The Meeting of Jesus and Zacchaeus

The point: Bring your Bibles to services and search the Scriptures to verify what is preached, like the Bereans.

Compares the listeners' responsibility to examine the preacher's message against the Bible to the Bereans who searched the Scriptures to verify Paul's teaching.

And if you plan to come on subsequent evenings and are not in the habit of bringing a Bible with you, may I encourage you to establish that habit this week. It is always good to have a Bible upon your lap when the preacher is standing in the pulpit. And be like the Bereans, of whom it is said they searched the Scriptures to see whether these things were so. Many well-meaning people have been terribly misled because they blindly followed men in pulpits who preached apparently what the Scripture said, but they were merely using the words of the Bible while not conveying the message of the Bible.

0:16 - 0:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Bring your children to services, as this passage offers illustrations and applications relevant to them.

Describes the truths of God's sovereign grace in Scripture as precious jewels lying beneath the surface, waiting to be discovered by those who dig.

But here in this passage, they lie a little bit beneath the surface, and for everyone who'll take the time to dig a little bit, the precious jewels of God's sovereign grace are there for all of His people to gather. Now, I want us to approach the passage, and in this light, I would even encourage you in subsequent nights, to bring your children. Whenever they're there, I take consciousness of them and try to remember them in the illustrations and in the applications. We're going to approach this whole passage as the unfolding of a real life drama.

5:21 - 5:55 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Using the word 'behold,' Martin introduces Zacchaeus, explaining that his name, meaning 'pure,' ironically contrasts with his life. Despite being a Jew with access to Old…

Explains the use of 'behold' in Scripture as God's command to pay close attention to something wonderful or unusual about to be revealed.

And thirdly, we have the response of Zacchaeus. So that whenever you study the passage, I hope you can think your way through it in terms of this very natural unfolding of what God has given to us. Scene one, the introduction, the introduction of Zacchaeus. We read in verse one of chapter 19, and he entered and was passing through Jericho, and behold, and whenever you find the word behold in scripture, it's God saying, shake all the sleepy dust out of your eyes and pay close attention.

6:56 - 7:30 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Zacchaeus was rich, a status that made him an unlikely candidate for salvation, given Jesus's previous statement about the difficulty for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. His…

Quotes Jesus's statement about the difficulty for rich men to enter the kingdom of God, comparing it to a camel passing through the eye of a needle.

The admiration of some, the jealousy of others, the accumulation of material things that could bring comforts to his body, that could bring a sense of security to him, that could bring advantages to his family, to his children. He had as a rich man all that riches can bring. Now it's interesting that in the very previous chapter, the Lord had just stated to the disciples how rare it is to find a rich man converted. In chapter 18, we read in verse 24, in Jesus seeing him said, how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God.

12:16 - 12:56 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon notes Zacchaeus's short stature, which prevented him from seeing Jesus in the crowd. Despite this physical limitation and his social standing, he displayed…

Suggests Zacchaeus may have been called 'shorty' due to his stature, highlighting his physical limitation and the need for determination.

And he thought to see Jesus, who he was, and he could not for the crowd because he was little of stature. When the crowd began to press in around the Lord Jesus, poor little Zacchaeus got right up on his tippity-toes and all he could see was the backs of people and their heads. Probably he had been called shorty from the time he was yea high. He was little of stature.

13:45 - 14:11 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies Zacchaeus's primary desire as natural human curiosity to see the famous Jesus, driven by the crowd's excitement. While not spiritual seeking, this curiosity was…

Imagines Zacchaeus nudging a fellow tax collector to ask about the commotion, leading to his hearing about Jesus and his subsequent actions.

His desire, according to verse 4, was to see the Lord Jesus. And he ran on before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. Zacchaeus heard all this commotion, this crowd milling around this central figure, and he probably nudged one of his buddies in the midst of his making his rounds to collect the taxes. What's going on?

15:16 - 15:41 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies Zacchaeus's primary desire as natural human curiosity to see the famous Jesus, driven by the crowd's excitement. While not spiritual seeking, this curiosity was…

Compares the frustration of not knowing what's happening in a crowd to Zacchaeus's desire to see Jesus, illustrating the power of curiosity.

