LUKE 19:1-10 WHEN SALVATION COMES2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 19:1-10 When Salvation Comes

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014. December 31st, 1993. Do you know where you were? I remember where I was because that was the day that God really got a hold of my life. That's the day that I looked back.

Back to, as I think about the day that salvation came to me. I was at a youth event. It was called Summit. It was part of the four square denomination that we were a part of at that time. I was 15 years old. God spoke to me and I responded. And there was a real work that took place in my heart.

that day. For me, it was December 31st, 1993. But I would ask you to consider what day did salvation come to you? Is there, you know, a particular time that you can look back and you have that memory? Now, not that, you know, if you don't have a specific date, that doesn't mean that you're not saved necessarily. But for me, I have that memory of what God did at that time.

In the same way as we look at this passage this morning, we have this man named Zacchaeus. And Jesus says at the end of the passage, today salvation has come. It was on that day as those events transpired, as that work was done, on that day salvation came to Zacchaeus. And through his example, we learn what it looks like when salvation comes.

And I think this is something that we can pay extra special attention to as we consider a couple verses from our reading today in Matthew chapter 7. If you're going with us through the Bible in three years, we read today in Matthew chapter 7 verse 22. Jesus says,

And Jesus says, and I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. And so as we read in this passage today, Jesus gives a warning. He says, look, there's going to be many who show up into eternity expecting to enter into eternity with God, surprised that they are not able to enter into heaven. And they're thinking, hey, we did all these things, right?

They called him Lord, but they don't enter into the kingdom of God. And so as we consider Zacchaeus today, I want you to consider that there will be many who stand before the Lord surprised that they don't enter into heaven. And I want to ask you to make sure that that's not you. That we look at the example of Zacchaeus and we reflect on our own hearts and lives and say, has salvation come? Have I experienced that?

Has there been this kind of change as we see with Zacchaeus? And so the title of the message this morning is When Salvation Comes. And we'll walk through three different points looking at the example of Zacchaeus and learning from him what it looks like when salvation occurs in a person's life.

And so the first point, the first thing that we see about salvation coming is found in verses 1 through 4. And point number 1 is it happens when you seek Jesus. Salvation comes when you seek Jesus. We start out in this passage in verse 1 and it says, Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.

we're looking at here the final stretch to Jerusalem ever since Luke chapter 9 we've been following Jesus's path to Jerusalem for that you know that final entrance into Jerusalem where he will be crucified and then buried in the tomb so he's about 15 miles out from Jerusalem at this point passing through Jericho it tells us in verse 2 now behold

There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector and he was rich. So we're introduced now to the main character of this passage and that is Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and he was rich. That's what we know about him from verse 2. Now the tax collectors of the day were, they were hated by the Jewish people.

Because the tax collectors worked for Rome. And the Jewish people didn't like Rome. They wanted their freedom. They wanted to have control of their own nation once again. Rome was the ruling power of the day. And so the Jews who became tax collectors were considered traitors. Because you're working for those who are oppressing us. And now you're taking our money to pay Rome. And we don't like that.

But tax collectors were also hated because the way the tax system was set up, they had a quota that they had to fulfill. They had to give to Rome. But they were allowed to collect above and beyond that quota. And whatever they collected above and beyond their quota, they could keep for themselves. And so they, you know, ripped people off, you know, charged more tax than was due in order to enrich themselves.

You can maybe think about it as if you get pulled over and the police officer is allowed to just take whatever he finds in your vehicle. Like, hey, that looks good. I'll take that home.

And then you're going through the security checkpoint at the airport and Jonathan's there working and he says, hey, let me search your bag. Oh, nice iPad. I like that. I'll take that for myself. And that was allowed. That was acceptable. That was part of the tax system. And so you could imagine how much we would hate those people, right? We'd be like,

man, I can't stand those people always taking my stuff that I like and extra that they don't need. They're already wealthy. And so that's the mindset of the people regarding the tax collectors. Now, it tells us here that Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. So he wasn't just a tax collector, but he was in charge of several tax collectors. And so he was, you know,

The worst of the worst, essentially. He was someone that the Jewish people and the Jewish leaders would think, this guy could never be saved. This guy will never please God. He will never be righteous. He's wicked. He's just, you know, completely hopeless. That's what they would have thought about Zacchaeus. Now we also learn from this passage that he was rich.

