Why Jesus Came

Well, there have been several people through the years, famous people that have visited our area. I can remember at least these three. There are others I'm sure some of you would qualify as famous people that have been in our area. But I can remember in 1968 when Bobby Kennedy came to Princeton and made a speech at the courthouse. I was a high school student. I'd never heard anybody of national stature give a speech or anything. So I went. I think it was a Saturday morning and I went up to the courthouse and heard Bobby Kennedy speak. I don't remember anything he said except for one thing. I remember that someone in the crowd was holding a sign up that said, Bobby, go home. And I'll never forget him saying before I start my speech, I want everybody here to know there must be a little boy here named Bobby who is lost and his parents want him at home. So Bobby, if you are here, then I your parents want you home. Would you please go home? I'll never forget that. Why did he come to Princeton of all places? Well, there's a long history with the Kennedys in West Virginia. Back when his brother, John F. Kennedy was running for president. I think he made over a dozen trips to West Virginia back in the late 50s and around 1960s. So there's a long history there. But the reason he came obviously was he was campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president. None of us at that time knew that within a month he would be assassinated. In Los Angeles. And then the little picture, Bob Denver, came to live in Princeton, to retire here in Princeton. Why did he come to Princeton? Well, I guess it was because he'd been marooned on an island for so long that he wouldn't used to be around a whole lot of people. And so he decided to be marooned on a hill over across the way. And I'll never forget the polling place where he would come to vote was here at the chapel. And so whenever primary day or election day would come, the staff would be at the window of looking for Gilligan to show up and maybe even wearing his hat. So in a few times here. And then back in around 2000, President George H. Bush, former president Bush came to the area to speak. Why did he come? Well, they said he liked West Virginia. I don't doubt that. He was here because he was invited to help Governor Underwood with an election campaign. He was here to make a speech on important issues. All of those were reasons why he was here, but the main reason he was here was because his son was running for president and he was here to promote the presidential bid of his son. Well, the most important person to ever visit, planet Earth, was Jesus Christ. Why did he come? Why did he come to this planet? Why did he come to our world? Was it because he loved us? Was it because he was being obedient to the Father's plan? Yes. Was it because he was here to reveal the Father to us? Yes. Was he here to offer the kingdom to Israel? Yes. But deeper than that and more than that, Jesus himself tells us the main reason why he came. In Luke chapter 19 and verse 10, he himself says this, for the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. I would invite your attention this morning, please, to Luke chapter 19. We're going to take a break for a few weeks from our series in 2 Timothy to focus this morning on this story, well known, familiar story about Zacchaeus. Before we jump into the text here in Luke 19, let me set the context for you, the setting of Jesus saying this because what happens here means so much more. If you understand what's going on in the timeframe in Jesus' life, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. In less than two weeks, he will be on the cross, dying for our sins. This is his final trip to Jerusalem. He enters Jericho surrounded by a huge crowd. Chapter 18 talks about that crowd. Our text today will talk about the crowd that's pressing along the sides of the street as he comes into town. Why such a huge crowd? Well, he had just recently raised Lazarus from the dead. And so the Bible tells us that a great number of people were thronging to Jesus because of that amazing miracle. But there was also escalating tension with the Pharisees. They wanted him dead. They were salivating at the opportunity to get him in Jerusalem, which they would act on their promises to put him to death within a couple of weeks. But then it was feast time in Jerusalem. It was Passover feast. And throngs of people would come to Jerusalem. Hundreds of thousands of people would come to Jerusalem for the major feasts. And if you were from Galilee, or if you were from the northern part of Israel, or from the eastern side of the river of Jordan, then you would come through Jericho. That was the way you came. That was the last stop before the Arduous 17 mile climb up through the mountains up to Jerusalem. So lots of people were crowding into Jericho for that reason. And then as Jesus enters into the city, he heals two blind men, one of them named Bartimaeus. And so that attracts other people as well. So for all of those reasons, there's a huge crowd surrounding Jesus as he goes into the city of Jericho, a mass of people, a solid wall of people on both sides of the street as he goes into