Conversion to Jesus Christ (5)

Well, let's turn in our Bible again to Luke 19, please. As Alan mentioned,

I'm going to be gone, Lord willing, last Sunday in September, or August, in the first Sunday of September.

I really don't want to go. I don't really enjoy traveling like I used to. But I need to get out and see my mother.

I've only seen her once in the last 10 years. I'm about due. I need to get out there. You know, all of our travel money goes to see grandkids anymore.

So and now that Dave and Amy have moved to Sacramento with the four grandkids,

I can go see my mother and the grandkids at the same time. So that was providence.

But as Alan mentioned, Ross will be preaching on Labor Day Sunday, Lord willing, on the 6th,

I think it is. And Matthew Pegram will be preaching the word on the last Sunday of August.

Matthew has been with us, with his family, this summer. And so he'll give forth the word on that day.

Well, last Lord's Day, we considered the account recorded in Luke 18 of our

Lord's dealings with a young, rich man. And this young man we saw and considered had all the privileges and advantages of the best of Israel.

He was young, very religious, earnest and devout, was a leader among Jews, though he was a young man.

And he was rich as well. And so all who knew this young man thought if anyone would or could have salvation, it would be this man.

Why, look how God had blessed him in so many different ways. He had not lived a scandalous life, as many young men do, but rather he had been devout.

He claimed to have kept the commandments of God from his youth as they were recited by the

Lord Jesus. He had remained faithful to the beliefs and practices of the people of God, even as he ordered his life by the law of God.

And with the riches he had, it was assumed that he could do much good for people in need.

And so all the Jews assumed that rich people, rich men could enter the kingdom quite readily and easily.

And so surely if a man could receive favor from God, it would be this man. But we considered last week this is certainly not the case, was it?

He went away sorrowful. The Lord Jesus was faithful in his dealings with this young man.

He told the young man, go sell all that you have, distribute to the poor. You'll have treasure in heaven.

Come, follow me. And then we read, of course, that the young man refused or failed to do so.

The young man would not do this. And so due to his love for riches, he forfeited salvation from sin.

He missed out on eternal life. The young man would not abandon all in order to know and follow the

Lord Jesus, but rather his money was his God, his wealth. Of course, upon the young man's response to him, the

Lord said before his disciples, how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God.

They thought just the opposite. It was an easier thing for them. But Jesus said, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

In other words, Jesus would say, it's impossible. A rich man, it's impossible for him to enter the kingdom of God.

It's as impossible as a camel to go through the eye of a needle. It just will not happen.

It's impossible for a man to do so. Of course, the disciples understood the importance of his words.

And so they asked in response, well, who then can be saved? If this rich young man can't be saved, it's impossible for him.

Who can be saved? He was devout, obedient to the law of God, or so he thought.

If he couldn't be saved, who could be? And so our Lord taught his disciples who was dealing with this young man, it was impossible for this man to save himself.

If he, or for that matter, any man is to be saved, it must be due wholly to a work of God's grace.

For our Lord Jesus told them that the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

And so we saw last week through this story that salvation is wholly due to God's grace.

It's not generated by fallen man. It's impossible for him to come to salvation.

It must be due to the grace of God, or it's not going to happen. And so if this devout, young, rich man couldn't be saved, then no one could be unless God himself intervened and brought salvation, and this is what the

Lord Jesus was teaching. Salvation was by grace and wholly by grace.

Well, now we come to Luke 19, and here we have an illustration, an example of a rich man entering the kingdom of God.

And he was not like that rich, young ruler of Luke 18, but rather he was a rich man, but he was a corrupt man.

He was a sinner. He was a chief tax collector, and all that meant in the

Roman Empire that day meant that he was one who had betrayed his people, sold out his soul, basically became a pawn, an instrument of Rome to not only exact taxes from the people for Rome, but he also had the authority to exact extra taxes to lie in his own pockets.

And apparently he had been quite good at this because he was a rich man.

And so if in Luke 18 we have our Lord engaging the man who was most likely to be blessed of God according to human standards, here we have our

Lord dealing with a man in the community least likely to be blessed of God.

Nobody would have selected Zacchaeus as the one who was going to inherit salvation because nobody had any regard for this man.

Here is a man who by everybody's assessment deserved the wrath of God. But in order for God to give great hope to great sinners while bringing to himself great glory through his grace, in fact, sole glory for bestowing salvation, the

Lord Jesus came to save this man, Zacchaeus, to save him from his sin and enable him to participate fully in the eternal blessing that God brings to his people through Jesus Christ.