And that's important to consider because you might remember from chapter 18 how hard it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. So as we talk about salvation coming to Zacchaeus' house, this is significant because he's rich. He's wealthy. Remember the rich young ruler came to Jesus wanting to enter into the kingdom of God and

But he went away sad and Jesus said, it's hard for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God. It's hard, it's impossible, and yet it happens. And so Zacchaeus shows us how. Zacchaeus shows us how salvation can come to those who are wealthy and also those who don't have wealth. And so we begin looking at his example now in verse 3.

It says,

And so he, hearing the reports about Jesus, is really interested in who Jesus is. And because he's really interested, he's trying to get close. But it tells us that he could not because of the crowd. He's wanting to see who this man is. He's heard the reports, heard about the miracles, heard the teachings. It's impacted his heart. And so he wants to see who Jesus is.

And so it says that he sought to see Jesus. This is an action word. He's taking action to see Jesus. It means to seek in order to find. It's the idea of striving after or aiming for. He's seeking. He's made it his goal to see Jesus. To find out who he is.

Before salvation can come to a person, there has to be this kind of seeking Jesus. It's not a casual thing. You know, yeah, I'm kind of a seeker. It's an intensity. It's a passion. It's a purposeful. I need to know who Jesus is. I must find out who Jesus is. I'm sure you've experienced losing things at your home.

Or maybe losing things in your car. And...

The intensity in which you search for those things depends on how valuable it is to you, right? So you're driving and your cell phone drops in the crack. Some people will pull over and then they'll get out and they'll look for it. Some people will be on the freeway like trying to reach down and steer at the same time. But there's this compulsion, right? It's like, I got to have, I got to find it. Or you lose something at the house and it's like, well, hey, if it turns up, it turns up.

But then there's other times where it's like, we're pulling out all the drawers, I mean everything, cushions are coming off the couch. We got to find this no matter what. Whatever it takes, we got to find it. That's the idea of Zacchaeus seeking Jesus. He has this intensity. Whatever it takes, I got to see who Jesus is. I've got to see this man. And that is what it takes for us to receive salvation.

It needs to include, it needs to begin with this intensity of, I need to know who Jesus is. This desire, this seeking of Jesus. There's some great promises in the scripture about seeking the Lord. You might remember in Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 29, God is speaking through Moses to his people, talking about the rebellion that they will go through.

But he gives them some assurance. He says, look, you're going to go through some rebellion and you're going to experience the effects of sin. But he goes on to say, but from there, in the midst of your rebellion, in the midst of the consequences of sin, he says, you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. And so God tells his people, you're going to get in trouble by ignoring what I say. But from there, in the midst of

of that rebellion, in the midst of where you were, those consequences from your rebellion, if you seek me with all your heart, God's promising you will find me. He's saying you can never go so far that you can't come back. You can never go so far that you can't come back and find me. You're not going to get so lost that it will be impossible for you to find me again. If you seek me with all your heart, no matter where you're at,

God's promise is, you will find me. We see this promise repeated in Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 13, where God says, and you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. It's that same promise repeated. Now it's repeated at a different time. It's repeated at a time where the nation of Judah is about to go into captivity because of their rebellion against God.

And God's reassuring them. He's giving them the same promise. You're going to go into this time of captivity for your rebellion, but you still have opportunity to find me. It's not too late. It's not lost. If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me. That's God's promise. And that's a great promise. And so as we start out talking about seeking Jesus, you need to know that

That when you seek Jesus with all your heart, you will find him. And that's what's happening with Zacchaeus. It's not just randomness that causes Jesus to look up and call out to Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was seeking Jesus with all his heart. And Jesus here is being faithful to his promise. And so Zacchaeus finds him. He encounters Jesus because he is seeking him. But there's a problem.

He has this intensity. He's seeking Jesus. He wants to know Jesus. But there's an obstacle. He could not see who Jesus was. It says because of the crowd. For he was of short stature. So Jesus is on his final journey to Jerusalem. And there's a crowd around him. He's not all by himself. It's not just him and the 12 disciples. There's a crowd. And Zacchaeus is on the edge of the crowd. You know maybe he's kind of like.

