Summary
Pastor David preaches out of Luke 19:1–10, showing how Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus was a divinely appointed moment of salvation and transformation. He reminds the church that the same Jesus who sought out Zacchaeus continues to seek and save the lost through His people today.
Transcript
Well before we open our Bibles this morning I wanted to take just a moment behind the pulpit to give some honor to whom honor is due this morning. This past Monday at 6.17 p.m. a man who if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be a preacher if it wasn't for him would have never met my wife. He had such a huge shape in my life and the lives of so many people. Dr. John MacArthur entered his rest and entered his reward this past Monday. I just want to reflect a little bit on John's legacy for a moment before I do something that I've always done. John was a faithful man of God in the pulpit for over 50 years in the same church. He spent his entire ministry defending the faith once for all delivered to the saints. When I think of him I think of him as Mr. Valiant for Truth. At every point in time where there was a controversy, at every point in time where the church began to go a certain way away from the truth, John MacArthur stood his ground whether it was the Chicago Statement on biblical inerrancy or ECT or Solifidae or the sufficiency of Scripture or the Church's Truth on sexuality, the overreach of the government during COVID, the family, women in ministry, the Christian education. At every point in time John MacArthur stood up and spoke the truth into those particular situations. And so I just want to remember him this morning. He is a man who is now as he's entered his rest. He has helped shape so many in the church and so much of the church and so much of my ministry as well as a pastor here. And so I just want to take some time to remember him this morning. He is one of those Mount Rushmore men for us for that generation that is there. And really he's probably the last in line. God's doing something different now. He's doing something more local with people now. But from going back to Sprol and then Boyce and all the way through to MacArthur, that Mount Rushmore, those men are with the Lord and at rest now. And now it's local churches, small churches like ours who are called upon to carry on the legacy of that faithfulness with us and our children these days. And so I know in this room there might be mixed responses to the legacy of John MacArthur. Obviously no one is perfect and my own eschatology shifted it all that stuff. That's not the point. The point is he was faithful to what he believed the Bible taught and he was a lion for the truth. And we want to continue to be that type of people when it comes to the truth as well. Amen. And with that there's a little homage that I painted Dr. MacArthur that you guys don't even know about. I do it every Sunday. I've done it for thousands of sermons. Every Sunday I do this. Will you open your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke? You can do that. And then I read the passage and then I pray and then I set the context and I preach the passage. I learned that from Dr. MacArthur and in his homage I do that every time I preach a sermon whether here or at Beacon or anywhere else. That's the pattern that I follow. And why? Well because the authority is in the Word of God not in me. That's why. So we put the Word of God front and center. So as you open your Bibles to Luke 19 this morning we're going to spend some time with that little wee man Zacchaeus this morning. Luke chapter 19, hear the Word of God. Jesus entered Jericho was passing through and behold there was a man named Zacchaeus and he was a chief tax collector and was rich and he was seeking to see who Jesus was but on account of the crowd he could not because he was small in stature. The Greek is great there. It calls him a micro band. Micros man. And so he's just a wee little guy. And so he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place he looked up and said to him Zacchaeus hurry and come down for I must stay at your house today. So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully and when they saw it they all grumbled. He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord behold Lord half of all my goods I will give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anything of anyone I restore it fourfold. And Jesus said to him today salvation has come to this house since he also is a son of Abraham for the Son of man has come to seek and to save the lost. This is the Word of the Lord. We bow our heads before you O Lord today and ask that you would speak to us. That you would take a story that we are familiar with a story that has been a part of our lives that we've grown up in the church. And that you would bring fresh eyes and fresh life from it. That we would see Jesus and we would scamper to see Jesus like Zacchaeus was scampering to see Jesus. That we will be found by Jesus this morning. As we are found by Jesus we be fed by Jesus and fed with Jesus this morning. That we would be those lost who have been found and those lost who are now being fed and those lost who are now being sent to represent the one who is the hound of heaven. Give us ears to hear today we pray in the name of Jesus and amen. I want to set a little bit of the context for us this morning. First an immediate part of the context and then the broader part of the context. And the immediate part of the context I want you to look at me in verse 5. There's an important word in verse 5 when Jesus looks up to Zacchaeus he says this, "For I must stay at your house today." The ESV has must, the CSB has, it is necessary that I stay at your house this day. This is important and it's important because what this means is that this is not a chance encounter. Jesus coming into Jericho, Zacchaeus being there, this was something that was an appointment