He Came To Bring Salvation

He Came To Bring Salvation- Luke 19:1-10

March 18, 2007

Sing “Zaccheus Was A Wee Little Man”

Vs. 1 Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.

Introduction: Remember that at the time of this account, the Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem (scripture reference “Already set face to Jerusalem) to die on the cross. Luke tells us that Jesus had been over in Samaritan country. When He left Samaria, He headed toward Jerusalem. He seems to be off the beaten path—but is He? He goes to Jericho because there is a sinner there. In fact, there are two or three sinners in Jericho. The Lord is going after them. If you miss the movement here, you will miss the entire message of this passage.

Do you see the word “Then?” What has taken place? At the end of Chapter 18 is verse 35 it reads “Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging.” This is Bartimaeus who Jesus heals. “Then” He enters Jericho and finds another man who needs Jesus.

Jericho was the city that God had given into the hand of Joshua. In Jesus’ day it was like a resort area, the Las Vegas of that time. Many people spent their vacations there. Here the publicans lived. The publicans were like the modern Mafia. They were tax gatherers and were despised. The city was close to the fords of the Jordan and on the richest plain of Palestine, abounding most in the choicest productions, especially balsam; and was a place of great wealth, therefore, an appropriate seat for an officer of superior rank to preside over the collection of revenues.

We are told that Jesus “entered and passed through Jericho.” He also entered and passed through this world. He did not come to earth to stay but to die. Jesus’ only purpose in coming to earth was to die for the sins of the world. This tremendous movement is mirrored in the fact that He entered and passed through Jericho. Do not miss that.

Vs 2 Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.

In this verse, a simple sentence, Luke tells us three very important things about our main character Zaccheus.

His Name-Zaccheus. First his name is an old Jewish name and it means “pure one” or “righteous one.” Can you imagine the pride of his parents as they named their young Jewish son and the future that they imagined for him.
His job- a chief tax collector. But we next see that he decided a different course in life. One dark night in his life he decided to turn and sell out to Rome. His parents never dreamed this. As a publican he would have to pay Rome a stated amount for a certain territory in which he would gather taxes. Then, of course, he would gather more taxes than he paid Rome, which made him rich. Zacchaeus was the leader among the publicans. He had given up his religion. He had no more access to the temple.
He was rich. Zacchaeus was rich. He made his profession pay. He did not conduct his business half-heartedly. If he went to collect taxes from a widow who could not pay, he would put her out of the house. If a man could not pay enough, he would take out a mortgage on the place.

He was rich and had it all but something was missing.

He was probably the publican who stood afar off, and smote his breast, as he said, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). He wanted to come back to God. He had robbed many people. Although he had once made a decision to become a publican, he found out that all the wealth in the world would not satisfy his heart. He wished he could go back and start over. He had gone down a one-way street and he knew of no way to get back to the mercy seat. He wanted mercy, and our Lord knew that. The Lord went to Jericho for the purpose of helping this man. He wanted to take Zacchaeus with Him, not to Jerusalem, but to the cross for salvation.

Vs 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.

At this point we don’t know if Zaccheus was seeking Jesus out of pure curiosity or whether he was seeking a Savior.” But whatever he “kept” trying to see Jesus.

Curiosity is a characteristic of most children, and Zaccheus was motivated by curiosity that day. John Calvin wrote, “Curiosity and simplicity are a sort of preparation for faith.” This is often the case, and it was certainly true of Zaccheus.

Why the big crowd?

Who is this Jesus of Nazareth they are following?

What am I missing?

Jesus said, “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God like a little child shall in no way enter therein” (Luke 18:17). Perhaps more than anything else, it is pride that keeps many “successful” people from trusting Jesus Christ.

Could not see because of the crowd.

Zaccheus could not see because of the crowd, thus it must have been large but we need to see an application for us today people can’t see Jesus because of the crowd.

I think we need to understand that there were at least two distinct groups in this crowd.

-A worldly crowd

-A “church” crowd

Short in height

It was not Zaccheus’ fault that he was “little of stature” and could not see over the crowd. He did what he could to overcome his handicap by putting aside his dignity and climbing a tree. In a spiritual sense, all of us are “little of stature,” for “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). No one measures up to God’s high standards; we are all “too little” to enter into heaven.

The tragedy is, many lost sinners think they are “big.” They measure themselves by man’s standards (THE CROWD STANDARDS)—money, position, authority, popularity—things that are an “abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). They think they have everything when really they have nothing (Rev. 3:17).