We read the passage once. We'll not do so at this time again. But let's consider this story and the lessons about the

Lord and his grace and lessons about ourselves and our dependence upon God's grace with respect to our own conversion to Jesus Christ, sovereign grace.

We read in Luke 18 that Jesus passed through Jericho that day. He was on his way to Jerusalem, their final journey to Jerusalem, where the

Lord Jesus would be arrested, crucified, and rise the third day. Upon their entrance into Jericho, they had met another man, a blind man.

Mark's account records that his name was Barnabas. We read of this account in Luke's gospel, however, in Luke 18, 35, it happened as he,

Jesus, was coming near Jericho or entering Jericho. A certain blind man sat by the road begging.

And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.

His expression here reveals some understanding about Jesus of Nazareth. He cried out, saying,

Jesus, son of David. He understood Jesus was the promised Messiah, the King of Israel.

Son of David, have mercy on me. And then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet.

But he cried out all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. And so Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to him.

And when he had come near, he asked him, saying, what do you want me to do for you? He said,

Lord, that I may receive my sight. And then Jesus said to him, receive your sight.

Your faith has made you well. And immediately, he received his sight, followed him, glorified

God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. They all thanked

God that he showed mercy on Bartimaeus. He meets Zacchaeus a little farther through town.

They were not praising God for Jesus restoring Zacchaeus. They complained.

They grumbled. And so our Lord Jesus met Bartimaeus upon entering the town.

He met Zacchaeus somewhere in town. So let's consider Zacchaeus. A little bit about his person prior to meeting

Jesus. And then we'll consider his encounter with Jesus. And lastly, we'll consider the work of God's grace in this man and his response to God's grace recorded for us.

So first, the description of Zacchaeus in verse 2, Luke 19. Zacchaeus is described having two qualities.

He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. This would appear to observers to be an ill -advised choice of a man for our

Lord to dine with on his way through town. Why Zacchaeus? Matthew Henry wrote,

God has his remnant of all sorts. Christ came to save even the chief of sinners, and therefore even the chief of publicans.

I thought that was clever. He saved Paul, of course, the chief of sinners. And he saved

Zacchaeus, the chief of publicans. He was a chief tax collector.

He wasn't just a tax collector. He was the leader of them. In contrast to Bartimaeus, who was powerless, this man had power.

People feared him, for he could levy a tax at will. The power to tax is one of the greatest powers that men can wield over others.

This is certainly the case. Everybody's afraid of the IRS. You get a letter or a phone call from them, or a scam that commonly happens these days, as though from the

IRS. I've received several of them. There's a sense of fear, and people tend to cower and respond.

This power was used and abused by the Jewish tax collectors of that day. A man in this position was regarded as greedy, unjust, disloyal to his people and his

God. He was seen to be one void of the qualities of mercy and compassion. And so in order to line his own pockets, he aligned himself with Rome to exact burdensome taxes on Rome's behalf and on his own behalf.

This was not a nice man. And by the way, I'm not disparaging tax collectors in general, but they were in this first century on behalf of Rome.

They were not known as righteous people. Not only was he the chief tax collector, but we read he was also rich.

And it's interesting that that declaration is made. I think clearly by Luke in his account and his narrative to demonstrate what is impossible for men is possible with God.

It's impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom. Here, however, a rich man enters the kingdom. It's due to the grace of God.

And so it's appropriate that it's placed here within the larger context of the rich man that was recently left the presence of Jesus, not blessed of him.

And so in contrast to Bartimaeus, who was a poor beggar, Zacchaeus was rich.

But in another way, Zacchaeus was different from Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus, due to his humble, blind condition, felt he could cry out and not cease to cry out, even when people were telling him to do so.

Yes, the people might worry of his loud cries, but there would have been a measure of pity for Bartimaeus.

This is how he survived, begging. But Zacchaeus, consider him.

How could he cry out for mercy when he had shown no mercy? He would have been characterized as a merciless person.

How can he cry out to Jesus for mercy? His sin had silenced him.

He had no right, no authority, no claim on Jesus to stop him for him. But he would do what he could.

And so he determined he would climb a tree to watch Jesus pass by. This was the most he could do.

Now again, it's significant that Zacchaeus is described as a rich man. A few days earlier, Jesus had told his disciples it was impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And the response was, who then could be saved? What is impossible with man is possible with God.

And so here we see unfold before us what is humanly impossible. Jesus himself declared that, a rich man entering the kingdom of God.

It was a work of God's grace. There was nothing about Zacchaeus that brought him this blessing.