I want to see him. In other words, the Bible does not indicate that he had any other desire than one of natural, human curiosity. A crowd attracts a crowd. And there's nothing more frustrating to us as human beings than to see a crowd and not to know who's in the center of it.

16:06 - 16:22 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What does it tell us about him? Two things. Verse 7, that he was a sinner. Verse 10, that he was lost.

Explains how tax collectors like Zacchaeus defrauded people by taking more than the required tax, illustrating their dishonesty.

The tenth commandment says, Thou shalt not covet. And the publicans were notorious for trampling underfoot those commandments day after day, week after week, as they fleeced the people in the name of the authority of the Roman government to make their own pocketbooks swell. Two for Caesar, one for me. That means instead of you giving two for Caesar, you give three to me as Caesar's representative.

18:32 - 19:01 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What does it tell us about him? Two things. Verse 7, that he was a sinner. Verse 10, that he was lost.

Cites Jesus's grouping of harlots and publicans as notorious sinners, emphasizing the low social and moral standing of tax collectors.

Thou shalt not set thine affections upon that which must be possessed at the price of obedience to God and of harming others. Now the publicans were notorious for this. So much so, that if you wanted to take the two classes of people that were the most notorious sinners, you took harlots and publicans. Jesus did this.

19:16 - 19:40 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The most crucial aspect of Zacchaeus's introduction is his character: he was a notorious sinner, known for dishonesty and greed, and he was lost, estranged from God and His…

Repeats the father's lament over the prodigal son ('This my son was lost') to illustrate the meaning of being lost from God's fellowship.

You remember the father said of the prodigal son, this my son was lost. This my son was lost. This my son was lost. And is found.

21:12 - 21:18 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin applies Zacchaeus's condition of being a sinner and lost to every person in the audience. He explains that sin is rebellion against God's law, often manifesting as idolatry…

Contrasts psychological terms like 'disorientation' and 'guilt complexes' with the Bible's blunt terms 'sinner' and 'lost' to describe humanity's condition.

And though the word is not a popular word. And though the psychologist talks about the disorientation. Disorientated life. And though there is talk about inner tensions and frustrations and guilt complexes and all the rest.

23:41 - 23:56 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin applies Zacchaeus's condition of being a sinner and lost to every person in the audience. He explains that sin is rebellion against God's law, often manifesting as idolatry…

Lists various things people make gods of (ambitions, family, home, pleasures) instead of the true God, illustrating the first commandment's violation.

And by nature we've made everything and every person a god. But the one true and living God. We make a god of our own ambitions. A god of our own family name.

24:29 - 24:41 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin applies Zacchaeus's condition of being a sinner and lost to every person in the audience. He explains that sin is rebellion against God's law, often manifesting as idolatry…

Quotes James 2:10 to show that violating any part of God's law makes one guilty of the whole, reinforcing universal sinfulness.

He that offends in one point is guilty. He that offends in one point is guilty. The duty of all. James 2 and verse 10 And all of us like Zacchaeus are lost with reference to the God for whom we were made We are lost We were made to know him.

25:14 - 25:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Understand that only the Son of Man can seek and save lost sinners; this is not a task for human effort.

Uses the story of Adam hiding from God in the garden after the Fall to illustrate man's natural tendency to flee from God when lost.

was man made to hold loving, delightful communion with God. Here was man made in the image of God, made with a capacity not given to any of the other creatures, lovingly to hold communion with God, to know the will of God, to have fellowship with God, to delight in God. And now when sin enters, God draws near to man, and man runs from his God. And if God had not taken the initiative to seek Adam out, Adam would have run until his legs became bloody stems. That's what it means to be lost, to live in separation from God, to live out

25:58 - 26:41 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Jesus's action was to 'look up' and command Zacchaeus to 'make haste' and come down, stating 'today I must abide at thy house.' This seemingly strange command is presented as the…

Compares Zacchaeus in the tree to boys perched in trees, noting Jesus's deliberate approach to the sinner, not just the crowd.

Son of God came deliberately to that place probably boys up in the tree as boys will always do when there's a crowd but he doesn't stand beneath the tree in which the boys are perched he comes to the place where that lost sinner Zacchaeus is perched and and And there he stands and looks up into the face of this strange little man. And then his command is very, very simple, but very, very explicit. Calling him by name, and you can imagine what this must have done to Zacchaeus. He'd never met him before.

