So, our text this evening is from the Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Luke. We're going to read from chapter 18, verse 35, all the way to 19, verse 10. Our text really is 19, 1 through 10, but I'm trying to get a context for us so we could understand what's really going on in the story. So Luke, chapter 18, starting at verse 35. Hear the words of the Lord. And as he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing the crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. And he cried out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, what do you want me to do for you? He said, Lord, let me recover my sight. And Jesus said to him, Recover your sight. Your faith has made you well. And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. And here's our text this evening. He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was. but on account of the crowd, he could not because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he 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, for I must stay at your house today. So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled. He has gone in to be the guest of a man who was 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 have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, since he also was a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. And there is the reading of God's Word this evening. So tonight I thought we'd look at a person who you would think, from the outside, would be as far away from the kingdom of God than anybody. Two weeks ago on Sunday evening I was here and we looked at the rich young ruler. And we saw that even though he was sincere in his quest for eternal life, He missed it. He turned and walked away. This morning we looked at the Pharisees who thought they were sons of Abraham and they were in the kingdom just by being so. We saw that they were lovers of money and how that if they didn't listen to the Scriptures and they didn't repent, they were going to end up in hell. Tonight, we find someone that on the surface should remind us of these other two. But in reality, he was an outcast. In reality, he was a lost sheep needing to be found by his shepherd. This story should help us remember that we should never judge a person by just their looks. We've all heard we should never judge a book by its cover. Our text tonight in the Gospel of Luke, we find ourselves at the last bit of Jesus' ministry before the Passion Week. Before Jesus would make his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. You see, Jesus had one more stop. Jesus had to talk to one more person before he went to the cross. So Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, as we read. Not just Jesus, but crowds are starting to gather with him as he makes his way to Jerusalem. Crowds that are so loud, if we remember reading the triumphal entry, that the people in Jerusalem could hear them as they walked towards Jerusalem. The crowds were so big. And on his way, he would pass through Jericho. Now Jericho at this time was very prosperous. It had a major trade route going through it. And when he entered the city, everyone started to line the streets. They heard that Jesus of Nazareth was coming. They wanted to see him. Who is him? Who is he? Sorry. And it's funny, I think about this. People will go to a parade to see their team if they win a championship, just to get a glimpse of one of their superheroes on the team. Or they'll go to a movie premiere, This is so they can get a glimpse of their favorite movie star. And this time in Jerusalem, before they reach there, the crowds start to gather. They hear somebody's on his way. They reach Jericho. But did they really know who this person was? Did they really know, standing there on the street corner in Jericho, that this was the God-man? God incarnate, the second person of the Trinity. Think about it. The creator of the universe is going to be walking by. What are they there to see? The one whom Scripture says all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. That he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth. visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. Was that who they came out to see on the streets of Jericho? That this Jesus, not many days from then, would take upon himself the sin of the entire human race, For he alone could bear the weight of God's wrath. Was that why they were lying in the streets of Jerusalem? Or Jericho, excuse me. Probably not. Probably not. They knew he was special. They knew he was a prophet. They've heard of the healings. Just outside of town, he heals a blind man. Begging. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Son of David, a messianic title. They know something special with Jesus. Most believe he's a prophet. Remember when he asks the disciples, who do you say that I am? Who do the crowds say that I am? Elijah, a prophet from old. But do they really know they're going on the street to see the God man? Probably not. They probably think he's just a political messiah at best. So when we reach chapter 19, we're introduced to Zacchaeus. 19, chapter 1, chapter 19, verse 1. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. After this morning, you hear rich, and you're like, ooh, maybe he's a bad guy. But look at the way Luke introduces him. And behold, there was a man. How awesome is that? How often would we want to be introduced? Behold, here's James. No, Luke really wants us to have our attention on Zacchaeus. Who is he? Well, in the first place, we look at his name. Names meant something back then. Names were there for a reason. People got named for a reason. Like this morning, we looked at Lazarus, God has helped. Well, Zacchaeus' name means something. Zacchaeus comes with the name Zechariah, meaning the righteous one. But then you read that he was the chief tax collector and was rich. You're like, ooh, maybe he really wasn't the righteous one. If we've gone through Luke together, we'd heard that this guy was not only a tax collector, but he was the chief tax collector. Chief. That word's not used much for people. That means he is not just the guy collecting the taxes. He's the guy that sends the guys out to collect the taxes, and he gets a piece of it. He's the top guy. And remember, who were tax collectors at this time? They're people who worked for Rome. They worked for the Romans. The Romans would tell the tax collectors, we want this much from your city. And the tax collectors would say, okay. But he wanted to make money as well, so he'd put a little bit on top. The Romans didn't care. They got their money. Yeah, this is good. But as we see, this guy is rich. So he probably didn't add a little bit on top. He probably