It was wholly due to God's grace, and we would argue, due to his sovereign grace.

And so here we have really, you know, one of the tenets of Reformed theology, Calvinism, if you want to call it that, set forth in Scripture.

If we're saved, it's because of God's grace, not because of any contribution that we bring into the picture.

It's not a cooperation between God making a plan and you agreeing to the plan. It's a work of grace from first to last.

And here we have a clear illustration of that. Zacchaeus contributed nothing to the salvation of his soul.

He climbed up in a tree hoping to see Jesus, but he was alienated from God.

His whole life was a testimony of one who rejected God, the

God of his people. And so Zacchaeus was undeserving, having no basis for expecting any kind regard from Jesus.

But this is the kind of person that God delights in showing forth his mercy and grace.

And so take encouragement. If you're such a sinner, there's a reason for hopefulness for you, isn't there?

Sin doesn't bar someone from the grace of God. God's in the business of saving sinners.

And so if you're a sinner, you qualify. Take heart from that. You might even be a great sinner.

That would maybe even be a greater reason for hope because God is a great God. Jesus is a great

Saviour who gains great glory from saving great sinners, doesn't he?

This is what he's doing in history. And so we read of our Lord's encounter with this rich man, verses 3 through 5.

Zacchaeus had the desire to see the Lord Jesus. Luke 19, 3.

He sought to see who Jesus was. He came to look unto Christ, and he would do whatever was necessary to achieve his desire.

But it was no doubt beyond his comprehension. He couldn't even imagine it. Beyond his wildest dream that Jesus would come to look upon him.

And so can you imagine the surprise, the wonder of it, when Jesus stopped to look up at him? But this often happens in the way that the

Lord deals with souls. One may come to hear the words of Jesus out of curiosity, perhaps even out of courtesy, but the

Word of God arrests him. The Word of the Lord awakens a soul to things that he never pondered, never desired.

And when the Lord does a work of saving grace in the soul, new things are heard, and new desires are kindled.

And when that happens, you recognize it must be a work of God's grace. I never had these desires before. I never had these interests before, these longings before.

God must be at work. And so there arises in the soul an interest, even an attraction, a desire to hear and to learn, and to hear more and to learn more of the

Savior. And so when these desires begin to rise in the soul, he knows God must be at work, for he never had such interest, such desire for the things of God in the past.

And we can only speculate to what a degree this taxman had a desire to see

Jesus. But I think we can speculate with some confidence that one time

Zacchaeus had been indifferent to spiritual matters. He had made money his God. He'd given up everything for the acquisition and accumulation of wealth and power.

And he was willing to say goodbye to his integrity, his character, his nation, and his religion.

He'd give all up for his God, wealth and power. He loved money, devoted himself fully to its accumulation.

Jesus had said on one occasion, no servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon. Either God's going to be your God, or money will be your

God. The two cannot jointly be the Lord over a man.

And Zacchaeus had made his choice. He would serve money. But something changed in this man.

The love of money was deposed as the God of his heart. Here we see him not only curious or interested, but even eager to see

Jesus. And perhaps it was initially mere curiosity, but maybe it was more. It could be that he had become disillusioned with his life.

His attainment of his life's goal had not brought him happiness after all. Maybe he was a

Solomon and came to see all his vanity. He was powerful, he was rich, but he was unhappy, perhaps to the point he'd give it all away if it would result in restoring his relationship with his

God and with God's people. Those whom he cheated, and restoration with God, whom he had forsaken, were underlined in the speech of Zacchaeus.

We have recorded for us, there seems to be an awareness and a remorse of his foul deeds, works of injustice that had been perpetrated upon others about him.

But perhaps Zacchaeus had heard the testimony of others about this Jesus, that he was the

Savior, and that he received sinners, and even tax collectors had been brought into his company.

After all, he might have thought, wasn't Levi, a tax collector, a publican, now one of his 12?

Perhaps there's hope for me. We might even be more creative in our speculation, and that's all this is, is speculation.

Perhaps Zacchaeus was a friend of his fellow tax collector, Levi. Now, that would have been farther north in Galilee, but I imagine it was a relatively small camaraderie, fellowship of tax collectors.

They probably knew one another. You know, Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector, and we read in the

Gospel of Matthew that Levi, the tax collector, was caused to be a disciple of Christ.

We read in Matthew 5, the account, after these things he went out and saw a tax collector named

Levi. That can't be Matthew 5. That's the Sermon on the Mount. I missed the chapter there somehow.

But after these things, he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office.