that was made before the foundation of the world. This is a divine must, a divine necessity. This was God's story plan for Zacchaeus that when Jesus came through Jericho, here's the divine must. "I must be at your house today," Jesus says. And so this is a wonderful opening for us of how divine providence leads Jesus to people and leads people to Jesus. Well what makes this even more powerful for us in terms of the broader context is the divine must is great. That this is not a chance encounter but a divinely ordained meetup between Jesus and Zacchaeus. But the broader context makes this even more wonderful for us to see. Back up to chapter 9 for a moment when Jesus started his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Chapter 9 beginning in verse 51. Now in order for us to understand this we have to understand the geography of this. So Judea's in the north, Jerusalem is in the south, okay? Samaria is in the middle, okay? So Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem. So the easy way to go was a straight shot. Leave Judea, go through Samaria, wind up in Jerusalem. That is not the way that the Jews went but sometimes Jesus did go that way. We know that. The more difficult way is to cross over the Jordan, come down the trans-Jordan, cross over and when you cross over the first city that you come to, oh, is Jericho. And then from Jericho to Bethany and then from Bethany to Jerusalem. So I want you to see that on this pilgrimage to Jerusalem Jesus started out with an intention to go through Samaria and write to Jerusalem. Jericho was not a stopping point for him at that time but watch what divine providence does through a divine obstacle. What did Cherie say the other night, Cherie? What did you say the other night? Yeah, when it feels like your life is, this is from Cherie, I'm gonna give her all the credit for this, I want to memorize this and if I was to get a tattoo it would be this, okay? Whenever your life is falling apart it's actually falling into place. Cherie said that. You got to write that down. Whenever you think your life is falling apart it's actually falling into place and she said that at the rehearsal dinner the other night. This is not as dramatic as your life falling apart but it is an obstacle that leads us to an understanding that the whole thing was falling into place so that Jesus could get to Jericho. So look at chapter 9 verse 51, I just love this, when the days drew near for him to be taken up, he, Jesus, sent his face to go to Jerusalem and he sent his messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritan so Jesus is going to go from where he is through Samaria down to Jerusalem. He would have bypassed Jericho, okay? So he sent his messengers to do that but look at verse 53, but the people did not receive him because he set his face towards Jerusalem and then James and John want to call fire from heaven and God, Jesus says no, let's not do that and they went to another village instead. So what happens is that Jesus meets an obstacle as he's trying to go through Samaria and that reroutes him to cross the transjordan and come down and now he comes to Jericho which he would have never gone to had he not met the obstacle here from these people that are here. So when you think things are falling apart, they're actually falling into place because this is a providence that Jesus himself obstacles submitted to because there was a divine appointment that would come to Jesus in Jericho and this is the way it happened with an obstacle taking place first and I asked myself this question in my sermon notes, is that the way I see things? Is that the way we see things? When an obstacle presents itself do we might not understand that there's a divine appointment somewhere down the road because of this obstacle that took place here and we need to trust God for that and it might be a divine encounter for the Gospel because God slowed us down or say it even happened to the Son of God. So it's certainly going to happen to us and so let's begin back in chapter 19 verse 1, Jesus enters Jericho and was passing through and of course this drips with symbolism here. Jesus comes into Jericho, he is the greater Joshua, the greater Yeshua and as Joshua led the people across the Jordan and his first victory was in Jericho. So Jesus is on his conquest and on his way to Jerusalem and his initial victory is in Jericho with the blind man and Zacchaeus putting Jesus as the greater Joshua here but even more than that we have the social status of the blind man that we heard last week and the social status of Zacchaeus and he mirrors that of our sister in the faith, Rahab the prostitute. We've always been, the church has always been, Jesus has always been seeking and saving the lost in Jericho. Goes way back to our sister Rahab and now it's the blind man and now it's Zacchaeus and it's just magnificent and we see Jesus as the greater Yeshua on his way to his conquest on the cross saving and seeking the lost. It's beautiful and let us not let the geography go before us and as Jesus is passing through Jericho Luke wants us to know like hey look at this, behold he says in verse 2 and behold that's always that statement see this, watch this, don't miss this, something extraordinary is about to happen, something amazing is about to happen, something that we were not ready for is about to happen. Well why? Well if you back up to chapter 18 we remember we kind of left with some sourness in our mouths with the rich young ruler and Pastor John was preaching. Back in chapter 18 verse 23 it says this, "But when he the rich young ruler heard these things he became very sad for he was extremely rich and Jesus seeing that he had become sad said how difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God for as easier for a candle to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God those who heard it said then who can be saved but he said with what is impossible with