Sermon Tone Analysis

A pastor phoned the home of some recent visitors to the church.

A voice on the other end of the phone answered with a whispered “Hello.”

The pastor asked, “Who is this?.”

The whispered voice said, “Jimmy.”

The pastor asked, “How old are you, Jimmy?”

The voice said, “Four.”

The pastor then asked, “Jimmy, can I please speak to your mom?”

Jimmy answered, “She’s busy.”

“Then can I please speak to your dad?”

“He’s busy.”

“Are there any other adults in your home?”

“The police.”

“Then let me speak to one of the police officers.”

“They’re busy.”

“Jimmy, who else is there?”

“Firemen.”

“Well, can you put one of the firemen on the phone?”

“They’re busy.”

“Jimmy, what are they all busy doing?”

“They’re all busy looking for me!”

5 Principles:

5 Principles:

1.

There is no one out of Reach of the GOSPEL

IF YOU had been casting for Zacchaeus in a movie who would you pick

Maybe Danny Devito - Edward G. Robinson

A few things we know about Zacchaeus:

He was a chief tax collector - Maybe Matthew knew him from the old days

Tax Collectors were Jews who worked for Rome to collect taxes

They collected what Rome required and kept anything above that

They were considered scum and villains … associated with sinners in Luke.

The text also adds that he was rich … indicating that he got rich by his tax job … THis guy robbed his own people silly

His riches came from his villainy … from his skimming

WE also read that he was short … vertically challenged

IF YOU had been casting for Zacchaeus in a movie who would you pick

Maybe Danny Devito - Edward G. Robinson … Al Pacino

It was this man that Jesus Targeted … Or rather Called

J. C. Ryle said, “If ever there was a soul sought and saved, without having done anything to deserve it, that soul was the soul of Zacchaeus.…

Unasked, our Lord stops and speaks to Zacchaeus.

Unasked, He offers Himself to be a guest in the house of a sinner.

Unasked, He sends into the heart of a publican the renewing grace of the Spirit, and puts him that very day among the children of God.”

This vile little tax collector … yes and worse

Listen to the testimony of another

1 Timothy 1:12-

Who do you know right now that you might consider a hard case … someone else maybe but never him … she's too hard … he is too far gone.

Im sure may thought this of Zach!

Don’t give up on people …

2. There are people out there seeking SOMETHING

The tree probably a ficus sycomorus - A sturdy tree about 40 feet high … short trunk and wide branches … An easy climb

Was he tired of the life?

May be tired of being hated by people

For some reason beyond our understanding Zach wanted to see JESUS

Someday you should read the Confessions of St. Augustine

A sense of unease made every pleasure unfulfilling.

Nothing lasted.

This lack of satisfaction is what drew St. Augustine to Christ, as he wrote in retrospect to God: were always present, angry and merciful at once, strewing the pangs of bitterness over all my lawless pleasures to lead me on to look for others unallied with pain.”

And again, “Your goad was thrusting at my heart, giving me no peace until the eye of my soul could discern you without mistake.”6

Maybe he felt like Solomon …

Ecclesiastes 2:9

The first stanza of a hymn written in 1878 expresses what was happening in Zach:

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew

he moved my soul to seek him, seeking me.

It was not I that found, O Savior true;

no, I was found of thee.

People are seeking something … you have something to offer them …

God sovereignly moves in peoples hearts and wills to bring them to Jesus.

Who do you know right now that seems to be looking for something … God may be at work

So what do you have to do???????? Next Slide

3. Keep your eyes open for people in TREES

Look for opportunities

That is Paul’s way of saying “Keep your eyes open for people in Trees.”

4. Expect God to work and Expect Change

* Change is an evidence of genuine conversion

Luke 19:

Change is an evidence of genuine conversion

For Zacchaeus it seemed almost instantaneous

In 1922 and 1923, in Belfast in Northern Ireland, the shipyard company, Harland & Wolfe — they’re still there today…this is the company that built the Titanic.

And in 1922-23 there was a revival.

It lasted just over one year.

It utilized the ministry of one particular Presbyterian minister William Patteson Nicholson whose preaching God just blessed in an extraordinary way, just for a period of one year.

Hundreds of thousands of people were converted.

There were so many shipyard workers who were converted …there were so many shipyard workers who were converted in that summer of 1922, that they began to bring back to the shipyard stuff that they had stolen.

The shipyard had to build a shed to house all of this stuff (named "the Nicholson shed"), and a notice was given..and you can see it.

You can go to a museum in Harland & Wolfe today, and there on the wall…this notice was given telling these shipyard workers to stop bringing stuff back because they had no room to put it.2

It's an extraordinary thing.

It was evidence, you see, of a changed heart.

Declaration of Jesus - This Man is a Changed man

Jesus is speaking as a Rabbi

WE know Zach is a Jew … a Son of Abraham … ancestry … roots … genes … lineage … thoroughly Jewish.

But this is not what Jesus is declaring in v:9 …

He is declaring that Zach is NOW REALLY a Son of Abraham

Galatians 3:

There are sons of Abraham, and then there are sons of Abraham.

There are sons of Abraham according to the flesh, and there are sons of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ, and Jesus is saying here, ‘This man, although he was in a covenant home and he had covenant lineage coming out of his ears, he wasn't converted.

He wasn't a believer.

But today he is.’

5. Dont forget the MAIN THING

Do you know the story of the young man who did some terrible things, awful things, and his parents threw him out of their home?

And he went away, and he was gone for many years until one day he wrote a letter to his parents and said, ‘I'd like to come home.

I’ll be on the train next Friday.’

His home was adjacent to the railway tracks as it came into the town in which he lived, and the garden of his home ran all the way down to the railway tracks, and there was an apple tree in full sight of the tracks.