He said to him, follow me. And so he left all rows up and followed him. Now notice, then Levi gave him,

Jesus, a great feast in his own house, and there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.

No wonder Zacchaeus was among them. And there, scribes and Pharisees complained against his disciples, saying, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

And Jesus answered and said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

I wonder if Zacchaeus was at this banquet, this feast. I would think that at least word had been circulated among the

Jewish tax collectors about this great change in Levi, who was now Matthew, an apostle of the

Lord Jesus, and now Zacchaeus desires to see Jesus for himself.

But more important than Zacchaeus' desire to Jesus, we read, the Lord Jesus had a desire to see

Zacchaeus. That's what's important, isn't it? Verse 5, we read, and when

Jesus came to the place, when he came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said to him,

Zacchaeus, make haste, come down, for today I must stay at your house. And so there was destiny being fulfilled in this event and at this moment in time, even that the eternal decree of God was coming to pass that this day salvation would come to this man's house.

Jesus said, come down out of that tree, for today I must stay at your house. It was no accident that Jesus came that day into Jericho.

It was no accident that Zacchaeus was short, had to climb up a tree to see Jesus. It was no accident that tree grew in that spot.

God had decreed from eternity that this was the day the Lord had made for Zacchaeus and God would see to it that he would rejoice and be glad in it.

And on that day, at that spot, God had ordained that he would find Zacchaeus a lost soul, a true son of Abraham.

And so can you imagine what occurred, the power of the moment, as the crowd was moving through and Zacchaeus is viewed, viewing the scene and suddenly

Jesus stops and then everybody stops and Zacchaeus is looking intently at Jesus and then

Jesus looks up intently at him and calls him by name. Zacchaeus, come down out of that tree immediately,

I must spend the day with you. This is a call ordained of God, a calling of God.

It's a call to Zacchaeus. It was a personal call, called him by name, and this was an effectual call for we read that he came down at once and welcomed

Jesus gladly. And so, Christian, when you were saved, it was no less an event like this one that was played out in the life of Zacchaeus.

Your call was ordained by God. God called you individually and personally. It wasn't a general call of the gospel, although it came through that means, a general call.

It was an individual call, a heavenly calling, an effectual call, calling you to the

Savior and you came because it was a summons. It was an order of God, as it were, to make you willing on the day of his power and so you came quickly too.

You might have resisted or fought against it for a while, but he overcame you because no sinner can resist

God who has purposed to save him from his sin. And so we see

Zacchaeus singled out and the word of God came to him uniquely and personally.

While others were standing about, merely hearing the words of men, when you heard the gospel in truth, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectively works in you who believe.

And that's what happens when God calls people to salvation. The word of God comes in powerfully, doesn't it?

It's just not the mere words of a preacher, you know, but it's the very words of God.

You hear God speak to me in this. This is the Holy Spirit at work and that word was effectual.

Your repentance, your faith and practice, your presence here today, if you're a Christian, testifies to God's power effectually calling you.

It's all due to God's sovereign grace. He gets the glory for it alone. Paul wrote of the event that had transformed his life.

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the

Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus.

There was an immediate responsiveness of Saul. He became Paul, of course.

Paul was his Roman name. Saul was his Jewish name. And notice God had not merely revealed

Christ to Paul, but he revealed his son in Paul when the time came to reveal his son in me.

And that's what salvation is. It's not just God revealing Jesus to you. It's really revealing

Jesus in you. That's what transforms a person. The life of Christ, the union with Jesus Christ is what results in a sinner becoming a saint.

He became a new man, transformed man. And from that moment onward, he was a man on a mission to serve Christ and make him known.

Conversion is a work of sovereign grace. Paul described his conversion as an example of how great sinners

God is able to save by his grace. He said, I'm the worst of them all.

And God did this in order to encourage bad sinners, that God will be merciful to them too.

And so he wrote, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom

I am chief. However, for this reason I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life.

And he gives glory to Christ. Now to the king eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen. No sinner can thank you that he's so great a sinner that God won't have mercy on him.

Yeah, you might be a great sinner. You might deserve, you do deserve eternal hell. But God is in the business of saving great sinners.

And God is a greater God than you are a great sinner, aren't you? Isn't he? Thankfully, this is so.

Well, we read of the response of this man in verses 6 through 10. And so he made haste and came down and received him joyfully.

And when they saw it, they all complained, saying, he's gone to be a guest with a man who's a sinner.

And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, look, Lord, I give half my goods to the poor. If I've taken anything from anyone by false accusation,

I restore fourfold. Before we consider the response of Zacchaeus, let's look at the response of the crowd.