Jericho. Now, in spite of the huge crowds, it is an encounter with one man that serves to illustrate best by Jesus' came. This man named Zacchaeus, and Jesus' encounter with him, leads Jesus to say, this is why I came. The Son of Man came to seek and to say, the lost Zacchaeus is that man. And verse 10 is his story. The Son of Man came to seek and to say, the lost. That verse breaks down our passage for us. That verse outlines our passage for us because what we have is a picture here of the lost in Zacchaeus. And then we find out how Jesus came to seek the lost and how he came to save the lost. The Son of Man came to seek and to say, the lost. He's back up, actually started at the end of the verse and talk about who the lost are. Who are the lost? Who is that? And what we find represented in Zacchaeus is a sinner, straining. A sinner, straining. The first four verses. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was. But because he was short, he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sickle more fig tree to see him since Jesus was coming that way. This is the man that was lost. This is what was lost. What does it mean to be lost? What does this word mean? Jesus came to seek and to say, the lost. What does it mean to be lost? What it means to be lost is to be separated from God or to be straining from God, to be wondering far from God. That's what it means to be lost. In fact, Jesus describes what it means to be lost in a well-known parable, actually a three-fold parable in chapter 15 of Luke's Gospel. You remember that story. Those stories. Jesus talks first of all about a lost sheep, then a lost coin, then a lost son that we typically refer to as the prodigal son. But in describing those who are far from God, he really helps us understand what it means to be lost and how we get there, how we get so far from God, how it is that we stray from God. The lost sheep illustrates the fact that we stray from God by nature. By nature, a sheep wonders away. By nature, a sheep sees a little pump of grass over here and wonders over that direction. Then another pump over here wonders. And then, and before long, he is far away from the flock. And so a sheep illustrates the fact that we wonder from God. We stray away from God by nature. We are born with a nature that strays from God, that wonders from God. Isaiah talks about that. The prophet said this in Isaiah 53 and verse 6, we all, without exception, we all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. So we all, like sheep, go away. We all stray away from the Lord by nature. We are that way. But then Jesus talked about a lost coin. And a coin doesn't stray because of its nature, a coin when it's dropped to the floor as is the case in Luke 15 with the woman who lost, had 10 coins lost one, she evidently dropped it. And it would roll by external influences, the force of gravity to the lowest point, maybe under a chest of drawers or under a table or a bed. And she had to try to figure out where it was. So that illustrates the fact that sometimes our lostness is made worse by the influence of other forces on us or the influence of other people on us. Maybe family members who never introduced us to the Lord, never put us to church, never got us under the sound of the gospel. I know a young man who has never, in his early 20s, never, ever been in a church has absolutely no clue since the United States of America has absolutely no clue about anything about God, Christ, church. He grew up in a middle class American family whose father was in the military and rotated all over the country and he's grown up in America but never, never one time been in a church of any kind. Now that has to do basically with the influence of his family or maybe it's the influence of friends or a crowd that you've chosen that has taken you far away from God. External influences cause you to be taken far away from God. And in Jesus told the story about the lost son and the lost son is lost because of his own choices because of his rebellion against his father. He chose to leave the household. He chose to leave his father. He chose to walk away from the protection in the household that had been provided for him and that illustrates our rebellion against God. And the fact that sometimes we shake our fists in the face of God and say I don't want anything to have to do with you. If you had only intervened in whatever circumstance in my life of tragedy it might have been. If you'd only done this or not done this I don't want anything to do with you. I hate you and we walk away from God in rebellion. And so those three stories illustrate how we get lost, why, how we demonstrate our lostness. We come into this world with a nature that causes us to stray from God. We are sinners by nature, far from God. Others who may influence us may pull us even further away and our own rebellious choices will make it even worse. The question for all of us here this morning, have you ever realized your lost? Have you ever realized that you are separated from God, far from Him? We live in a church area, a religious area. And I find it more difficult in our area sometimes to get people lost than it is to get them saved. It's harder for