29:28 - 30:09 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Jesus's words revealed His omniscience to Zacchaeus, demonstrating that He knew his name and personal affairs. This knowledge, exemplified by Nathanael and the woman at the well…

Critiques artistic depictions of Jesus with halos and effeminate features, arguing that His physical appearance was ordinary, making His divine nature known through His actions and words.

When he comes and stands by the tree in which Zacchaeus was perched, is telling him, Zacchaeus, I'm going to show you who I really am. You could never know me simply by perching in a tree and watching the form of a common Jew pass by, for there was nothing in the physical form of Jesus to set him apart from other men. And that's why I hate all the pictures of Jesus that show him with halos and with an effeminate type face, that he would have stood out like a sore thumb in any crowd. There was nothing in the physical form of Jesus to set him apart from other men.

31:59 - 32:28 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Jesus's words revealed His omniscience to Zacchaeus, demonstrating that He knew his name and personal affairs. This knowledge, exemplified by Nathanael and the woman at the well…

Refers to the common Jewish expectation that the Messiah would possess knowledge only God could have, as demonstrated by Jesus's interaction with Nathanael.

He knew Zacchaeus by name, knew that he had a house, and he knew everything else about Him. And there was a common consciousness amongst the Jews that this would be one of the marks of Messiah, that He would have a knowledge that only God can do. That only God can do. I refer you to two passages of Scripture that indicate this in John chapter 1 and verse 47, so that you'll know this is not just preacher's imagination or speculation.

33:43 - 34:12 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Zacchaeus, you are naked and open before the living God, and you stand naked and open as a guilty condemned sinner who must repent.

Quotes Zacchaeus's immediate confession and promise of restitution ('Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor...') as proof of his awakened conscience.

And the subsequent narrative proves that that's what happened to Zacchaeus. For the first words he uttered to Jesus, when he got into the home, were these, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to feed the poor, and if I have taken wrongfully, I restore it for a poor. What happened to this man, Zacchaeus? He had a revelation of his standing before God.

37:30 - 37:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Understand that conviction of sin is a preview of the day of judgment, where God brings all sins to remembrance.

Describes how in the day of judgment, God will bring all sins to remembrance, including forgotten ones like childhood dishonesty or lies, through awakened consciences.

The books will be opened. The dead will be judged out of the books according to their works. In other words, God will cause sinners to reflect upon their sins that He Himself has recorded and their consciences which may have slumbered and long since forgotten that ugly word, that lustful thought, that dishonest business deal, that cheating in the third grade, that stealing of a quarter out of Mama's pocketbook when you were three years old, that fighting with brother or sister, that lie about the neighbor, things that had long since been forgotten. In the day of judgment the Scripture says men...

43:02 - 43:46 Read in full sermon

The point: Realize that you need Christ's saving mercy more than you need to offer Him admiring glances or religious devotion.

Contrasts Zacchaeus's initial desire for admiring glances from a tree with Jesus's declaration that Zacchaeus needs His saving mercy.

Zacchaeus said well I'll give this man a few of my admiring glances from a tree. Jesus comes and says Zacchaeus I don't need your admiring glances. You need my saving mercy. Whatever we thought we could give the Son of Man, a little bit of God, a little bit of homage, a little bit of worship, a little bit of religious devotion.

44:56 - 45:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Open the door of your heart to Christ when He knocks, allowing Him to come in and commune with you.

Martin expresses his weariness after speaking for six hours, emphasizing that his purpose is not to fill airtime but to convey eternal truths.

Is this your experience? I'm not just here filling the air. God knows I'm so tired of hearing my own voice after hearing it for some six hours today. The last thing in the world I want to do is just fill this air with the sound of my own voice.

45:41 - 45:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Open the door of your heart to Christ when He knocks, allowing Him to come in and commune with you.

Alludes to Revelation 3:20, describing Christ knocking at the door of the sinner's heart, inviting communion.

I've come to enter into communion with you. Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me. Oh my friend has the Holy Spirit made that real to your heart?

46:27 - 46:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Respond to Christ's word with unreserved obedience and joyful reception of His person.