But when they saw it, they complained, they all complained, he's gone to be a guest with a man who's a sinner.

And there's always a reaction to the manner in which God saves sinners. They thought that there were better, nobler, more respected, more righteous people in Jericho with whom the

Lord could dine that day. Zacchaeus was the last man that they would think, hey,

Jesus, go have lunch with him. As Matthew Henry wrote,

Zacchaeus, they think to be a sinner above all men that dwelt in Jericho, such a sinner as was not fit to be conversed with.

You don't even talk with them, let alone have dinner with them. It's a common thing for sinful people to be opposed to grace, especially when it's perceived to be sovereign grace.

And, you know, I can testify to you over the years the vitriol, the hatred that's been heaped on me when

I stand up and I try and give God glory for his sovereign grace. People react to it.

I used to react to it. I used to preach against it back in the 70s. And yet even in my preaching against sovereign grace,

I always knew in my case it had to have been sovereign grace. That's the only way

I'd be saved. But somehow I argued against it until the Lord instructed me more perfectly.

And by the way, an understanding of the sovereignty of God in bringing salvation is not something that comes with salvation in and of itself.

It has to be a result of being educated and illuminated by the Holy Spirit. Everybody born into this world, an

Arminian, who thinks that he's being saved by his free will, Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, when

I heard of your faith and your love for all the saints, I ceased not to pray for you. And what was he praying for?

These young Christians at the church at Ephesus, that your eyes would be open, that God would give you a spirit of wisdom and knowledge in his will, that you would perceive three things.

And if you look at those three things, you'll see basically when Paul was praying, they would see that it was

God's grace that saved them, it wasn't their own free will. Reformed theology is taught in the

Bible, but it must be illuminated to this person by the Holy Spirit, or he won't see it.

And so that's something we should pray for, in order for God to get the full glory for what he does through Jesus Christ.

But we see this response of the crowd. Charles Spurgeon put it this way. London Baptist pastor, 19th century, everybody quotes

Spurgeon. There's a book, by the way, written by Ian Murray, who hopefully is going to be our conference speaker in October, The Forgotten Spurgeon, and basically it's

Spurgeon's Calvinism that's being presented, and how conveniently the evangelical world wants to forget that aspect of Spurgeon.

But he was very strong, and he put it this way. There's no attribute more comforting to his children than that of God's sovereignty.

Under the most adverse circumstances and the most severe trials, they believe that sovereignty, that is

God, has ordained their afflictions, that sovereignty overrules them, that sovereignty will sanctify them all.

There's nothing for which the children ought more earnestly to contend than the doctrine of their master over all creation, the kingship of God over all the works of his own hands, the throne of God, and his right to sit upon that throne.

On the other hand, there's no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth which they have made such a football, as the great stupendous but yet most certain doctrine of the sovereignty of the infinite

Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on his throne. They'll allow him to be in his workshop to fashion worlds and make stars.

They'll allow him to be in his almonery, in other words, the place where he dispenses gifts, his alms and bestows his bounties.

They'll allow him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof or light the lamps of heaven or rule the waves of the ever -moving ocean.

But when God ascends his throne, his creatures then gnash their teeth. And we proclaim and enthrone

God and his right to do as he wills with his own, to dispose of his creatures as he thinks well, without consulting them in the matter.

Then it is that we are hissed and execrated. Then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us.

For God on his throne is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach.

It is God upon his throne whom we trust. He taught and believed in a sovereign

God. Spurgeon gave another sermon entitled Sovereign Grace Hated by the

Modern Religionist, speaking about churchgoers. And so even so -called religious people will react and not receive pardoned sinners into the fold.

And so here he's speaking of professing Christians who will fight against you if you preach sovereign grace.

If anything is hated bitterly, it's the out -and -out gospel of the grace of God, especially if that hateful word sovereignty is mentioned with it.

Dare to say he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he will have compassion on whom he will have compassion, and furious critics will revile you without stint.

The modern religious religionist not only hates the doctrine of sovereign grace, but he raves and rages at the mention of it.

He'd sooner hear you blaspheme than preach election by the Father, atonement by the Son, regeneration by the

Spirit. If you want to see a man worked up till the satanic is clearly uppermost, let some of the new divines or pastors hear you preach a free grace sermon, a gospel which is after men will be welcomed by men, but it needs divine operation upon the heart and mind to make a man willing to receive into his life, in his most soul, this distasteful gospel of the grace of God.

My dear brethren, do not try to make it tasteful to carnal minds. I wish the churches would hear that word.