You ever done that, you know, in a crowd? You're trying to find somebody. He's trying to see who's this Jesus that everybody's talking about. Who is this guy? But the crowd, it's too big. And he's short. We don't know how short he is, but he can't see over the heads of the people. He can't see who Jesus is. He has this obstacle. Now, this is the thing that we all have to overcome obstacles. Every one of us.

When it comes to seeking Jesus, we are all going to face obstacles. Now, maybe for you, the obstacle is not your height. It was for Zacchaeus. But maybe for you, the obstacle is your intellect. And yeah, you're kind of interested in maybe seeking Jesus, but it just doesn't make sense. I can't figure it out. I don't understand. And that can be an obstacle. Your intellect.

Not that you have to be mindless, but you can stumble over your own logic. And that can be an obstacle that you have to overcome. You have to go beyond. It could be an emotional obstacle. You have maybe some bad experiences. Maybe you had some letdowns or some disappointments. And you have to overcome that kind of obstacle. Maybe it's sinful desires. You just simply don't want to let go of the lifestyle that you have.

The reality is that for every person, there's obstacles to seeking Jesus. But the example from Zacchaeus is really good for us to challenge us to say, look, yes, you're going to have obstacles, but will you overcome those? Are you really seeking Jesus with all your heart? Because if you're seeking Jesus with all your heart, those obstacles, they're going to be bumps, but they're not prohibiting you from

From finding Jesus. You see obstacles really just reveal. How much a person is seeking Jesus. It just reveals how motivated we are. Are you really serious about seeking Jesus? Or are you just talking about it? Are you really serious? Or is it just a casual desire? Are you really serious about.

About knowing him. About finding out who he is. When you seek him with all your heart. You will find him. No matter what the obstacles are. And so that's what we see happen in verse 4. It says that he ran ahead. And climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him. For he was going to pass that way. His obstacle. He was short. So what did he do? He figured out a way. Well I'll run ahead. To where Jesus is going to pass by. I know the path he's going. And I know the way.

I just have Lord of the Rings pictures in my head. You know what I mean? The dwarf, remember? He's like, we're natural sprinters, right? Not marathon runners. Like, he's just running ahead of the crowd, right? To get ahead, get ahead, get ahead. Alright, now climb the tree because I know Jesus is going to come this way and then I'll be able to see him as he passes by. He's serious about seeing who Jesus is.

There's a passion. There's an intensity. He's seeking Jesus with all his heart. And so he climbs up in this sycamore tree. Here's a picture of a sycamore tree just to give you an idea. So it's a lot like an oak tree. So it's kind of, you know, wide and goes out. And so it's thick trunks. And so he'd climb up and he's like hanging on a branch, overlooking the crowd to be able to see Jesus as he passes by. Everybody has obstacles when it comes to seeking the Lord.

But if you seek him with all your heart, you're going to be overcoming those obstacles. A lot of times we allow those obstacles to be excuses to just give up. They're just excuses for why we don't. But they're not reasons. It just reveals how intensely we are seeking to know Jesus. To find out who he is. Now as believers, one of the difficult things for us is we have other people around us that

We want them to know the Lord. We want them to receive salvation and to be delivered, to be set free, to experience the full redemption and deliverance that God offers to us. And one of the things that we struggle with in looking at others who are not yet receiving that salvation is that we are unable to remove the obstacles for other people.

We love people. I mean, we want to. Hey, if I could take that out of your way, I would do so. Because I want you to be saved. Sometimes we try to remove obstacles by kind of watering down the truth. You know, to try to make it more palatable, more receivable. So let's not talk about sin. Let's not, you know, deal with like the heavy issues. Let's just kind of deal with light things and then eventually like work into the full gospel message.

It's our attempt to try to remove obstacles, but we're unable to do that. We can't remove obstacles because the reality is the obstacles are not such a big deal. They simply reveal where the heart is at and if we are seeking with all of our hearts. And so as we look at the example of Zacchaeus, the encouragement to you is to seek Jesus.