added a lot. And when he sent out his tax collectors, he probably told them, you need to add a little bit because I need my cut. I need my share. So in the mind of the Jews at this point, this man's a traitor. Zacchaeus is a traitor to them. This man works for the occupying people of the land. He steals from his own people. We should be getting ready for Jesus to lay into Zacchaeus like he laid into the Pharisees. One might think, if you read through the whole of Luke's gospel, you get this feeling that the rich are bad and the poor are good. Seven times, seven different times in the gospel of Luke, the rich are cast in the negative light. they're always looked down on remember what jesus said about the rich it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of god but tonight our story is different sure those who love money like the pharisees who put money before anybody else They should have a negative light put on them. They should have the brunt of the negativity that Luke gives them. But something's different with Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus is an outcast. Zacchaeus probably doesn't have many friends. For sure, we'll see the people don't like him. They won't even let him get to the curb to see Jesus. The religious people, the religious elite like the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees, They don't like tax collectors either. Zacchaeus is probably a lonely man. Just one chapter before this, Jesus tells a parable. I think it's foreshadowing Zacchaeus coming to him. Listen to this. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank you I'm not like other men. extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful for me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. We will see our tax collector in our story tonight humble himself to see Jesus. Listen to the next couple of verses. And when he was seeking to see Jesus, who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd, he could not because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass by. Two things we see here to help us know what's going on. First, Zacchaeus is seeking Jesus. He wants to know who Jesus is. Maybe you heard the blame man's story coming into town while he was praising about being healed. Or maybe you heard other people talking about this prophet of Nazareth. Again, looking at Zacchaeus, who he is, you wouldn't think this is the guy who would be interested in Jesus. Someone who's self-sufficient. Who would throw his own countrymen under the bus for profit. Sometimes, you know, we do this ourselves looking at people. I can admit it, I do it. Looking at someone thinking, hmm, there's no way that guy's going to want to hear the gospel today. There's no way that person wants to know about Jesus. Think of the outcasts that we see in our daily lives. Think maybe the politicians, hearing them talk. How often have we said, nope, that guy doesn't want to know who Jesus is. Or someone begging on the corner for money. How often do we have a thought like, that guy's probably going to jump into his beamer around the corner and drive away. I'm not giving him anything. Think of walking out of 7-Eleven and seeing the gangster with all his homies out there, giving you hard looks. You're thinking to yourself, that guy doesn't want to know who Jesus is. Sometimes it's hard to see people who are not like us and think that they could too want to see Jesus, want to know who Jesus is. It was on account of the crowd that Zacchaeus couldn't get close to Jesus. They were thinking to themselves, there's no way I'm going to let this guy who's been stealing from us see Jesus. No way. We'll find out. Zacchaeus truly would do anything to see Jesus, but they wouldn't let him. What else do we read about Zacchaeus? Well, you just say the name Zacchaeus and you kind of get a smile on your face because you think of the children's song, right? Zacchaeus, he was a wee little man, right? This probably didn't help his situation out, did it, when he was trying to see? He couldn't just back up and get on his tiptoes and see, oh, I see Jesus. No, he was too short. He couldn't do it. So he humbles himself, and he runs. Think of that. He runs in front of everybody. And not only does he run, he climbs a tree. You know, people of his stature, that was probably the wrong word to use. No, people of his position, oops, they wouldn't run. That was below them. Not only did he run, though he climbed a tree. Nothing was going to stop Zacchaeus from finding out who Jesus is. Even if it made him look undignified, he didn't care what they were going to think. he was going to find out who Jesus was. This was too important of a chance to let it slip by for Zacchaeus. He was going to humble himself and see Jesus. But you see in our text, beloved, Zacchaeus wasn't the only one searching for somebody, was he? No. Somebody else was searching for somebody that day. Let's jump down to verse 5 and following. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today. Jesus was seeking somebody as well. If we stop and take a step back, how many times in the scriptures can we find God going out and seeking somebody? How many times can we find God searching for that lost sheep? to seek after sinners. And as I was studying for this, preparing for the sermon, Belgic Confession, Article 17, popped up into my mind. And I want to read it for you. It's pretty short. Article 17 is titled, The Recovery of Fallen Man. The Belgic says this, We believe that our most gracious God, in His admirable wisdom and goodness, seeing that man that has thrown himself into physical and spiritual death and made himself wholly miserable, was pleased to seek and comfort him when he trembling fled from his presence, promising him that he would give his son, who would be born of a woman, to bruise the head of the serpent and to make him blessed. From the very beginning, God has and will seek and save those who are his. Our God, it's said, is pleased to seek. It's not hard for him. He doesn't think of it as a burden. Oh, there goes one of my sheep running off again. No, it pleases him to go find those that are his. God promised he would send the true shepherd, Jesus Christ, To gather all his sheep. And when Jesus told another parable, didn't he, about the lost sheep? Luke 15. When I read this, I want you to think of Zacchaeus. Luke 15. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. So he told them this parable. What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the one that was lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. I believe that parable is playing out in real life with Zacchaeus and Jesus. How awesome is that? You read that parable in 15, you get to 19, you see it happen in real life. If we look carefully at the text, we read Jesus must stay at his house. It's not like Jesus tried smoothly to get to lunch at Zacchaeus' house. He didn't say, you know, hey, wouldn't it be nice if me and my disciples came to your house and had lunch? You know, like reverse psychology, trying to get him to invite him. No, no, it's not what happens. Jesus says to Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house. You know, the come down in this verse is an imperative. It's a command. Jesus says, come down from that tree, because I must stay at your house. And what did Zacchaeus do? Almost the very same words. So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. This is where I got the title for the sermon tonight. There is joy when we obey. When Christ calls the command and we listen, and there's joy in that. That joy leads to salvation. But now we see the crowd's reaction, right, to all this. They are not happy when Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus' house. Verse 7, and when they saw it, they all grumbled. He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. Wait a second, didn't we just hear the Pharisees say the very same thing? And now it's the crowd doing it. Sure, there could have been some Pharisees in the crowd. But it's just the regular people. It's you and me complaining that Jesus has gone to eat lunch with a tax collector. They all grumbled. The Pharisees grumbled. And Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners. The people grumbled. And I think of the word grumbled. I think of in the wilderness, the Israelites with Moses and Aaron, they're always grumbling about Moses. about what the Lord's doing. They grumble. And now you have everybody grumbling about what God's doing to save his people. You know, they get so mad. It's like being passed over for a promotion at work, isn't it? You think to yourself, why in the world would he choose that guy? Have you not seen my credentials? Why would he do that? Or if you're in high school or going to college for a sports team, you're thinking, have you seen my jump shot? How can I get cut from the team? they say he has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. You know, Jesus could have went into anybody's house that day, and I think the crowd would have said the same thing. It's just our nature being jealous. We all would have done it. Look who Jesus picked to go to lunch with today. We all would have been grumbling. One of the things I see, especially with myself, is we need to look at ourselves when people that we don't think would like to go to Jesus do. Maybe sometimes we start thinking of ourselves better than everybody else. You know, it's time for us to stop. And remember, we are all sinners saved by grace. The crowd grumbled. But guess what? Zacchaeus is a sinner saved by grace like every single one of us sitting here. Verse 8. And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I'll restore it fourfold. Here we see a man who's a repentant sinner. Half of my goods I'll give to the poor, he says. And if I defrauded anyone of anything, I'll restore it fourfold. You're like, of course you defrauded people. You're a tax collector, right? That's what he did for a living. But he's so excited to tell Jesus what he's doing. To tell him, look at this life I'm living now because of you, Jesus. He says, behold, Lord, the excitement. He just can't hold it anymore. He just wants to tell him. It starts bursting out with excitement. Jesus, look what I've done. He has a new heart, a new spirit. He has a new life. The old has gone. The new has come. We see a new Zacchaeus. You know, I think of Ebenezer Scrooge, right, in the Christmas carol. when he wakes up on Christmas morning and he just starts giving his money away and he's super excited to do it. It's always fun to think about Christmas even when it's 90 degrees outside. Zacchaeus has learned that it is better to give than receive. Zacchaeus repented. He doesn't stay in the sin that he was found in. That's what true repentance is all about. We find out who Jesus is. We come to Jesus on bended knee, and then we repent. And we do the 180, and we change our life. And Zacchaeus is the model for this. Look what Jesus says in verse 9. Jesus says to him, Today salvation has come to this house, since he is also a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. You know, a gifted preacher could probably write a whole sermon on those two verses. They're so packed with so much goodness. A great thing to see is not only did Zacchaeus receive faith and repented, but salvation came to his whole house. Today's salvation has come to this house. This household is God's, Jesus was telling him. You want to see God's covenant with his people working the same way it did the old and the new? Look at Zacchaeus. The covenant is not just for individuals, but it's for families. As one pastor wrote, when grace comes to the head of the house, God is laying his claim on the entire household. It's all his. Who is this son of Abraham? Like we saw this morning, the Pharisees thought they were because they were actually related to him ethnically. They thought since they were Jews, they'd make it into heaven. But that's not the case. That's not the case. Paul tells us in Galatians, know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. That's even sinners and tax collectors. That's even me, and it's you. Salvation is for sinners. Those even hated by the crowds who we would think would never want to see Jesus. Those he came to seek. Think of the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. Every single one of us here could say that same thing. A bit ago I said, talking about the parable of the lost sheep, I said now we see this parable play out in real life with Jesus and Zacchaeus. The truth is, beloved, that parable played out in every single one of our lives as well. How awesome is that? Jesus came to save Zacchaeus. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. All types of people. Don't forget it. Don't be afraid of people that are different than us, who we would think no way that person would want to hear about Jesus, because they probably do. We know they need it. Don't be afraid to tell them. People like you and me, people came to us and told us about Jesus. People like you and me. Remember that. Let's pray. Father God, we just thank you so much. Very good news. We thank you for people like Zacchaeus, who we could see would rob his own people and yet repent and live a life for you. Help us that and make us understand that that's us and we've done the same, Lord, and that we're not afraid to tell others about you. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.