Hide not the offense of the cross, lest you make it of none effect. The angles and corners of the gospel are its strength.

To pare them off is to deprive it of its power. Toning down is not the increase of strength, but the death of it.

Learn, then, that if you take Christ out of Christianity, Christianity is dead, and if you remove grace out of the gospel, the gospel is gone.

If people do not like the doctrine of grace, give them all the more of it. I preach the doctrines of grace because I believe them to be true, because I see them in the scriptures, because my experience endears them to me, and because I see the holy result of them in believers.

The doctrine which I preach to you is the doctrine of the Puritans. It is the doctrine of Calvin, the doctrine of Augustine, the doctrine of Paul, the doctrine of the

Holy Spirit, the author and finisher of our faith himself, taught the most blessed truth, which well agreed with our text, for by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

That's pretty clear, isn't it? And then I want to just give a few more words before we move onward.

We are sure that the gospel we preach is not after men, because men do not take to it.

It is opposed even to this day. If anything is hated bitterly, it's the out -and -out gospel of the grace of God, especially if that hateful word sovereignty is mentioned with it.

Dare to say, he'll have mercy on whom he'll have mercy, he'll have compassion on whom he'll have compassion, and furious critics will revile you without step.

And so, that's similar to his words earlier. The modern religious not only hates the doctrine of sovereign grace, but he raves and rages, mention of it, he'd sooner hear you blaspheme.

So, this is the statement above, but with a few other words. Atonement by the

Son. By the way, here's one more, in which Spurgeon wrote of the little regard that many in churches give to God's sovereign grace as the sole cause of their salvation, and I do want to read this.

These are some of my favorite quotes over the years. And this is the person who wants to link

God's grace with his own effort, and between the two of them, they come up with salvation.

There are others in this world to whom Christ is something but not much. They're anxious to save themselves, but since they must confess some imperfections, they use the merits of Christ as a sort of make -weight for their slight deficiencies.

Their robe is almost long enough, and by adding a little fringe of the Redeemer's grace, it becomes all they can wish.

To say prayers, to go to church, to take the sacrament, to observe Good Friday, these are the main reliances of many a religionist.

And then if the coach sticks a little in a deeper rut than usual, they call in the help of the

Lord Jesus and hope that he will put his shoulder to the wheel. In other words, grace is just to kind of help us a little bit along the way.

They commonly say, well, we must do our best, and Christ will be our Savior, and God is very merciful. They allow the blessed and all -sufficient work and sacrifice of the

Savior to fill up their failures, and imagine they are extremely humbled in allowing as much as that.

Jesus to them is a stopgap and nothing more. I know not whether the condition of such people is one whit more desirable than those to whom

Jesus is nothing at all, for this is a vile contempt and despising of Christ indeed to think that he came to help you to save yourself, to dream that he is part

Savior and will divide the world in honor of salvation with the sinner. Those who yoke the sinner and the

Savior together as each do it apart rob Christ of all his glory, and this is robbery indeed to pilfer from the bleeding limb of God the due reward of his agonies.

He trod the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with him. In the work of salvation,

Jesus stands alone. Salvation is of the Lord. If Christ is not all to you, he is nothing to you.

He'll never go into partnership as part Savior of men. If he be something, he must be everything.

If he not be everything, he is nothing to you. That's even more direct, isn't it?

He's saying basically if you don't believe in sovereign grace, you don't believe in grace. Well, our

Lord manifested saving grace to Zacchaeus. When he stopped, he looked up and said,

Zacchaeus, may it come down for today, I must stay at your house. It was undeserved, unwarranted grace shown to Zacchaeus.

It was due to the free sovereign grace of God that he chose to bestow upon this man who was known as a greedy man, a dishonest man, an irreligious man.

But again, God is in the business of showing forth his glory and saving such ones like this.

And if the truth be known, probably most of us who know Christ can probably identify with this little guy rather than most of the good citizens of Jericho.

Because God is in the business of saving great sinners. When Paul was dealing with proud

Christians in the church at Corinth, he sought to bring them down a little bit. And so he wrote of them, basically advocating sovereign grace brought you to Christ.

Why do you think so highly of yourself? And so he wrote, you see your calling brethren, not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.

And he's not talking about a general invitation there, he's talking about a factual call to salvation. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.

God's chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame things which are mighty. Base things of the world, things which are despised,

God has chosen things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are.

And here's the purpose clause, so that no flesh may glory in his presence. But of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

That as it's written, he who glories let him glory in the Lord. And only the Lord is basically what he's saying.