Salvation comes when you seek Jesus. And the promise is that if you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him. This is something that we never grow out of. In fact, all the points that we'll be looking at today, we don't ever grow out of these things. This is how we begin our Christian life, seeking Jesus and being saved. But even years later, as we've walked with the Lord,

There's still obstacles to seeking Jesus. And we need to seek Him with all of our heart. We need to be pursuing that relationship with Jesus Christ. Pursuing, going forward, pressing forward, overcoming obstacles to get to know Him, to become more like Him, to follow Jesus. You need to be willing to find Him as He is. Which means, you know,

There's a lot of people who would be willing to find Jesus if he would just be something different. It only means that I find Jesus that I do this and this and this in my life. I'm cool with that. I'll find Jesus like that. But if you're not willing to, as we'll look at Zacchaeus, receive Jesus wholeheartedly, you're going to have some issues. Because the Jesus that you're seeking doesn't exist. Right?

Or if he does exist, he's not the way, the truth, and the life. He's something false that will lead you astray. And so we need to have this intensity to seek Jesus, who he really is, who he's revealed himself to be. And the promise is, if you seek him, you will find him. So when you find him, going on to point number two now, receive him. Salvation comes when you seek Jesus. If you seek him, you'll find him. And so when you find him,

Salvation comes when you receive Jesus. Check out verse 5. 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. So here we get to see what happened when Zacchaeus sought Jesus. It's amazing. You know what happened when Zacchaeus sought Jesus? He found Jesus.

When you seek, you will find. He was seeking Jesus, but what we also see here is Jesus was seeking Zacchaeus. Jumping to the end of this passage in verse 10, he explains the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. So Zacchaeus is seeking Jesus and Jesus is seeking Zacchaeus. And that is why when you seek him,

With all your heart you will find him. Because he's seeking you. Because he came to seek and to save. That which was lost. And so Jesus here encounters Zacchaeus. And he invites himself to his home. He tells Zacchaeus make haste and come down. For today I must stay at your house. He invites himself in. You see the willingness here. The readiness. Jesus is seeking Zacchaeus. He's wanting to bring salvation.

He's eager. He says, hurry up, get down here. I'm going to stay at your house. I'm going to hang out with you today. You're going to be my host. He's eager to meet with Zacchaeus. This is, well, it highlights something for me. Something that we kind of need to be reminded of from time to time and maybe more often than we are right now. And that is that many times we're

We forget that the real problem is the heart. The real problem is the heart. For Zacchaeus, it wasn't an issue of Jesus not wanting to enter in. Zacchaeus didn't have to like persuade Jesus. He didn't have to be like, come on Lord, please, please enter into my house. Please come and save me. Please, I beg you. If you do this, then I will do these things for you. There was none of that. The real problem is

is the heart for every one of us. This is our real problem. It's our hearts. And many times people have us fooled. They say, well, I'm not a Christian. I don't believe in Jesus because of all those hypocrites. We go, man, yeah, if only we could do something about all those hypocrites. Man, really, a lot of people would get saved if we could do something about all those hypocrites. That's not the problem. That's, it's not the problem. It's not the issue. The issue is the heart. It's the heart.

It's just a reason that we give. It's an excuse that we make. Other people say, you know, I just think all religions teach the same thing. And we're thinking, man, how can we convince them? All right, you know, here's the Bible. And here's why we, and we're trying to figure out, well, how can I convince them? It's not about that. It's about the heart. The heart is the real problem. The real issue is the heart.

And if you'll acknowledge that and then seek him with all your heart, you will find him. And he will enter in. He's willing. He's ready. He's not hiding. It's not that people don't receive salvation because God's elusive and he's hiding behind, you know, rocks and trees and stuff. So it's like, well, yeah, I tried to find him, but I couldn't find him. No, the real issue is people don't seek him with all their heart. They really don't want to find him.

That's the real issue. And you know what? When we stand before God in eternity, that will be abundantly clear. Even if you're like, I don't know, Jerry. I think there's some other things. There's real issues that people have. There's real things that are going on. Trust me. When we stand before the Lord, when they stand before the Lord, it will be abundantly clear. The real issue is the heart. The real issue is the heart. Are you seeking Jesus? Where's your heart at in this?

Because when a person seeks Jesus with all their heart, Jesus is right there and he's ready to enter in. In Revelation chapter 3 verse 20, Jesus says, Behold, I'm standing at the door and I'm knocking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. It's this picture that we see in Zacchaeus.

