LUKE 19 v 1-10

Did You Hear Jesus ?

A beautiful story illustrating the love and mercy and desires of our Lord Jesus Christ. Zachaeus is not really the central figure in this story. it is Jesus, and what He says to Zachaeus is most revealing, because this call of Jesus to Zachaeus is also meant for our ears today. In verses five and six, we see eleven things about the call of Jesus. A Pleasing call; A Personal call ; A Pressing call A Purposeful call A Precise call ; A Positive call ; A Pardoning call A Persuading call A Producing call ; A Precious call and a Profitable call ; V 5. JESUS LOOKED UP ; A Pleasing Call. Because He came to this earth in obedience to His father's wish that people might know that God is love, a forgiving and approachable God. Jesus was pleased to obey His Father and being fully committed to the will of God, was also ready to die on Calvary's Cross to save us from the awfulness of eternal torments in the lake of fire and brimstone. Revelation 14 v 9-11 ; And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image. and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation ; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name. Are we pleased when we read in Acts I v 8 ; But you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth, Did you know that Jesus says this to all Christians. Are we pleased to obey Him ? ZACHAEUS ; A Personal Call ; Despite the crowds thronging around Jesus He had time to stop and deal with one person. We see this several times in the Scriptures. He knew Zachaeus by name and we are know to God by name. I wonder how many times Jesus has called your name yet you remain apathetic to His call,, and remain in hiding. Just as Jesus knew where Zachaeus was so today we have no hiding place from God. PSALM 139 v 7-9, 11-12 ; Where shall I go from Your Spirit ? or wherefore shall I flee from Your presence ? If I ascend up into heaven You are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there shall Your hand lead me and Your right hand shall hold me. Christ's call to each one of us is a very personal one. MAKE HASTE. A Pressing Call. Zachaeus, I might not pass this way again, you may never see Me again. I am going to die for you and all sinners. MATTHEW 11 v 28 ; Come unto Me all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ROMANS 3 v 23 ; For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Let us make haste and settle down to witness for Jesus Christ before we are called home to account for our lack of good works to the glory of God. Hell is a place of eternal torment, not a place of rest. The call is to rest in Jesus. COME DOWN. A Purposeful Call. Come down Zachaeus, I can see you up there in the tree, God knows just where each one of us is , spiritually and otherwise, There is no place to hide from God, when Jesus calls you to His service, He knows where you are and why He calls you. Psalm 139 v 11-12 ; If I say surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yes the darkness hides not from You, but the night shines as the day, the darkness and the light are both alike to You. We should be pleased that God sends His Holy Spirit to indwell all believers and to strive among men to snatch them away from satan. TODAY. A Precise Call. The call of Jesus is straight to the point, pressing, purposeful and personal. It is also urgent. 2 CORINTHIANS 6 v 2 ; Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.

ISAIAH 55 v 6 ; Seek you the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. This may be the last time you will hear the message of Christ crucified and raised from the dead for your salvation. Be like Zachaeus and come out of your hiding place and acknowledge Jesus as your Saviour while you have time. I MUST. A positive Call. Zachaeus, My offer of forgiveness of sins and eternal life with me is too precious to turn down. I have come to save you from the bondage of satan. Jesus calls each one of us to come out of our hiding place and apathy and follow Him and testify to others of His love and mercy towards the repentant sinner. ISAIAH 55 v 7 ; Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God for He will abundantly pardon. JOHN 3 v 17 ; For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. ABIDE AT YOUR HOUSE. The Pardoning Call. Jesus cannot come and reside in your heart and home until you have repented of your sins and asked God for forgiveness of sins. Then acknowledge that Jesus Christ is your Saviour, This surely the most precious offer that God can offer mankind. Why turn our backs to Him and pretend that He does not exist. We can sit in church week after week and hide from God by refusing to accept His gift of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus Christ. 2 CHRONICLES 7 v 14 . If My people which are called by My name shall humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. JOHN 3 v 36 ; He that believes on the Son has everlasting life and he that believes not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Now to verse 6 ; AND HE MADE HASTE. The Persuading Call. Such was the love of Jesus for Zachaeus, ( Indeed for all mankind ) that He was willing to go all the way to Calvary's Cross and shed His life's blood for their r redemption It was your sins and my sins that put Jesus on the Cross. Zachaeus sensed in his spirit that this man was surely the Son of God, Zachaeus knew he was a sinner in need of forgiveness and reconciliation with God, and he was quick to take advantage of this meeting with Jesus. ROMANS 10 v 9-10, 13 ; That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Have you heard the call of Jesus upon your life ? Are you going to respond or ignore His calling you to serve Him ? AND CAME DOWN. A Producing Call. Christ's call produced results. A sinner was saved. Zachaeus came down out of his hiding place , he was no longer going to be an onlooker but he wanted to be a part of Jesus' followers. So Jesus calls you to come out of your hiding place and do that which he called you to do for Him perhaps several years ago. Paul was quick to follow Jesus. ACTS 9 v 4-6 ; And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why persecute Me ? And he said, Who are You Lord. And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you persecute, it is hard for you to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished said, Lord, what will you have me to do ? And the Lord said to him, arise and go into the city and it will be told you what you must do. LUKE 18 v 43 ; And immediately he received his sight and followed Him glorifying God. And all the people when they saw it gave praise unto God. Both men met Jesus face to face, and immediately followed Jesus. AND RECEIVED HIM JOYFULLY. A Precious call. Jesus Christ the Son of God wanted to have fellowship with Zachaeus, a sinner and a cheat, To have a meal in this man's house. To have a meal in another man's house