States that delaying obedience to a command is essentially disobedience, using it to highlight Zacchaeus's immediate compliance.

and secondly joyful reception of the person of Christ. Jesus said hurry up! If Zacchaeus had taken his time it would have been open defiance of the authority of God in Jesus Christ. I often say to my children delayed obedience is the essence of disobedience delayed obedience is the essence of disobedience when daddy says come you come when he says come or what you're saying is my particular interest at this moment is more important than your command the scripture carefully records that there was no delayed obedience

48:13 - 48:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Respond to Christ's word with unreserved obedience and joyful reception of His person.

Quotes Jesus's statement about His sheep hearing His voice and following Him, linking it to Zacchaeus's obedient response.

the son of God gives no explanation he doesn't cajole he doesn't tease he doesn't entice he says make haste and the scripture says and he made haste come down and he came down I must abide and he received him joyfully this man who was accustomed to giving orders to his subordinates he sees the regal nature of the command of Christ this is God's prophecy showing me the mind of God this is God's priest offering mercy God's king giving directions Jesus said other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring

48:56 - 49:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Respond to Christ's word with unreserved obedience and joyful reception of His person.

Suggests that Zacchaeus was born again during the brief time between Jesus's command and his descent from the tree.

and they shall hear my voice and then John 10 27 my sheep hear my voice and they follow me what happened? oh here's the wonderful mystery of it without an invitation hymn with 23 verses without the evangelist asking him to walk down an aisle or raise a hand and pleading for 20 minutes the word of Jesus reached the heart of Zacchaeus and somewhere between the time he went up and the time he came down he was born again hallelujah he was born again he had new life and the first expression of that new life was

49:41 - 50:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Receive Jesus Christ fully as both Savior and Lord; you cannot receive half of Him.

Asserts that one cannot receive Jesus as Savior without also receiving Him as Lord; he must be received fully.

if you're a Christian he has said to you take up your cross and follow me and you have said Jesus I my cross have taken all to leave and follow thee and you have joyfully received the person of Christ not a little weak Jesus that you can stick in the corner and once in a while bring him out to get something from him no no the Jesus Zacchaeus received the one who's boss your house you everything is his you bring him out you have received him joyfully isn't that what a Christian is John 1 12 as many as received him not a part of him all this talk about well I'll take Jesus as my savior

52:34 - 53:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Receive Jesus Christ fully as both Savior and Lord; you cannot receive half of Him.

Points out that Zacchaeus's salvation did not involve external rituals like walking an aisle, emphasizing the internal spiritual work.

but I won't yield to him as my Lord you can't receive half of Jesus he is the Lord Jesus Christ and you either receive him or you don't receive him have you unquestionably submitted to the word of Christ or have you joyfully received the person of Christ and that has nothing to do necessarily with coming down an aisle raising a hand or any of these other things that we immediately associate with receiving Christ there was no aisle for Zacchaeus to walk there were no invitation hymns the word of Christ came to the heart of the sinner

53:17 - 54:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Praise God for sovereign mercy that arrests sinners in their sin and brings them to embrace Christ joyfully.

Quotes the opening line of Isaac Watts's hymn 'How Sweet and Dreadful is the Place,' which Martin adapts to praise God for His sovereign mercy.

as we've seen the Savior in his word tonight you know what it is to be a Zacchaeus up a tree oh praise him for such grace that comes to Zacchaeuses praise him for sovereign mercy that arrests us in our sin and subdues our rebel hearts and brings us to embrace him joyfully before you pillow your head tonight get on your knees before God and say Lord I praise you for sovereign mercy say in the words though you may not know them let me give them to you

57:40 - 58:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Praise God for sovereign mercy that arrests sinners in their sin and brings them to embrace Christ joyfully.

Quotes lines from John Newton's hymn 'Amazing Grace' (though attributed to Newton, the specific lines quoted are from 'Far From the City of Destruction') to express wonder at God's sovereign choice in salvation.

the great hymn that Newton wrote how sweet and dreadful is the place with Christ within the doors while everlasting love displays the choicest of her wares he goes on to speak about the feast of sovereign grace and he says why was I made to hear thy voice and enter while there's room when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come it was the same love that spread the feast that sweetly drew me in else I had still refused to come and perished in my sin oh praise the God of sovereign mercy who found you up a tree

58:23 - 59:07 Read in full sermon