people to realize in our kind of area of Christian community that they're lost. Have you ever realized you're lost? You are far from God. You are a sinner who by nature, the way you were born coming into this world, you were separated from God. And your own life choices or people you've surrounded yourself with or other influences may have taken you in your mind and heart far, far away from God. But you came into this world separated from God, lost, straining, wandering, far away from God. Have you ever realized I'm not asking if you decided to turn your life around, join the church, become a better person? I'm asking do you realize that you're lost, that you need to save your, that you're far from God? Zacchaeus was lost. Now, let's come back to Zacchaeus himself and we'll see some other evidences of lostness in his life or the way it played out in his life. Some of it may relate to you as well. Zacchaeus was lost in spite of his parents' hopes. Zacchaeus, who says, a man was there by the name of Zacchaeus. Now Jewish families would name their children in hopes that they would live up to the name. There was meaning in most Jewish names. And Zacchaeus comes from a good Jewish word, a good Hebrew word, Zaccar meaning righteousness or justice. And so Zacchaeus's parents had named him in hopes that he would live up to that name and be a righteous and a just man. But he had wondered far from their hopes and shattered all of their dreams and prayers for him because he had chosen his own way far from the righteousness they had hoped for their son. Far from being a just man, he had chosen an occupation which basically required him to work for the Romans in an unscrupulous, unjust manner. And to be one who would extort his own people for his own personal gain, that's the kind of man he had become in spite of his parents' dreams and hopes and prayers for him. He was lost and he was far, far from God. Maybe your parents brought you up in church. Maybe your parents prayed for you and hoped that you would know Jesus and you would live for him. But you've long since turned your back on that, walked away from that childhood influence. And in spite of your parents' hopes and dreams, you are far from God today, you're lost. Zacchaeus was lost in spite of his parents' hopes. Secondly, he was lost in spite of his position. Look again at verse two. The man was there by the name of Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. I don't, don't, just slide right by that. He was a chief tax collector. That would be the equivalent of being the head of the local customs office or maybe the biggest customs office in the land. He was the head of the local tax department. There were other tax collectors who worked under him and he was kind of at the top of the pyramid getting a cut of their commission. So he had made himself wealthy because of his position and Jericho was a great place to be a tax collector. Probably the peach job in all of Israel, if you're a tax collector, is in Jericho because it's an important trade route. It is the center of all commerce coming from Persia down the Kings Highway and then turning west to go up the only road from the Jordan Valley into Jerusalem. And so there in Jericho, the first city in the land of Israel that you would come to, you paid all your tariffs, all your customs, all your taxes for everything you were bringing into the land. And then there was a burgeoning balsam tree industry there in the Jericho area that was beginning to increase the number of taxes a tax collector could take in in that area. So this was a great place to be a tax collector. In other words, Zacchaeus had made it to the top. He was at the very top of his profession and that may represent you today. Maybe you've done well in life. You worked hard. You put in the long hours and you've slaved away at your job. You've risen through the race. You've climbed the ladder and you've done well. Possibly you are at the very peak of your possession or of your profession or you're well on your way to getting there. But in spite of the wealth and the acclaim that comes with that, you find a nagging, annoying emptiness inside your lost, you're far from God even though you may be very successful. Zacchaeus was lost in spite of his position. But he was also lost in spite of his interest. No question yet some interest in what was going on with Jesus walking down the street, but he was still lost. Notice verse three, he wanted to see who Jesus was. Because he was short, he could not see over the crowd. In stopping, verse four, so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him since Jesus was coming that way. Now Sycamore fig tree was a tree in Israel that had wide spreading branches. And so he saw one of those trees nearby. He can't get through the crowd. He's curious. He's interested to see Jesus. Very curious to see this one that he's probably heard about, but he can't get through the crowd and nobody's going to let him through. Not him. He's going to get a bunch of angry looks and crude comments as all he's going to get. Nobody's going to let him through to see. So he spies this tree and realizes the branches are hanging out over the street. He can probably climb