man is possible with God and we've been waiting since that time since the sad rich young ruler left and Jesus says it's easier for a candle to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved this is not possible with anybody else in the world though power in the world can do this but God can do this we have a question mark on a mind but is God does he do it? Will God actually take a camel and put it through the eye of a needle? Will God actually save a rich man? Well the answer we're gonna find out in our passage that Zacchaeus is the reversal of the rich young ruler Zacchaeus is not going to go away sad he's not going to go away clutching his riches a camel can go through the eye of a needle God can do it he's gonna do it right before us here with this wee little man Zacchaeus and so it's wonderful for us to remember the context as we're coming into this behold we have another rich man so let's see what God himself can do behold there was a man verse 2 named Zacchaeus and he you notice the text was not just tax collector he was chief tax collector and he was rich there are two things are unique here to Luke one chief tax collector not only is this the only time in the Bible when chief tax collectors use it's the only time in all of Greek literature that it's ever used it's just never used anywhere in the entirety of all the Greek literature at all this is it so this this man here he is the tax collector over tax collectors okay he's got an not just a small area a large area he manages an entire group of tax collectors who answer to him and who pay him which means they've got to do double to triple taxation they got to take the tax for Rome then the tax collector like Matthew has to take what he wants to make himself rich and then he's gonna take more to make Zacchaeus rich so you can understand why the Jews hated these guys because it was taxation upon taxation upon taxation and I know those of you who live in the United States of America have no experience of this so you have to try to put yourself in the place as hard as you can of Zacchaeus and this is also in addition to that this is the only time in the Bible in which tax collector and rich are put together okay Luke wants us to know not only is this the chief tax collector he's flush okay he's extremely wealthy all right and so that we need to know that because we've already bumped up into a band who's flush is extremely wealthy and that didn't go as well this is a man who as a chief tax collector has sold his people out he's fleecing them he's my what we call filthy rich the money's dirty it's filthy rich but verse three something has been happening to Zacchaeus something has been happening to Zacchaeus before Jesus got there and this is where we just sit back and we recognize that God is often doing things in the lives of people before they meet the gospel proper God is often doing a pre-work in the lives of people by his sovereign spirit and his circumstances because look at what it says in verse three of Zacchaeus and he was seeking to see who Jesus was he's just not a looky loo Zacchaeus just doesn't want to take a gander and see what this this thing is it's going on what what has everybody around he wants to know who Jesus is who is this one he has a he has a deeper interest in Jesus than just a surface interest or it's the thing that's happening right now in Jericho and I want to get on board with that one I want to see what's going on and maybe it's because Jesus already has this reputation for the manner in which he deals with tax collectors he has a reputation for having them as followers he has a reputation for eating with them having hospitality with them and spending time with them and these men having having power issues like they do these men having money issues like they do they might have the power they might have the wealth but they probably live very lonely ostracized lives because of the decisions that they've made but here is one and he comes with the reputation of being the friend of these types of people he's the friend of tax collectors and he's come to town and Zacchaeus must know who he is I want to know who he is and so the text tells us and he was seeking to see who Jesus was but like the events trends before us the crowd was getting in the way he had an obstacle remember the children they had obstacles to getting to Jesus called the disciples who were getting in the way last week blind Bartimaeus had issues getting to Jesus because the crowd got in the way and so there's all of these reasons why these groups are not able to get to Jesus and Jesus has to get to them you see same thing with Zacchaeus he also has obstacles to getting to Jesus because of the on account of the crowd and because he was the microman right he's the daikini all right he's the daikini he's the hobbit all right he's the he's the wee little guy all right if you know who the daikinis are you talk to my brother Denny it's his favorite movie and well he'll tell you all about it right and so this is he is just he is that guy okay he is just a short small man and stature in every way but he does something that no dignified man would do and this is why we also know that his earnestness to see Jesus is not just to see a spectacle okay because what he does no man in Israel would do okay men did not do two things in public they did not run in public and they definitely did not climb trees in public those were shameful undignified things to do for a Jewish man but Zacchaeus he's got something happening with him that's way more important than what people think of him he already knows what people think of him so who cares so he just runs okay first forces he ran on a head and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus for he was about to pass that way no respectable man did climb climb trees no one ran it was humiliated it was embarrassing it was unacceptable unacceptable was not something that you did but Zacchaeus