Now Jesus is writing that there in Revelation chapter 3 verse 20 to the church. So this is of course you know we're talking about unbelievers as we talk about salvation coming. But we need to understand that there are unbelievers in the church. And speaking to the church Jesus says listen there's some of you who are here and I'm knocking. I'm standing at the door. I'm still waiting for you to invite me in. To hear my voice and say yes come in.

I'm still waiting for you to receive me, to let me in, to let me do the work in you that I desire to do. Because again, Matthew chapter 7, what we read today, many will stand before the Lord on that day expecting, saying, Lord, Lord, we did all these things for you and not entering into the kingdom of God, entering into eternity with God. Going to church doesn't help you unless you are seeking Jesus with all your heart.

And that's true if it's your first time here. And that's true if you've been coming here for 20 years. Going to church does not help you unless you are seeking Jesus with all your heart. Jesus is not hiding. Listen, if Jesus was hiding, that would be cruel. Like he's just like taunting us. Like, hey, you could have salvation if you find me. You know, he's dodging us. That would be cruel. Sorry, you know, you lost the game. Go to hell.

That's, that is not who Jesus is. If people do not find Jesus, it's not because he's hiding. It's not because of some obstacle that was insurmountable. It's because they would not seek Jesus with all their hearts. That's our issue. Our heart is the problem and we forget that. We need to be reminded, if you seek, you will find. And when you find him, you will find him.

Make sure that you follow the example of Zacchaeus and receive him. Look at verse 6. It says, so he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. So Zacchaeus responds now and you can see there's great eagerness. There's zeal as he responds. He made haste. Jesus says, make haste and come down. And so what did Zacchaeus do? He made haste and he came down.

He immediately just obeys the Lord. And then it says that he received him joyfully. The words that are used here for receiving him joyfully are hospitality words. To receive him, it's the idea of entertaining or providing hospitality. The word joyfully, it's related to the word for grace. And so you could think of it as a gracious host. Zacchaeus...

Was a gracious host to Jesus. Now think about what that means for you. You know as a gracious host. If you go to Harvey's house. And he's a gracious host. You walk in. He says hey make yourself at home. Help yourself. Whatever's in the fridge. You can have it. Whatever's in the cupboards. Enjoy yourself. Harvey gracious host. Let me cook something for you. I'll make something that'll blow your mind. You're gonna enjoy it.

Hey, take off your shoes. Take off your coat. Enjoy my favorite seat. It's just a full welcoming into the home. It's a gracious host. Hey, what else can I do for you? What else do you need? What other needs can I meet? This is the way that Zacchaeus received Jesus into his home. And this is what it looks like when a person receives Jesus' love.

unto themselves that we become a gracious host where i say sure lord have full access to my life yeah wherever you want whatever you want it's all yours make yourself at home what else can i do for you how else can i serve you what other needs can i meet it's that full surrender the full openness whatever you want lord whatever you need that's what it looks like to receive jesus

It's a full surrender. A willingness to serve in whatever way possible. A willingness to let go of whatever needs to be let go of. A willingness to do whatever he says. That was the issue with the rich young ruler, right? Jesus said, alright, sell everything you have and come and follow me. He wasn't a gracious host. He was seeking Jesus. He came to Jesus. He found Jesus. But then, oh...

You want me to let that go? I can't do that. And so he walked away sad. Salvation comes when you receive Jesus. It's more than just believing, acknowledging intellectually that Jesus was a man, that he was God who became man, that he died upon the cross, that his sacrifice, you know, was the full payment for sin. That's information and we need to know that to help us receive Jesus.

surrender our lives to him be gracious hosts and say yes whatever you want whatever you need whatever you say i'm yours this is the heart that zacchaeus had going on now in verse seven we see the response of the people around them though it says but when they saw it they all complained saying he has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner and so the crowd's complaining

Because again, this guy's a tax collector. They hated him. They thought there's no hope for him. And yet here's Jesus. He's gone to be a guest with this man who is a sinner. Now, as I was considering this verse, I kind of want to just take a quick side trip and remind you of what the Lord's put upon our hearts. We referred to it as the connection vision as we shared and began the flashlight fellowship events.

This is very clear in this passage. I could see this connection vision. Some people complain about it though. But it's what we're called to do. To seek and to save that which was lost. And if we're going to reach people, we're going to have to be in contact with sinners. And maybe you don't like that. Maybe you're not excited about that. But there's not another way to reach sinners except for to be in contact with them.