up in that tree, get a little ways out on a branch and be right where he can see Jesus. Maybe hidden from enough foliage so the crowd won't boo him and yell, epithet's adding. But at least where he could move a few leads and see the Savior coming by. He's curious. He's interested. But I think there may be more than just curiosity here, more than just marginal interest. I think that Zacchaeus because of the effort he puts forth to see Jesus, he really wants to see Jesus. I think he may be what we would call a seeker. Now, I understand what Romans 311 says. There is no one to understand. There's no one who seeks God. I understand that all of us since Adam have attempted to hide from God when he shows up not to seek him. And what that means, theologically, is that none of us take the initiative to move toward God. God always takes the initiative to move toward us in salvation. He always begins the process of moving toward us through the work of his spirit. But when the spirit of God begins working, it may not always be initially through a clear presentation of the gospel. The spirit of God may begin stirring up discontent in your heart about who you are, what you've done in life, where you are in life, or just an emptiness in your life that you've done all these things, you've climbed the ladder of success. Why am I still empty inside? And so there's this nagging loneliness, emptiness, lack of purpose. Those are the very tools of the spirit of God working in your heart, and you begin to seek answers to those questions. You begin to seek meaning and purpose and fulfillment in life somewhere else, because I'm sure not getting it from where I've gotten it before. No matter how successful you may be, you realize there's more. It's got to be mortal life. And so you're seeking, you're searching that in itself is a work of the Holy Spirit. Some Calvin himself and his commentary on this passage said, Curiosity and Simplicity are a sort of preparation for faith. And he's right. The Holy Spirit begins working even through circumstances in our life to create that discontent, that longing, that sense of a lack of fulfillment. And I believe that's where Zacchaeus may have been, because he is really, really eager to see Jesus. I believe that there's something missing in his life, and he knows it, and he's searching, he's seeking, maybe he's heard about Jesus. He expect maybe he's heard somewhere along the line that Jesus is the friend of publicans and sinners. The friend of tax collectors and sinners. Do you think maybe he might have known Matthew and heard that Jesus had actually called a tax collector to be one of his disciples? Do you think maybe even new Matthew, maybe they went to tax collector conventions together in Cessaria, or maybe made trips to Rome together on business for the Roman government? You think maybe new men? You know, the Bible says in Matthew 9 that after Matthew started following Jesus, he threw a big banquet in his house. And read it, Matthew 9 says, many tax collectors were there. He invited all his buddies. Do you think maybe Zacchaeus was there in Matthew's home? No way to know, obviously, but it's possible. I mean, who else is going to hang out with a tax collector? Other tax collectors, that's about it. And so that's who Matthew knows, and that's who he invites into his house. Maybe Zacchaeus was there. Maybe Matthew had witnessed to him. All of that is conjecture, I understand. But it's quite possible that Zacchaeus already has some understanding of who Jesus is. He is desperate to see him. And I think the Lord is working in his heart, but my friend's spiritual interest does not equal salvation. Maybe you come to church because you realize there's something missing in your life, and you think maybe it's spiritual. And so you're searching, you're looking, you're asking questions, and you're wondering, that's great. For so glad you're here. We believe the Bible has the answers, but just being interested is not enough to get you to heaven. Because the Bible says he was lost in spite of his interest. So that which was lost, Zacchaeus was straining far from God in spite of his parents hopes, in spite of his position, in spite of his interest, he was lost. You ever realized that about yourself? Was there ever a time in your life when you recognized I'm lost? I'm far from God. I do not know him. Because Jesus came to save you. He came to seek and to save you if you realize you're lost. Now the Bible describes next. After describing the one that was lost, Zacchaeus, the Bible describes how Jesus came to seek him. Look at it in verses 5 through 7. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter. He's gone to the house to be the guest of a sinner. Now this is Jesus seeking the Son of Man seeking the lost. Zacchaeus is the lost and now we find Jesus seeking him. Isn't it interesting? Zacchaeus was looking for Jesus. But really Jesus is searching for him. Jesus is looking for him. And that's always the way salvation works. We may not see it that way because we're only seeing it from our side of things. If we could view the whole picture that God is putting together, we would see that whenever we have that curiosity, that seeking, questioning spirit, actually God has already begun his work of seeking us, of searching for us. And I want you to see how that plays out in Zacchaeus' life. First of all, it is a very punctual search. Verse 5, When Jesus reached the spot, I love that. When Jesus reached the spot, he stops. Now please, try to put yourself in the setting. So lining the street on both sides, Bartimaeus is probably still following and jumping and praising God that he can see now. And there's a lot going on in Jesus' stops. When he reached the spot, at just the right point, because this is the place of divine appointment, at just the right time, when he came to the spot, he stopped. Imagine that moment. He looks up with a face of tenderness. He looks up at Zacchaeus with eyes of welcome recognition, with words unlike anything that Zacchaeus is used to hearing, with words that electrify his soul. And I wonder if this could be your day, the spot where you are right now. Jesus has shown up. He's come and stopped at your pub by your seat. And there's a divine appointment, divinely orchestrated, and in Jesus' infinite punctuality, he is here now speaking to your heart and you sense it. He is very punctual. If he is after you and he is after you today and speaking to your heart, he knows exactly what he's doing. He has stopped at just the right moment, at the right place. It was a punctual search. But secondly, it was a providential search. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, notice Jesus takes the initiative to move into Zacchaeus' life. This meeting was planned in God's timetable. And Jesus of all things invites himself to Zacchaeus' house. You see, all this is done at Jesus' initiative. Jesus stops, looks up. Jesus is initiating this contact. He looks up at Zacchaeus and speaks to him. It is God who is working today to set a meeting with you. Some of you may be here today and you're wondering, why did I come to church today? I wasn't planning on it, and I just decided, well, might as well go. Why are you here? It could well be, my friend, that today you are here because Jesus has scheduled a divine appointment with you. And in his way, mysterious though it is, in his providence, which means he works all the circumstances around to fulfill his purpose and plan. In his providence, he has you here today. Maybe you're visiting family. Maybe you just decided to show up at church today. Maybe you've been here 30 years. But God has you here today in this place, at this time, speaking to your heart, that is His work, His moving in your life. It is a providential search. But I want you to see also it is a very personal search. When Jesus reached the spot, He looked up and said, Zacchaeus. How does he know Zacchaeus's name? Well, he knows all of our names. He knows your name. And when he's speaking to your heart, friend, it is not just God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who, so ever believes in Him. No, no, when He's speaking to you, it becomes much more personal. Yes, He did love the world. And He sent His Son to die for the sins of the world. But He died for you. And He loves you. And He wants you. Bill, Sue, Mary, Zac, He wants you by name. He's speaking to your heart. And He wants you personally to come to Him as Savior. This is a personal search. Friend, you need to get beyond the scope of God loves everybody, which He does, to understand that God loves you. And He sent His Son to die for you. And He's calling out to you by name personally to come to Him as Savior. But I don't want you to miss this either. Not only is this a punctual search, a providential search, a personal search, it is also a pressing search. Notice verse five, when Jesus reached the spot He looked up and said, Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. Wow, those are very urgent terms. Immediately must today. Jesus doesn't come along and look up kind of like it basically and say, Zacchaeus, whenever you feel ready, I'd be willing to entertain a conversation with you. Not on this day. Not today. Jesus does not say to him, Zacchaeus, would you like to come down maybe and have a little talk here? No, not on this day. He doesn't say, Zacchaeus, maybe sometime we could arrange a meeting and get together, not on this day. That's appropriate sometimes as we talk with people about the Savior, but not on this day, not with Jesus. This is pressing. This is urgent. Jesus is passing through town. This is a divine appointment with Zacchaeus. There is no tomorrow. Zacchaeus, come down immediately today. I must be at your house. There is a divine appointment that Jesus will not miss. He's on a divine mission. Now is the time. What about you, my friend? Is God speaking to your heart today? If he is, the Bible warns us today is the appointed time. Now is the appointed time. Today is the day of salvation. Hebrews 2. Both not yourself and tomorrow, for you know not what a day may bring forth. Proverbs 271. The Bible over and over again presses on us the urgency. The pressing nature of salvation. None of us knows what will happen today. None of us knows whether we'll be even living tomorrow or whether Jesus may come back today and start that process of ushering in the last times. We don't