Well, we then read of Zacchaeus' response to the grace of the Lord Jesus. What happens when the sovereign grace of God brings salvation?

That enters the heart of a man. We see it manifested in Zacchaeus' response and reaction.

First there's a response of joy. We read, so he made haste, came down and received him joyfully.

His response was immediate, enthusiastic, he was filled with joy. In my understanding of the ways of God, the degree or measure of true joy, spiritual joy, is based on two things for the

Christian. First, a true awareness of what you as a sinner deserve. We deserve eternal hell because we've sinned against an infinite

God. It's a just punishment for sinners. But secondly, a true awareness of what you as a believer have received freely of God's grace.

And I think it's really the contrast between these two, what I deserve and yet what I've received in Christ, to the degree

I know the depths of my sin and to the degree I know the heights of God's grace, will be to the degree of joy that I experience.

Didn't the Lord Jesus say one day, rebuking Simon the Pharisee, when he had this woman weeping, he says, who will love more?

And the answer was, the one who is forgiven much. And then he rebuked

Simon the Pharisee, you didn't wash my feet when I came in, but this woman has not ceased to wash my feet with her tears.

Because she was forgiven much. Zacchaeus had a new outlook on life and the things of life.

Verse 8, money was deposed as his God. King Jesus was set up in its place. And now having met

Jesus, money had taken a subordinate place to other things. What moved him to do this?

It was the grace of God working in him, wasn't it? There was a new quality of liberality about him.

Is this Zacchaeus? Here and now I give half my goods to the poor. That wasn't a characteristic of him.

The Lord had been gracious to him, he'll be gracious to others. He was now concerned about the poor.

He was never concerned about the poor before. He was concerned for those who he had wronged.

This was something new for Zacchaeus. And no wonder, he's now a new man, isn't he?

There was presence of true repentance. Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, If I've cheated anybody out of anything,

I will pay back four times that amount. Now that's after the half that he has remaining after he gives half away.

Why would he do this? He had a desire to clear his name. He was making a public announcement.

Basically saying, get in line people, I'm handing out money if I've wronged you. And he didn't say to Jesus in private, he said it before them all, didn't he?

You can imagine he was making appointments for some days to come. He had a desire to make restitution.

The law of Moses prescribed what a thief was to do. It did not require a man to give away half his goods.

And a thief need not pay back four -fold. Zacchaeus would, however.

The thief, according to Leviticus 6, was to restore the amount he had stolen plus one -third. Zacchaeus could have got off a lot cheaper.

However, in 2 Samuel 12, we read that a rustler of cattle or sheep was to restore four -fold what he had taken.

Basically what we see is Zacchaeus in no way diminishing his sin, but actually aggravating it, magnifying his sin.

He was going to do whatever it took to clear his name. If I've cheated anybody out of anything.

He was publicly declaring his repentance and faith before others. I want everybody to know. I'm no longer the same person

I was. The Lord Jesus has shown me great grace. He's given me what

I do not deserve. I am turning from my self -indulgent, self -seeking life.

I'm a new man. And, of course, we do the same, don't we? That's what repentance is. It's all a product of grace.

It's not something that you work up. Repentance is a gift of Christ, isn't it?

He gives a gift of repentance. It's the only way that would be seen in this man or in this man's life.

I think the main motivation for him, however, is that he had a desire to free Jesus of any distress.

He came out of that tree because Jesus said, I'm going to have dinner with you today. I must come to your house. Everybody started grumbling because of Zacchaeus.

When the great Lord graciously told Zacchaeus he would dine with him, the crowds began to deride

Jesus. They knew what kind of man this chief tax collector was, and now they were associating the character of Jesus with the character of Zacchaeus.

The people murmured against Jesus because he identified himself with Zacchaeus. But Zacchaeus would not have the name of Jesus degraded on his account, so he would quit his sin.

He'll clear his name. Zacchaeus would loathe to bring discredit upon the Lord Jesus, and so he would change his ways lest Jesus be blasphemed.

And so he had a concern for the glory of God, a concern for the glory of Jesus. That seemed to be his greatest motivation.

And then we read of the response of Jesus. Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house because he's also a son of Abraham.

For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. Now Zacchaeus was already joy -filled.

Jesus would spend the day having fellowship with him in his own house. But can you imagine the response of Zacchaeus upon hearing this?

The pronouncement of salvation. Today salvation has come to your house.

Consider what was being granted to him, forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, full fellowship, fullness of life, and that for eternity.

And then secondly, the pronouncement that Zacchaeus belonged to Abraham. This is quite a statement here.