I just want to remind you of what our connection vision is. Now specifically, we've been talking about this for the Flashlight Fellowships. But the Flashlight Fellowships are events so that we encourage each other and we help each other. We begin to learn this process so that we develop this ability to do this in all of our life.

That's really what it's all about. God wants to expand it beyond. It's not just, you know, alright, one time a month at the scheduled time, that's when you, you know, make connections. But this is a skill that God wants to develop in us beyond that. So that we connect with people. Now, we see here Zacchaeus was seeking Jesus. As we practice the flashlight fellowships, we go to a place, a parking lot, a park, or something like that. And we walk around, and what we're doing is we are...

seeking for the Holy Spirit to prompt our hearts regarding specific people. Looking for those really who are seeking Jesus. Being led by the Spirit to those that God says, I'm doing a work in them. I want you to come alongside me in that work. Connect with them and help me in that work that I'm doing in their lives. So that's part of the flashlight fellowships. But then we also see Jesus connected with Zacchaeus. Jesus began the conversation.

He started speaking. He made the connection. And that's what we seek to do. So we're walking around. We're praying. We're seeking the Lord. We're asking the Holy Spirit to lead us. And then we see somebody that, hey, I think God wants me to talk to them. And so we go up and we begin the conversation. We offer to pray for them. We connect with them. Jesus here invites himself in. And that's really what we're doing. We're inviting ourselves in. Hey, we'd like to pray with you. We'd like to pray for you.

What's going on in your life? And then Zacchaeus responds. What happens next was up to Zacchaeus. In the same way, that's part of the vision for the Flashlight Fellowships, for our connections, that as we approach with the offer to pray, then it's in their hands. And they could say, no, thank you. And we say, okay, and we move on. Or they could say, you know, I do have this situation. I would like to pray. I would like to talk to you about this thing and

If God's doing a work and they're seeking Jesus, then he's matching all these things up and tying them all together and using us to minister to those people. And so Jesus here models for us this connection vision that he's given to us. And so I want to encourage you, you know, we don't have one scheduled for this month, but we'll be resuming the Flashlight Fellowships. And I want to encourage you to follow the example of Jesus. This is what he's called us to do.

To connect with people in this same way. That those who are seeking him. Will find him. But going back to the real message. For this morning. Back in Luke chapter 19. When salvation comes. It comes when you seek Jesus. Like Zacchaeus did. And it also comes when you receive Jesus. Jesus wants in. He wants into your life. He wants to save you. He wants to deliver. He wants to bless. But he will not force it.

And so we have to let him in. We have to be a gracious host and just open the doors and say, here I am. I'm yours. Whatever you want. Whatever you need. Whatever you command. If you tell me to make haste and come down, I'm going to make haste and come down. Whatever you say, I'm going to be obedient to you. Again, these are things that we never grow out of. It's how we begin a relationship with God. But even many years into our Christian walk, seeking Jesus,

And being gracious hosts to Jesus are things that we have to continue to do. And we have to grow in, become more and more like Him as we seek Him and receive Him. Well, the final point found in verses 8 through 10 is salvation comes when you turn from sin to Jesus. So all these things work together. They all need to happen.

Salvation comes when you seek Jesus, when you receive Jesus, and when you turn from sin to Jesus. We see this happen in Zacchaeus here in verse 8. It says, Zacchaeus, he's

Been a gracious host. He's opened up his home. He's received Jesus. And now he responds to Jesus. With real repentance. If you need an example of real repentance. And what that looks like. Zacchaeus provides a great example for us. Now in the previous verse. We see the people complaining. Because Jesus is hanging out with a sinner. But Jesus hangs out with sinners. Who receive him joyfully. Because they're going to be changed. Right?

Because they will respond. That's why he hangs out with us. Because there's a work that is accomplished. A work of repentance. Repentance and salvation go hand in hand. They cannot be separated. They go together. Sometimes Christians will say things like, you know, it's really hard to tell if somebody has repented. You know, because you can't see the heart. You don't really know what's going on inside. It's kind of hard to tell if someone's repented.