know when that's going to happen. All we know is that if I have an opportunity now, Jesus is speaking to my heart now. I cannot put that off till tomorrow. This is a pressing search. It's sad to say it is also a protested search. Verse 7. All the people saw this and began to mutter. He has gone to be the guest of us. And now I'm sure people were interested in Jericho to know where Jesus might spend the night. Maybe there was some conjecture going on. Maybe he'll stay at the house of a prominent priest in town or a well-known rabbi that lives here. Nobody expected him to do this. So everybody has shot the whole crowd begins to mutter. The Bible says all the people began to mutter. This is unheard of for a rabbi, a religious teacher. To lower himself, to stay with a despised, hated, unjust, unscrupulous, extortionist, tax collector. Why would he do that? Because he loves sinners. This beautifully fits the ministry of Jesus. And it should fit our ministry too. Jesus didn't write off Zaccheus, although probably every other religious person in Jericho had written him off. Zaccheus? Him? He'll never get saved. Jesus was there to reach him with the gospel that day. Jesus did not write him off. Jesus did not worry about what the self-righteous Pharisees might think. He's there to reach out with love and compassion to all, including Zaccheus. Jesus is not isolated from the herding of the community. He's not isolated from those who are on the lowest realm as some people see it of the social spectrum. Doesn't matter who it is, Jesus wants them to come to know him. The cold, rigid, religion of the people in Jericho of Zaccheus as fellow citizens, no doubt had just driven him further away from God, probably in resentment and pride. But one gentle, gracious act of friendship would melt his heart. One loving glance of a savior and the calling of his name with a tender voice of mercy would open floodgates of emotion in his soul. And Zaccheus would never be the same. Jesus knew how to break through the resentment. Jesus knew how to break through the self-sufficiency and pride and the sinfulness of his mind and heart. What a lesson in evangelism. What a lesson in reaching out to people. Our goal should be to reach everyone with the gospel. Regardless of who they are, we don't pick and choose. Reach everyone with the gospel. We are not better than anyone else. We are not to isolate ourselves from anyone in this community. We are to have the same loving heart and eyes of compassion and tenderness in our voice for anyone who is far from the Savior. That was Jesus' mission. That is to be our mission. What a lesson it is for us to see Jesus move into the heart, mind, and life of this despised sinner. Yes, this is the Son of Man seeking. But I would have you notice, too, the last part of the story. A sinner's straying, yes, that's Zacchaeus. Jesus seeking him beautifully, but the Son of Man saving verses 8 and 9. But Zacchaeus stood up in the tree? No, no, no. Little time has passed, obviously. Zacchaeus has come down, verse 6, and welcomed him gladly into his home. They've probably reclined that the table had a meal together. No doubt there's been conversation about who Jesus is. And he is the Messiah. Zacchaeus has probably already in his heart accepted Jesus by faith. And in verse 8, Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, look, Lord, notice. He's calling him Lord. Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I've cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this house. Why? Because he's willing to give all of his goods to the poor? Half is good? No, no, no, no. Jesus doesn't say that. It was not his good deeds that brought him to the Savior or that saved him. Notice, Jesus says, today salvation has come to this house because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. He said, well, that doesn't tell me much. What does that mean? It would have spoken volumes to any Jew in that day, to be a son of Abraham, to be singled out as a son of Abraham meant something more than just to be Jewish by ethnicity. It meant to me more than just a descendant of Abraham by race. It meant much more than that. Jesus, I think, here is speaking in the same terms that Paul will use later when he writes to the Galatians. Paul in Galatians chapter three says this, so also Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Understand then Paul says that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Who are the sons of Abraham? Who are the children of Abraham? Not just ethnic Jews. In one sense they are. But Jesus is speaking in this sense. Anachias is a child of faith and the means of salvation is not what you do. The means of salvation is faith in Christ. You place your faith in Jesus as your Savior, realizing that you are a straining sinner, a wanderer, one who is lost, far from God, even though you may be religious or a good person, far from God. Have you realized that Jesus came to die on the cross to pay for all of your sins, to pay the penalty that we owe to God? He paid for that when he died in your place, took your penalty, and so you place all of your trust and confidence in getting to heaven on Jesus. You trust him as your Savior. And