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“Little Man, Big Change”
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Back when I was a kid, Zacchaeus would have been called a shrimp.
Today he would be referred to as a person who is “vertically challenged”.
Luke tells us he was, V:3-“little of stature”.
The story of the wee little man climbing up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus is easy to picture, and rather humorous.
Zacchaeus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he.
He climbed way up in a sycamore tree,
For the Lord he wanted to see.…
The story of Zacchaeus occupies a very serious place in the gospel of Luke.
This is Jesus last personal encounter before his arrival in Jerusalem and the events that led to his death on the cross.
The final verse in Zacchaeus’s story, contains a summary statement of Jesus purpose on earth.
V:10-Read.
The salvation of Zacchaeus illustrates the purpose for which Jesus came into the world.
Jesus was a great teacher-those who heard him speak said, no man ever spoke like this man.
But Jesus did not come into the world simply to be a great teacher.
Jesus was a great healer, and miracle worker.
But Jesus did not come in the world simply to do miracles, and heal sick bodies.
Jesus came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost!
Jesus is only about 10 days from the cross, where he would give his life as a sacrifice to save the lost.
This is Jesus last time to go through Jericho, he is on his way to Jerusalem, where he would be betrayed and then crucified.
When Jesus enters Jericho he opens the eyes of the blind man who was sitting by the roadside begging.
Then Jesus enters into Jericho, and is passing through Jericho, there’s a great crowd of people following Jesus.
The Pharisees are there looking on, V:7, they are trying to find something to accused Jesus of, to have him arrested, and put to death.
Word had gotten out in the city of Jericho that Jesus of Nazareth’s, the miracle worker was passing through town.
People were flocking to see him, hoping to see a miracle.
In V:2, we are introduced to a man named Zacchaeus, he is the reason that Jesus is passing through Jericho.
We are told that Zacchaeus was a tax collector, and that he was rich.
There were three cities where taxes were collected, Capernaum, Jerusalem, and Jericho.
Jericho would be the city that you would want to be a tax collector in.
Jericho, beautiful vacation resort, much like our modern day Miami.
There were lots of flowers, they were known for their roses, and balsam plantations, and palm trees.
The winner home of Herod was in Jericho, many rich and famous people lived in this city.
As chief tax-collector Zacchaeus was head of a tax-farming corporation with collectors who extorted the people, then paid him before he paid the Romans.
He was the kingpin of the Jericho tax cartel and had the scruples of a modern-day crack dealer.
He was filthy rich in the fullest sense of the term.
Zacchaeus was despised and hated by all the people in the city of Jericho, he was an outlaw, thief, and a traitor to his people.
He is the last person you would expect Jesus to go after; but he is exactly the kind of person that Jesus goes after.
Zacchaeus hears that Jesus is traveling through Jericho, he knows that the crowd hates him, and would never give him a front row spot to see Jesus.
He knows he’s too short to see over the crowd, so we runs down the road in front of the crowd, and climbs up into a sycamore tree so he can see Jesus when he passes under the tree.
And sure enough, when Jesus passes under the tree he calls Zacchaeus down, and his life is forever changed.
I want us to notice several elements in Zacchaeus’s salvation that is true of every person who is saved.
Element #1, he had:
1.
A Great Desire, and Acted on it.
V:3-“He sought to see Jesus who he was”
Why?
Why did Zacchaeus want to see Jesus?
Maybe he was just curious, many people wanted to see Jesus during his earthly ministry, out of simple curiosity.
Great crowds attracted them, the sensation of miracles, the food, the great teaching.
Maybe he had heard of the conversion of Levi the tax collector, Matthew as we call him, who was now one of Jesus’ followers.
Maybe he had even known Levi.
Palestine was a small place, and tax collectors would have naturally hung out together.
Jesus was known as a friend of “tax collectors and sinners.”
Jesus had a soft spot for people like Zacchaeus.
Maybe, you are here today out of curiosity, you came to church because someone you care about invited you; but my prayer is that like Zacchaeus met the Lord Jesus, you will meet the Lord Jesus today.
The fact that Zacchaeus, sought, ran, climbed, indicates he had a deep desire to meet Jesus.
In his heart he knew he needed to meet this man, this man had the answer to the longing of his heart.
He had riches, but they had not satisfied him.
He had position, but it had not given him peace.
Zacchaeus was drawn by his dissatisfaction.
Zacchaeus was weary of being hated by his people.
The contempt of the people left him desolate and alone.
Zacchaeus was curious, and he was concerned, he was a man that was lost and needed to be saved.
Every person outside of Jesus Christ is lost, needs to be saved.
To be lost, means you’re in the wrong place-if you lose your car keys, or your cell phone, it is not where you can use it, it is out of place; it is lost.
The rightful place for every person is in a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
To be lost is to not be out of place, unsaved.
Zacchaeus had a great desire to see Jesus, to meet Jesus.
Do you have a desire to meet Jesus?
Do you have a sense of your guilt and lost-ness before God?
Not only did Zacchaeus want to see Jesus, Jesus wanted to see Zacchaeus!
Zacchaeus was seeking Jesus, because Jesus was seeking Zacchaeus.
The Bible makes it clear that no man will come to God except first of all God begin to draw that man.
-“No man can come to me, except the father draw him”.
The fact is, we do not understand, or acknowledge that we even have a need for salvation until the Holy Spirit of God convicts us, reveals our need to us.
Zacchaeus, was being constrained by the Holy Spirit to meet Jesus!
Jesus had come to Jericho to seek and to save that which was lost; Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus had a great desire, and acted on it.
Is there someone here today you have a desire to come to know Jesus Christ?
Then I beg you to act on it today!
Element #2, he had:
2. A Great Obstacle, and Overcame it.
V:3-4-Read.
Zacchaeus, wanted to see Jesus, but he could not because he was short, and couldn’t see over the crowd.
The people were not about to help him out.
The crowd probably enjoyed boxing the little man out.
“Sorry about the elbow, Zacchaeus, you’re hard to see.
Oh, that’s your foot?”
History tells us he may have been a little over 4 feet tall.
He wanted to see Jesus, but here was this big crowd, and he couldn’t see Jesus.
He could’ve simply said, well, I guess it’s not meant to be; I’ll catch Jesus the next time he comes to town.
But that is not what he does.
He ran down the street and climbed up into a tree; so he could see over the crowd.
The bottom line is he did not let people keep him from Jesus.
I can picture him running from one side of the crowd to the other, but he could not get through; he could not see, so he made his way ahead of the crowd to climb a tree.
There are people under the sound of my voice, who are letting people keep them from coming to Jesus.
There are some hypocrites in the church, folks who really don’t know Jesus, or love, or serve Jesus, their lives are not genuine.
They professed to know Jesus with their mouth, but their life’s say loud and clear have never been saved.
Listen friend, I would rather climb up into a tree to get to Jesus, and climb over every hypocrite in this world, to get to Jesus; then to die and go to hell with all the hypocrites.
Some of you here, blame your parents, your wife, your husband, some preacher, deacon for why you are not a Christian.
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