the lips of Christ.  That was the plan and purpose revealed to him. “Make haste and come down.”  God would take pleasure today just to speak to you by name.  He knows everything about you today.  As we sit in this house today Jesus might very well utter your name, might ask you to step out.  Only as sit under the word of God that revelation takes place.  A place of revelation and elevation.  “Search the scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me.” (John 5 verse 39)  Jesus told his disciples.  The word of God is like a mirror and in it we see something of the situation we are in.  We are sinners.  May feel we are good people, very religious people but the word of God says I have been born into this world as a sinner and need someone to take away my sin.  That someone is Jesus and he is speaking to your heart today.  In chapter 2 of Acts when Peter stands to preach the word of God what happened – the Holy Spirit came and they were pricked in their hearts.  That was a revelation of what they were.  The crowd asked “men and brethren what should we do?”  Peter told them “repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.”

The place of consideration.  Verses 5 and 6 Zacchaeus begins to think of his options.  He was told “come down.”  That is your consideration, an option.  You have got an option in this house because God invites you to be saved.  Maybe as a child of God he invites you.  God wants to deal with you.  Zacchaeus maybe felt “I could sit here comfortably where I am but if I were to come down I would have to make it public.”  A stand for Christ.  People would see his reaction, make a stand before the people.  What will I say to my friends?  This was a place of consideration.  As we come into the house of God, as he is elevated and revealed to you there is a great consideration of what to do.  Will I take him into my heart, allow him to take away my sins, can I trust him to consider all of my wrongs?  In verse 8 the past comes before him.  Maybe as he thinks on this he remembers people he has offended, things that will have to be made right, goods returned, apologies to be said.  All these things are going through his mind as Jesus spoke to him.  What are you considering today?  There is a battle going on in your heart.  If I was to take my stand today what would I tell my friends?  How am I going to stand in the work place?  Maybe as Zacchaeus thought of his tax collecting he had added a percentage here and there.  He was a rich man, maybe he was short changing the government.  Maybe fiddling them for his own good.  All of this was going through his mind.  There are considerations going through his mind.  Maybe he begins to consider eternity.  Have you ever really thought of eternity?  If you die not saved you will go into a lost eternity.  It is nothing to joke about.  What about that place called hell?  Revelation 21 verses 7 and 8.  Heaven is a real place but there is a lost sinners hell too. 

The place of salvation.  He answered Christ’s call “make haste and come down.”  He came down as quickly as he could.  He received the Lord Jesus Christ joyfully.  Will you receive him today?  What Zacchaeus didn’t realise at that point was that Jesus would never pass through Jericho again.  Wouldn’t it be awful to know you need to be saved and to say no and then to realise that is the last time you would hear the voice of God?  This is the day of God’s salvation not tomorrow.

The place of separation.  Zacchaeus came down and went with Christ.  Are you still trying to keep the candle burning at both ends? 

Luke 19 verses 1 – 10

Jesus is on his way to the cross and he passed for a moment or 2 in Jericho.  In John 4 we find he made his way through Samaria when he stopped at a well.  There a woman comes out to draw water.  As he speaks to her she becomes a child of God and goes out to tell others of who Jesus is and what he has done.  When Jesus comes to Jericho he meets with blindness.  The man Bartimaeus cries out and when Jesus passes by he gives him back his sight.  Now he is dealing with spiritual blindness.  As he comes to this sycamore tree he sees Zacchaeus.  He didn’t need to know his name.  He stopped just where he was and gave him an invitation to come down.  It was up to him what to do.  His responsibility was to respond.  It is similar to us today.  He knows all about us.  He stops with you today and invites you to come to him.  Will you respond?  What does this experience mean to Zacchaeus?  What will happen after this?  Will he accept salvation and begin a new work with God?  It was his responsibility to keep his eye on the Lord, to continue his relationship with God.  Verse 5 “and when Jesus came to the place.”  That was the verse we looked at last week.  The place was the tree where Zacchaeus was.  We found it to be a place of elevation.  Here he met the Lord.  It is important to be in a place to see Christ.  It was also a place of revelation.  When he spoke to Zacchaeus and showed him the plan he had for his life Zacchaeus knew nothing about it.  There was also a place of consideration.  He thought of his past, his options and his eternity.  Where would he be when he died?  Where would you be when you die?  It was a place of salvation because Jesus said “today has salvation come to this house.”  Is that your experience?  It was also a day of separation because he was separated unto the Lord that day. 