doesn't care he needs to get near Jesus he wants to see Jesus there's already something happening that's pulling him to Jesus now it's interesting that of all the trees that can be highlighted here it's the sycamore fig tree in Greek sycamore fig tree the sycamore fig tree is a little bit different than the fig tree that we're used to see that Jesus condemns but you can't get away from the image of sycamore fig now as a matter of fact this this this comes right out of the book of Amos for us if you turn back with me to the book of Amos in chapter 7 Amos says this in Amos 714 he says then Amos answered and said to Amaziah I was no prophet nor a prophet's son that's where that language comes from I'm not a prophet nor the son of a prophet comes from Amos but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs okay so Amos was a was a dresser of sycamore fig trees but the Lord took me from following the flock and said go prophesy to my people Israel now therefore hear the word of the Lord you say do not prophesy against Israel and do not preach against the house of Judah therefore thus says the Lord your wife shall be a prostitute in the city your sons and your daughter shall fall by the sword and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line and you yourself shall die in an unclean land and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land so Amos originally he is a shepherd and if and he tends sycamore figs but then God calls him to be a prophet but not a prophet of blessing a prophet of doom a prophet of judgment you go and you tell the people they're going to be judged by their God they're going to be sent into exile their land is going to be destroyed and taken over okay that's the background of a sycamore fig okay and then here we have a sycamore fig here with respect to a Zacchaeus and he climbs up into the sycamore fig tree and this drips with biblical irony because on the one hand Zacchaeus is in the very tree in which a sycamore fig tree was different than a normal fig tree a sycamore fig had fruit year round okay it has and that figs year-round and in addition to having figs year-round it also had figs that were not as good they in other words they were not as tasty as the fig tree that didn't produce year-round that was seasonal and so it was the wealthy people now listen you can see where this is going the wealthy people got figs from the seasonal fig trees it was the poor people who were able to have access to this year-round sycamore fig that produced average tasting figs and so here we are on the cusp of next week in next week's passage Jesus saying your city is going to be surrounded by the Romans and they're going to destroy your city and so here we have Jesus is going to be the new Amos prophesying a prophecy of doom over Jerusalem next week just like that and here's the sycamore fig but in addition to that listen I thought this was so powerful here is a tree that provides average fruit year-round and supports the poor and now the tree that supports Zacchaeus represents him because he is going to be the one who comes to support the poor by giving half of what he makes to the poor he's going to become this tree he's become this tree for people and so it's beautiful the imagery of what's going on here just with the sycamore fig it's pretending judgment to Israel but on the other hand it's portaining God's doing something for the poor in the outcast through Zacchaeus God's doing something for the outcast with Zacchaeus and this tree represents all of that so beautifully and so wonderfully and then we come to verse five and it's just so wonderful when Jesus came to the place you'll notice this is not about Zacchaeus seeking Jesus this has always been about Jesus seeking Zacchaeus this has always been about the divine appointment because Jesus could have looked at anybody in the crowds that were following him he could have picked out anybody that was following him and said you're you're the one I'm coming for you're the one I came here for my whole my whole entourage was rerouted to come here for you but he doesn't he says that to Zacchaeus before Zacchaeus can say anything and so this we man is in the tree and we get to verse five Jesus comes to the place and again this is emphasized in the original the place this is the ordained place where this was supposed to happen and Jesus looked up and said to him Zacchaeus my sheep hear my voice I know them by name and they follow me can you imagine Zacchaeus hearing his name on the lips of the Savior being called not for what he was the tax collector right not for what people thought about him not for the sinner that they're going to call him Jesus who made him in his mother's womb calls him by name because he knows his sheep and his sheep hear his voice and they follow him so what does Jesus say Zacchaeus hurry and come down for I must stay at your house today you see Zacchaeus the seeker becomes the sought one he who thought he was seeking Jesus was actually being sought by Jesus Jesus is the one who initiates things Zacchaeus is just in the tree Jesus is the one who stops looks up into the tree names that key is and who calls that key is Jesus initiates the conversation Jesus is the one who is seeking him all along Jesus is the one with the divine appointment and Zacchaeus is on the receiving end of being sought by Jesus and Jesus says let's make this thing happen Zacchaeus get down I must stay at your house today and notice it's not just a salvation for Zacchaeus for his house I have to come and bring what I bring to your house it's wonderful just like we'll see in the book of Acts with the households this is the only time ever in the Gospels that Jesus invites himself into someone's house all the other events all the other meal events all the other hospitality events Jesus is always the one who is invited and then he turns the tables but Jesus doesn't wait to be invited here to turn the tables this whole