It would undo a lot of dispensational theology, by the way. A true child of Abraham is not because he's born a physical descendant of Abraham, but because he has the faith of Abraham.

And this declaration, Zacchaeus is a child of Abraham, he's basically saying

Zacchaeus is a true member of the true Israel of God. Jesus assured

Zacchaeus of an inheritance of true spiritual wealth. He'd be far richer than he ever imagined.

Inheriting a new heaven, a new earth. Dwelling in a place of unlimited abundance, comfort, and security with God himself and all of God's people.

It was basically the Lord declaring to Zacchaeus that he was numbered among God's elect. This is a true child of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of the nation, the people of the kingdom of God. And this fatherhood of Abraham was ultimately not due to the physical descent of Abraham, but due, the true

Jew, the true Israelite was one who had the same kind of faith as Abraham. So here we see the spiritual nature of the

Israel of God. Here's Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus is a child of Abraham. Because of his faith.

As Paul wrote in Galatians 3, Therefore he who supplies the spirit to you works miracles among you.

Does he do it by the works of the law? Or the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

And therefore know that only those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham. Jesus one day said to the

Pharisees, I know you're the physical descendants of Abraham, but you're not the seed of Abraham. Because if you were, you would have been like Abraham.

You would have saw my day and rejoiced. But you are the father of the devil. Is what he told those

Jewish unbelievers. And so Paul declared the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the

Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, And you all nations shall be blessed.

And so those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. And so that's what the

Lord Jesus is declaring to Zacchaeus. He belonged to Abraham. In other words, the people of God and all that God had promised

Abraham. But then lastly, we have the pronouncement that Zacchaeus belonged to Jesus.

Our Lord justifying his dealings with Zacchaeus said, For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

And so here the analogy of a sheepfold is given. Zacchaeus is as a lost sheep who belonged to Jesus and was found by Jesus.

Jesus had been sent to seek him and find him and bring him back into the fold of God. We don't read of any response of Zacchaeus.

But you can imagine him just bowing his soul, as it were, in gratefulness. Amazement. How could this be?

Perhaps J. Vernon McGee gave one of the most clever sermon titles I've ever heard of this story of Zacchaeus.

He entitled the sermon, I've got it in a book at home, The Fruit of the Sycamore Tree. It was a sycamore tree that Zacchaeus had climbed up.

And he was the fruit that the Lord Jesus harvested that day. Zacchaeus was ripe for the plucking.

God's grace had worked upon him and in him and he was ready for plucking on this day. And similarly, our

God harvests us, doesn't he? When he brings us salvation. There are others about us who have not yet been harvested, but they even now are ripening on the tree.

And we should be seeking such. Perhaps finding them among those who seem to be farthest from the Lord. Who this day would have thought

Zacchaeus is going to be a member of the kingdom. God does things in surprising ways, doesn't he?

This is one of the characteristics of the scriptures. God works in ironic, surprising ways that nobody could possibly anticipate.

He does this so that he alone gets the credit for it. And so our

Lord was seeking sheep, not goats. And he found Zacchaeus. Let me close with this word then we'll pray.

One of the reasons I wanted to deal with this account at this point. Is to draw our attention to the fact that God was doing a work of grace in Zacchaeus before Zacchaeus climbed that tree.

Why did Zacchaeus respond to Jesus in the manner he did, but the rich man did not?

It was due to the grace of God working in Zacchaeus. And so when we consider conversion to Jesus Christ.

We should be aware of the fact that God does a work of grace in people's lives and souls in preparation.

For them to come to salvation. And in my reading of some of the older Puritan writers.

Back in their day, of course, everybody went to church. Everybody was a member of the church in the entire community.

And yet the Puritan preachers knew that there were a lot of unconverted people among the professing

Christians. And so the way they dealt with nominal Christianity was this.

They sought to do a study of how God normally commonly bring people to salvation.

And they talked about God's work of grace behind the scenes. In order to bring people to the point where they embrace

Christ fully. And one verse they would commonly use is where the Lord Jesus says that only those who are sick seek a physician.

Those who are well do not. And therefore the Lord has to bring people to see that they are sick in need of a physician.

Before they will come to the Savior. And so these Puritan pastors would show before their people.

The normal way in which God brings salvation to people. In order for the people to assess, is this work of grace been done in my soul?

And so beginning next week, Lord willing, we're going to start talking about this. How does

God work his grace in people's lives? And what form does that take? How is that done?

So that we might better recognize it and acknowledge it in ourselves. Lord willing.