in those days was a special occasion and sealed a friendship between the participants. Jesus not only wants to come into your life but He wants to have eternal fellowship with us as He gives us peace of mind. JOHN 14 v 27 ; Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. If you have received Jesus joyfully then you will be happy to serve Him in your locality. It Was Also A Profitable Call. Zachaeus received Jesus into his life and Jesus put His life into Zachaeus. This time the call of Jesus did not fall on deaf ears. Zachaeus was excited enough to make haste and take what could have been his last chance to meet Jesus There is only a lost eternity in the lake of fire and brimstone for those who reject the salvation offered them by Jesus. JOHN 5 v 28-29 ; Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, And shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. What a difference between that verse and JOHN 5 v 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears My word and believes on Him that sent Me , has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. 2 CORINTHIANS 5 v 10. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ. (or at least we should be ) LUKE 8 v 39 ; Return to you own house and show how great things God has done unto you. And he went his way and published throughout the whole city how great things God had done unto him. Every Christian has a testimony as to how they met Jesus and accepted Him as Saviour and Redeemer. Christ's call today is still the same. He also says to come out of the Laodician church the place where some Christians are neither hot nor cold about the holiness of God and their need to be the same as God. Testimony time is not just for Sunday evening church. V 8. THE WAY OF SALVATION ; Zachaeus STOOD before the Lord He SURRENDERED to the Lord. He SPOKE to the Lord. He SATISFIED the Lord.

or we can say. Confrontation. Conversation, Consecration, Compensation. ZACHAEUS STOOD BEFORE THE LORD. Confrontation ; He was aware of his sinful nature and fortunately for him Jesus passed by and saw him. So the beginning of Salvation is when we spiritually stand before the Lord and confess our sinfulness that needs to be forgiven' PSALM 32 v 1-2 ; Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile. JEREMIAH 33 v 3 ; Call unto Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not. ZACHAEUS SPOKE TO THE LORD. Conversation . How else was he to make his desires and feeling known. He had to confess his sins to Jesus. He acknowledged that there were things in his life that he had to put right and Jesus forgave him. He will forgive us too. PSALM 32 v 5 ; I acknowledged my sin unto you and my iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. What a glorious moment for Zachaeus. How else can Jesus abide in you and you in He except you have had your sins forgiven and are obeying the laws of God. PSALM 22 v 25-26 ; My praise shall be of you in the great congregation I will pay my vows before them that fear Him. ZACHAEUS SURRENDERED TO THE LORD. Consecration. He was willing to accept the Lordship of Jesus.

MATTHEW 22 v 37 ; You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. Surrender to Jesus means handing over the old sin life and stepping out in faith to follow the path set by Jesus. What happens to someone who prefers to go on hiding from God ? REVELATION 20 v 15 ; And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works..and whosoever was not found written in the book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. Let us surrender to the Lord and give Him our wholehearted support. PSALM 24 v 3-5 ; Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall stand in His holy place ? He that has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessings from the Lord. ZACHAEUS SATISFIED THE LORD. COMPENSATION. The old Jewish law was very strict when it came to making restitution, and Zachaeus was well aware of what he had to do to be reconciled to God. LUKE 19 v 8 ; And Zachaeus stood and said to the Lord. Behold Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. This is something that so many Christians forget after they have become reconciled to God. We need to be reconciled to those people we have in some way offended. But Jesus was satisfied with the declaration made by Zachaeus and publicly announced that salvation had come upon him. Is Jesus satisfied with our life style following our decision to become Christians ? GALATIANS 6 v 7-8 ; Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. To the Christian first. Have you satisfied Jesus as to the sincerity of your conversion ? Are you telling people of the love and mercy , forgiveness and eternal life with Jesus ? Perhaps there will be a good friend who will call out from the torments of hell, why did not you tell me I was a lost sinner ? There are three kinds of Zachaeus. One who will hear the voice of God and still try to hide from God. Psalm 139. Then there is the person who makes a stand for Jesus but later goes back into the world, the backslider. Thirdly there is the real and sincere conversion of the one who can satisfy Jesus of His sincerity and follows Jesus, growing into a mature Christian.