thing is being orchestrated by Jesus Jesus will have this center this center will be his he initiates it he speaks the word to it he goes into the house Jesus is the one driving the whole thing here because he's the one who has come to seek and to save the lost he is seeking Zacchaeus he is saving Zacchaeus Zacchaeus is the lost one who is going to be found this is absolutely tremendous and then look at verse 6 what does that key is do he hurried he came down and he did the very opposite of the rich young ruler the Bible says twice it's a rich young ruler was sad he was sad because he had met Jesus and chosen his wealth so he was sad Zacchaeus had met Jesus and given up his wealth because Jesus had found him you see and so he's joyful notice what the text says verse 6 he came down and he received Jesus joyfully this little man is full of joy he receives Christ full of joy because he has been sought by Christ he has been named by Christ he's been accepted by Christ he's been owned by Christ Christ has come into his world and his world will never be the same again because he has been found by Jesus and so everything belongs to Jesus now this whole life belongs he holds nothing back right he all his hands his pocketbook his life becomes the Lord's completely in every way and he does this full of joy full of joy and so when we look at verse 7 it's not all joy we've seen this before right and when they saw it they all grumbled they all grumbled and said he has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner we saw this of the leadership in chapter 15 grumbling because Jesus spent time with tax collectors and sinners chapter 15 verse 1 and now we see to the people the people take on the character of their leaders and that's what's happened here but it's happened in all the wrong way but this is not just the first time we've seen this God's Israel has a long history of grumbling we go back to Exodus chapter 15 and verse 24 and the people grumbled against Moses and they do this if you look at it and when they saw it they all grumbled he has gone in to be the guest or to lodge the house of a man who is a sinner who is a sinner I wonder if we find ourselves sometimes in the condition of these people their preconditioned preset way of seeing Zacchaeus is that he is a sinner was a sinner will be a sinner can only be a sinner and that defines his entire life they cannot see him as anything other than a sinner and I wonder if we have a precondition of wondering sometimes like the real sinners like none of us in this room consider ourselves real sinners we have this weird relationship with our with our sin we always want to think of ourselves better than we actually are nobody wants to stand up and admit what they truly are okay I get it but sometimes we put certain categories of sinners in irredeemable places of that group that person to God God couldn't love that person right God God wouldn't couldn't save that person we take the worst pile up the worst sins that you can think right pile them up pedophilia rape murder put them all together put this guy in the clink until the very end and Jesus comes to him in the clink five seconds before he dies and saves him and that man has nothing to offer Jesus at all of a life lived on the other side are you good with that if you're not you don't get the gospel you just don't you think the gospel is for kind of good people rather than sinners I had to think I thought about that this week do I have that a group of people in my own thinking they're just like Zacchaeus like they're the sinners and we just don't think about them the gospel is for you know middle lower to upper middle class Americans but it's not the gospel is for the sinners the least the worst and I hope you see yourself in that spot was that key is was seen by that everybody else and Jesus had a different thing going Zacchaeus look at verse 8 says in Zacchaeus stood I want you guys to see the irony of that the daikini stood could you see him I don't know the the microman stood well don't get lost here this is in the this this this the commentators all the all of the commentators said we know that the Holy Spirit's doing something here with this wee little man taking his stand before Jesus we know it's meant to say something it's highlighted the way it is in the original like to stand like he took his stand like it but it's there and I don't know either but there's they didn't know either all of them said we wish we knew like what was being pressed out here this little man taking his stand before Jesus we it's something's there and I'm just telling you right now maybe you can have an answer but it just feels like why would you smile with the Holy Spirit say that like Zacchaeus takes his stood he stands before stood before Jesus so something is there and I don't know what it is but it's pretty cool whatever it is but notice what he says he stood before Lord and said behold Lord half of my goods I give to the poor Jesus had told the rich young ruler sell what you have and give it to the poor and he went away sad Jesus didn't have to tell Zacchaeus to give away his stuff to the poor when Zacchaeus been found by Jesus his pocketbook opened up his hands opened up his clutching opened up this is his response to being found by Jesus in other words we are witnessing a camel go through the eye of a needle we are witnessing what is impossible with man being possible with God here is a rich man who is actually being found and being saved and here how's he this is how he manifests being found this is not him doing something to be found this is his response to being found being sought being saved by Jesus being welcomed by Jesus he says this behold Lord half of my goods I give to the poor so the first of it is generosity the man who lived to rack up possessions for himself under being found by Jesus immediately becomes a generous man generous generous but not only that also concerned to honor the law