Vs 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way.

Next he did two things that were very unbecoming of a man in his position but he knew that Jesus was coming;

He hurried, he ran

He climbed a tree

He climbed a sycamore tree which has an edible fruit similar but inferior to the common fig. It was plentiful but not as valuable as the fig or the cedar tree. The key was that there were a lot of these trees around.

Here is the interesting part to note iIt has a slick bark, and it is always a long way to the first limb. This is a difficult tree to climb. By now he is doing whatever is necessary to see Jesus.

Vs 5-6 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.

The NKJV almost gives the impression that Jesus just happened to look up and see Zaccheus. Other translations let us know that when Jesus came to the exact spot where he was, he stopped and looked up and spoke to Zaccheus.

Zaccheus thought he was seeking Jesus but Jesus was seeking him! By nature, the lost sinner does not seek the Saviour (Rom. 3:11). When our first parents sinned, they hid from God, but God came and sought them (Gen. 3:1–10). When Jesus was ministering on earth, He sought out the lost; and today the Holy Spirit, through the church, is searching for lost sinners.

He then told him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

First we must note that when it is time to meet Jesus “hurry” and “come” from where ever you are to Jesus.

Why? Because today the Savior of the world is coming to “stay” at your house.

“stay” to remain, abide, to sojourn, tarry, not to depart, to continue to be present, to be held, kept, continually, to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure, to remain as one.

We do not know how God had worked in the heart of Zaccheus to prepare him for this meeting with Jesus.

Was Levi, the former publican (Luke 5:27–39), one of his friends?

Had he told Zaccheus about Jesus?

Was he praying for Zaccheus?

Had Zaccheus become weary of wealth and started yearning for something better?

We cannot answer these questions, but we can rejoice that a seeking Savior will always find a sinner who is looking for a new beginning.

Vs 7 But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”

Do you every wonder who “they” are?

Now the Crowd.

First “they saw it” Jesus going to Zaccheus’ house and they “all” began to “complain” or grumble. The word here is described by one commentator like the low and constant hum of a bunch of bees. Look at Luke 15:1-2 and we can see that the crowd is always present and look who made up the crowd.

“Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, ‘This Man receives sinners and eats with them.’”

The religious people of the day, the church folks, were complaining, grumbling, gossiping that Jesus was going to the houses of sinners.

Vs 8 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”

This is the only instance in the four Gospels of Jesus inviting Himself to someone’s home, and it illustrates the words of Revelation 3:20. There is a time interval between verse 7 and 8. Jesus had come to his house, they probably shared a meal, they talked and Zaccheus placed his faith in Jesus.

Zaccheus was not saved because he promised to do good works. He was saved because he responded by faith to Christ’s gracious word to him. Having trusted the Savior, he then gave evidence of his faith by promising to make restitution to those he had wronged. Saving faith is more than pious words and devout feelings. It creates a living union with Christ that results in a changed life (James 2:14–26). Under the Mosaic Law, if a thief voluntarily confessed his crime, he had to restore what he took, add one fifth to it, and bring a trespass offering to the Lord (Lev. 6:1–7). If he stole something he could not restore, he had to repay fourfold (Ex. 22:1); and if he was caught with the goods, he had to repay double (Ex. 22:4). Zaccheus did not quibble over the terms of the Law; he offered to pay the highest price because his heart had truly been changed.

Vs 9-10 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Jesus spoke

“Today salvation has come”

Salvation is TODAY!

“to this house”
“Because he, too, is a son of Abraham”

Zaccheus trusted Jesus Christ and became a true “son of Abraham,” meaning, of course, a child of faith (Rom. 4:12; Gal. 3:7).

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost”

That was Jesus’ mission—to seek and to save those who are lost (cf. 15:5, 9, 24).

Invitation

-To the lost

Today salvation has come

-To the crowd

Quit grumbling, Jesus accepts sinners

Are we not all sinners saved by grace

-To the church

Our job is the ministry of reconciliation

There were four groups present in our story today and there are four groups of people here today. I need you to really listen for the next few moments. We each need to know which group we are in and see if we are we need to be.

Lost like Zaccheus
Worldly crowd
Church crowd
Unseen group that we represent with Levi

The first thing you must do is to identify where you are. Then you must decide, do I need to do something, today!