when you like Abraham, like Zacchaeus, trust Christ as your Savior and receive his free gift of salvation, you too, become a son of Abraham and a son of God, a child of God. That's the means of salvation. But the evidence of salvation is the changed life. And here is really a changed life here. Back in verse 8, Zacchaeus has said, look Lord, here I, and now I give half of my possessions to the poor if I've cheated anybody out of anything. And there's no uncertainty about that. Yeah, he's cheated a lot of people out of a lot of stuff. If I've cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. Go back to the mosaic law, Exodus 21, Leviticus 5, other passages tell us that if a person recognized they had defrauded someone else, cheated someone else, if they admitted it, confessed it, they were required to reimburse whatever they had taken, add 20% to it and bring a trespass offering to the tabernacle or the temple as an evidence that they were truly repentant and they were getting right with God. If it was impossible to make restitution, then you were to pay back fourfold. And Zacchaeus even goes beyond that. He goes to the limit of the law, says I'll give fourfold, anybody I've cheated. But also I'm going to be on that. I'll give half of everything I have to the poor. Now what that shows is not, oh, this is how you get saved by doing good things and given money away, it's not how you get saved. You get saved through faith and Christ. What this demonstrates is the radical change in his life. I mean, here's a man who's made a living off of robbing people, extorting people, cheating people. And now the change of heart, mind and his man's life is willing to make him say, now that you're the Lord of my life, you're the master of everything I have, all my possessions or yours, my heart's different. I want to give now. I'm no longer a taker. I'm a giver. I want to give. God changes us when we get saved. And I would ask you this morning, have you ever trusted Jesus as your Savior? And this so, was there really any genuine evidence of life change? It doesn't always have to look like this. Maybe not that you want to give half your stuff away, might be, but that doesn't always look that way. It may be that you have some new desires you never had before. Suddenly you want to get into the Bible and read it and study it and hear it and understand what it has for you and how God wants you to live. You never felt that way before. Suddenly you want to learn how to pray so that you can talk to God. You never felt that way before. Suddenly you want to tell someone else about Jesus. That's totally foreign to you. You never felt that way. Whatever it looks like, there is some life change when you genuinely trust Jesus. There will be some evidence of salvation in your life just like there was Zacchaeus. His life was radically changed by the grace of God. You know, you never know when a day begins. You never know how it will end. Just think of Zacchaeus. He gets up in the morning. The first thing he does after he gets ready, he goes into his accounting room and balances the books and makes sure what's going to be coming in that day and makes sure all of his tax collectors are working today in the right place and he gets some business done and then he hears the crowd outside. He remembers, oh yeah, somebody said Jesus is coming through and he runs out and he wants to see Jesus and by the end of the day, he's a totally new man. Now he knows Jesus as he's savior and his heart, mind, life is radically transformed. He is set on a totally different path. Why? Because he met Jesus. Now, for him, Jesus is still seeking the lost and he wants to save the lost and remember that's very personal. It may be that today, this very day, he's speaking to your heart, you can sense it. You know there's an emptiness, a void inside that has not been filled by everything you have tried and he's speaking to you and today for the first time maybe you've realized I need Jesus as my savior. The priests in town didn't acknowledge that the religious leaders didn't acknowledge that. Don't know if anybody else really acknowledged that in town except Bartimaeus, Zacchaeus sure did. He recognized that he needed the savior, opened his heart to trust Jesus, put faith in him, became a son of God and his life was radically transformed. Could that be you today? Jesus is on a very personal search for you. He's speaking to your heart and today would you be willing to trust Jesus as your savior? It's about our heads and hearts together. Thank you for the simple and yet most blessed truth of all that you love us. That you love us so much you sent Jesus to seek and to save all of us who were lost. Thank you Lord for the time when that search becomes very personal and we realize it's you. It's me, just us. We're speaking to my heart and we realize that it now's the time when you're speaking to my heart that I need to trust Jesus. Lord, I pray that if there's anyone like that here this morning that nothing will keep them away. Defeat every attempt of the enemy to distract them from coming to Jesus and I pray that they'll give their heart and soul to Christ today. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.