the next half of the statement is and if I have defrauded anyone of anything I will restore it Exodus 22 what he'll make the restitution necessary so he'll make the restitution necessary and he becomes generous all of this is a result of being found by Jesus and then Jesus says this in verse 9 and Jesus said to him today salvation has come to this house since he also is a son of Abraham this is so beautiful Jesus says you were witnessing a salvation coming to a whole house here I have sought out a house I have found a house I have saved the house a house with centers in it this is what I've done this is what I've come to do but that word today it's not a word that means this moment that word today is a word that is pregnant with meaning and what we would call it's an eschatological word it's a fulfillment word in other words the promised gospel of God that had been rolling through the Old Testament up into the person of Jesus and into the new the promised day in which God's new thing that he would do through Jesus in the world would break in that day it's an eschatological day that's longer than a 24-hour period okay we're living in that today right now according to the Apostle Paul today is the day of salvation we're living in the today of the promise right you understand that right we are between the first coming of Jesus and the second coming of Jesus is the day of salvation it is the day of promise and you are aware it starts in the house of this brother God rolled the whole story from Genesis to Malachi and he brought it with him he says we're gonna start in the house of a microman of an outcast of a wee little guy in his family and that's what we're gonna do we're gonna roll it up to Jericho and just like we started in Jericho we went into promised land before we're gonna start in Jericho here today and the gospel is gonna go and spread the households all throughout the world amen so good right and then he becomes a what he's a what he's a son of Abraham here's your looking for the sons of Abraham here they are there are these people right here that I come to be identified with Jesus and are sought and found by the Lord Jesus Christ himself and so when we go way back to the gospel of beginning of the gospel of Luke right we could take rocks and make sons of Abraham Adam Adam that's what God just did Jesus just took a rock a sinner someone something dead in sin and brought it to life and made him a son of Abraham and that's and the yes catalogical today came home to his house whole it's absolutely amazing and it's absolutely beautiful and then there's Luke wraps it up with this Luke tells us why this story of Zacchaeus is the way that it is verse 10 starts with a four that's a gar in the Greek it's a connector it's here's the summation of the whole for the son of man came to seek and to save the lost you see this today was that key is a simply part of a bigger today of seeking and saving the lost which you and I are a part of we are part of it in the sense that we have been sought and saved and we're a part of it in the sense that we've been sent to bring the message of salvation as well we are the hands and feet of this seeking and saving so Jesus here is the hound of heaven he brings a full salvation he brings it to the lost household and he is the sheep the shepherd who goes after the sheep church I want to close with this there's a word in verse 7 that's really important and it's the word in the ESV that's guest says when they saw it they all grumbled he said he has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner that word for guest is a word for lodging lodging you are the exact word is the word that was used for there was no room in the end at the beginning of Luke there's no room in the catalyma for Jesus but there's room here for Jesus in the house of Zacchaeus that great Jesus would move in and make his home in the home of a sinner and his family that would be the home of Jesus and at the center of that that word lodging in the Greek it would have included a meal it's not recorded for us but there would have been no Jesus would not have lodged without a meal and this is for us we are the ones who've been sought we are the ones who have been saved we are the ones who are sent but never without Jesus lodging with us every Sunday at a meal and so as you come to the table today you are the one sought you are the one saved who was lost you are the one is going to be sent but before you do let us lodge with Jesus as the household of God because the today of salvation is right now in this room and we are all participants of it but if you are here this morning and you have never flown to Jesus you have never fleed to Jesus you've never come to Jesus you're closed with Jesus Jesus been that over there kind of thing I implore you this morning do not let Jesus remain apart from you do not remain apart from him closed with Christ this morning he is drawn near to you right now in my words and the speaking and preaching of the gospel Christ is drawn near close with him in faith this morning draw near to him and if you are not baptized get in the water and come out of the water and come and lodge with Jesus at his table and let him feed you with himself and this morning let all of us who come come with the joyful gratitude of Zacchaeus who received Jesus in joy and let us come with the joy of the Lord that is our strength because we have been found to be fed by Jesus amen amen let's pray our God in heaven thank you for these words thank you for this story it is our story this is our brother and this morning we even feast with him as he's one of the spirits of just men made perfect gathered around the throne of heaven Lord I ask that you sanctify the Saints save the sinners continue to allow us to be sent organize our lives Lord around these meetings that are not by chance but are designed by providence to bring Christ to people and people to Christ in Jesus name we pray amen.