Verse 9 “and Jesus said unto him this day is salvation come to this house forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.”  This is a day that is initially marked in a child of God’s life. 

A change of course for success.  The emphasis today is on simply believing.  That is all we need to do.  Believe on the Lord and trust him for what he did on the cross of Calvary.  The scriptures tell us about repentance.  Before we come to the place of trust we need to come to the place of repentance first.  To turn from sin, from our wicked ways then trust the Lord as Saviour.  It is then we begin a walk with him.  We are in an age when all you have to do is believe and then you go out and live whatever way you want to live.  Man’s responsibility has to come into it.  “I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” (Ephesians 4 verse 1)  Salvation changes your nature, heart, thoughts, minds, actions right from the inside out.  The old pig doesn’t go back to wallow in the mire.  The dog doesn’t go back to his vomit again.  The drunk does not go back to the pub again.  It is a complete change of direction.  We were born in sin and shapen in iniquity but Jesus died on the cross that he might do something special for us - to save our soul.  He died to change our natures, change of lifestyle, a change in the way we begin to think and act.  After this meeting Zacchaeus began to think so differently.  Remember when the fisherman were mending their nets at the sea shore and Jesus said to them “follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  Jesus told them they were now changed by the Lord himself.  There should be a change in our lives today.  Zacchaeus knew a change of course.  Here was a man employed by the Roman government to lift taxes.  It gave him the opportunity to make money for himself.  He was rich.  He was able to keep the government happy and lining his own pockets at the same time.  Something happened on this occasion - verse 8.  He began to think of others.  When salvation entered into his heart he began to think less of himself and more of others.  Remember Matthew who sat at the tax collectors booth.  Jesus passed by one day and told him “follow me.”  We read about the multitudes lining the streets of Jericho yet the Lord spoke to one man. 

A change in his company.  This man may have joined the crowd to see Jesus but couldn’t do that because of the multitudes of people.  He got himself into a place where he could see the Lord.  Maybe he came out with the crowd but he didn’t go home with the crowd.  In verse 7 the crowd ridiculed him.  He stepped down from the tree.  Think of that place called Calvary.  See the Lord God’s son hanging there for you and me.  He is there to fulfil God’s great redeeming love for the lost.  Think for a moment of the thief on the cross.  Just before he closed his eyes in death he poked fun at Christ.  Those religious leaders and Pharisees and scribes gathered around that scene ridiculing him.  “He saved others yet he cannot save himself.”  “If he be the king of Israel let him come down from the cross and then we will believe.”  Matthew 27 verse 44 “The thieves also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth.”  The 2 thieves were still mocking him even at that point of death.  All of a sudden something happened.  One of the thieves stops and said “we are here because we have done wrong but he has done nothing wrong.”  Remember on the day of Pentecost when the believers came into a special relationship with each other.  “And all that believed were together and had all things common.” (Acts 2 verse 44)  Remember in Revelation and John’s vision “these are they that have come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them clean in the blood of the lamb.”

A change of communion.  In this man’s heart there was an idol of money.  No communion with God.  When salvation entered in he put Christ first in his life.  Is he first in your life?  “If I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation I restore it fourfold.”  He was ready to do business with God.  “They turned from their idols to serve the living God.” (Ephesians 1 verse 9)  Maybe it is time to come out of that sycamore tree, to come down to where IGod is, to begin your work with God.  Will you turn from your sins and trust the Lord to save your soul?