And that's a little bit frustrating to me because that's really not true. I know what you mean. You know, it is a work that happens in the heart. I would say, yeah, maybe some time is in order. You can't necessarily with one conversation know if a person has repented. But time reveals whether or not there's real repentance. And when there's repentance, it's pretty clear. It's very evident. You can see it in Zacchaeus.

You know, you could wonder, well, I don't know. It's real hard to tell Zacchaeus' heart. I don't know if he was repentant. Look at what it says. There was some real action that took place. It's evident. Repentance is not just something that happens internally. Repentance is something that is lived out. It's evident.

In the actions of the person. And so Zacchaeus responds in repentance. And there's two ways that he responds. First of all, in giving. And then secondly, in restitution. First of all, in giving, he says, look Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor. Remember, he was a gracious host. Right? He received Jesus. He opened himself up. He said, whatever you want Lord, I'm yours. And the Lord came in and said,

Maybe not audibly, but he was speaking to Zacchaeus' heart. He's saying, look, Zacchaeus, you have an issue of greed. And you need to repent of that. You need to turn from the pursuits that you have of this wealth, of these material things. And Zacchaeus, graciously hosting the Lord, saying, yes, I'm yours, says, alright, I'll give it away. Half of my goods, boom, given to the poor. The Lord's also speaking to his heart about

How we got those goods. Zacchaeus, you were stealing, you were robbing, you were taking things that were not yours to take. In your overcharging of taxes and such. And Zacchaeus repents. You can see it as he makes restitution. He says, if I've taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore it fourfold. Fourfold. Whatever I stole, multiply it by four times.

I will give that to them. I'll make restitution for the wrong that I committed. In Exodus chapter 22 verse 1, God says, hey, if a man steals an ox or a sheep and then he slaughters it and sells it, then he has to restore that which was stolen, in some cases fivefold, in some cases fourfold. So there was restitution that had to be made. You don't just replace what was there, but

You also compensate them for, well, you sold it. You slaughtered it. And there's restitution that needs to be made. And so Zacchaeus, the Lord's doing a work in him as he's seeking Jesus and receiving Jesus. Now he's repenting of those issues in his heart. The exact details of repentance will be different for different people. For example, you could consider Jesus.

Well, that sounds pretty good, Zacchaeus, giving half your goods, but why not all your goods? That's what Jesus told the rich young ruler, right? Sell everything you have, give to the poor, and come follow me. How come Zacchaeus didn't have to give everything? Maybe if he gave that guy an opportunity to just give half, then he would have followed you, Jesus. Because again, what are we thinking? We're thinking the problem is not the heart, it's something else. Jesus is addressing the heart. And for his specific case, half his goods is what the Lord asked. It's what the Lord required.

We can see that because Jesus said, salvation has come. He opened up his life. He opened up his heart. And as the Lord highlighted these things in his life, he repented. He gave half his goods. He made restitution because he was repentant. Again, the details for each person will be different, what repentance exactly looks like, but the principles are the same. Repentance is not just sorrow for someone

Sinful actions for consequences of sin, for hurt that was done. It's not just an internal sorrow. Repentance also is not just stopping a sinful act. Repentance is sorrow as well as stopping the act, as well as doing the opposite of that act.

That's why repentance is not like some ambiguous thing like, well, it's really, you can't really tell if somebody's repented. No, you can tell if there's real repentance. Because it's not just a condition of the heart. There's also the outward manifestation of that repentance. So that if a man is beating his wife, repentance is just not, I'm just going to stop hitting her.

repentance is the sorrow godly sorrow the stopping and then going the other direction and loving her the way that god has called him to if someone is stealing repentance is not just stop stealing but follow the example of zacchaeus make restitution be giving do the opposite that's what repentance is

If you're living in fornication, you're involved in sex outside of marriage, repentance is not just stop that, but do the opposite. Have the right relationship with that person. Have a godly relationship with that person. Repentance is evident. You can see it in Zacchaeus. You can see it in your life. You can see it when a person is repentant. We have to turn from sin to Jesus.

It's not just the ceasing of sin, but the pursuit of Jesus. The pursuit of what he's called us to. And so Jesus, there at his house, watching this take place, announces in verse 9, Today salvation has come to this house because he also is a son of Abraham. Today salvation has come. He's a son of Abraham, Jesus says. Now, he was Jewish, which means he's a physical descendant of Abraham.

But we also learn from the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 4 that those who believe are sons of Abraham. So this applies to us, to all believers. If you believe in Jesus, you're a son of Abraham and salvation can come. Salvation will come. And here's what it takes. Here's what happens when you seek Jesus, when you receive Jesus, and when you turn from sin to Jesus.

He finishes in verse 10 saying, For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Jesus said, this is what I came to do. People were upset because he was associating with sinners. But again, you have to be willing to find Jesus as he really is when you seek him. And maybe you don't like all those things that you find about Jesus, but you have to find him as he is.

And if you want, you know, the Jesus that saves you and you can still live in sin and practice those things and live in rebellion and do whatever you want to do, that's not a Jesus who can save you. If you find that Jesus, you've found the wrong Jesus. You've not found the Jesus as he's revealed himself to us in his word. So we need to seek Jesus with all of our heart. And we will find him. That's the promise. That's a great promise. But we have to seek him.

We also have to receive him, to open ourselves up and say, I'm yours. Whatever you want, whatever you need. How else can I serve you? What else can I do? Be a gracious host and receive him. Give him full access to your life. And then as you give him access, he's going to be highlighting things in your heart. Again, this is something we do not grow out of. And so if you've

Never received Jesus as Zacchaeus did. And you know to that degree. You've never really sought him. You've never had that passionate pursuit. You've never had that full turnaround in your life. Well then you need to do that. But also if you've been a Christian for many years. And you're here in the service this morning. You're saying you know I'm a Christian already. What this doesn't have anything to do with me. No we must continue to seek Jesus. It's not just something that happens at the beginning. We must continue.

To receive Jesus. To open ourselves up to him. Sometimes, you know, we've done that in the beginning. And then we start closing doors. We start excluding areas of our lives. We start taking things back. And, well, that's off limits. We need to be a gracious host. Just, hey, whatever you need. It's yours. Make yourself at home. But as he does, he's going to be revealing. Here's an issue that you need to address.

Here's sin. For all of us, we have repentance that needs to take place. We talked about the blind spots a while back. We have those things. And then when he reveals it, when that blindness is removed, then we must repent. Repentance is not a one-time thing, but we need to continue to practice repentance. It's an essential part of salvation. There's lots of people who think that they're saved because they go to church, because they do this or that or the other thing.

But salvation is much more than, you know, listening to Christian music and putting a Knot of this World sticker on your car and going to church or teaching Bible studies or teaching Sunday school. Salvation is much more than that. It's a full heart devoted to God. It's a full heart in pursuit of Jesus. And that includes a radical turning away from sin in order to pursue Him.

Don't be one of those. Jesus says, there's many who will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord. He says, not everybody who calls me Lord, Lord will enter into the kingdom of God. Don't be one of those who stand before him saying, Lord, Lord, but it's never really been true in your life. He's not your Lord. You haven't sought him with all your heart. You haven't received him completely and graciously. You haven't turned from your sin to follow him. He's not your Lord then. You can call him that, but it doesn't make it real.

Don't be one of those surprised, standing there in eternity, thinking, I was pretty sure I was saved. I mean, I thought I got everything right. And Jesus says, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. You see the issue? They're practicing lawlessness. There's not repentance. Don't be one of those. Seek Jesus with all your heart. Receive him. And as he reveals issues in your life, repent from sin. Turn from sin to follow Jesus.

Heavenly Father, I pray that you would help us. Thank you for this example of Zacchaeus that we might check our own hearts. That we would have the opportunity now to make sure that we will enter into the kingdom of God. To make sure that salvation has come. Help us, Lord, to follow the example of Zacchaeus. To not be casual in our pursuit of you, but to seek you with all of our hearts. Help us, Lord, to repent. As you speak to us, as you reveal things,

Lord, in a lot of ways, it doesn't get easier to repent. It doesn't get easier to die to ourselves. And so sometimes we slack off and we compromise and we allow things to continue because it's hard, it's hurtful to repent. But Lord, I pray that you would impress upon us the need, the urgency, that we would have a passion and intensity like Zacchaeus to turn from sin in order to follow you, to draw near to you, to know you.

no matter what it takes. Help us, God. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.