“Salvation”
Portraits of Jesus
FCC – August 16, 2015
Text: Luke 19: 1-10
Introduction: Turn in your Bibles to Luke 19. Today we are going to look at the story of
Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus. Zacchaeus found salvation in Jesus. Salvation is really the
theme of the entire Bible. God is seen as the salvation or deliverer of His people. Jesus comes as
the promised Messiah to save people from their sins. In the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke,
John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, prophesies about salvation that is being raised up.
Luke 1: 68-69a; 76-77 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his
people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us; And you, child, will be called the prophet of
the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of
salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,
Jesus is that horn or strength of salvation for us. Jesus came to die on the cross to provide
salvation from our sins…and Acts 4: 12 makes an exclusive claim about Jesus and salvation.
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men
by which we must be saved.”
One story we didn’t cover this year walking through the Gospels was the story of the Rich
Young Ruler found in Luke 18: 18-27. Listen to this story and notice the sadness at the rejection
of salvation that is offered this rich man. And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do
to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good
except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do
not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I
have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell
all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come,
follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to
enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel 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, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
The rich man walked away from salvation, because he preferred his riches to Jesus. Jesus said it
was difficult for the wealthy to enter the Kingdom, and it’s simply because they but they often
trust in the riches of the world and not the Savior of the world. What a sad story! Those around
Jesus asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus responds basically with it’s impossible to save
yourself, but God can do the impossible. Today we are going to look at the story of Zacchaeus
which is the perfect contrast to the story of the rich young ruler. It’s a happy story! Zacchaeus is
a rich tax collector and responds positively and perfectly to Jesus and the Gospel. Let’s look at
salvation this morning.
Salvation requires…
1. Seeking Jesus (v. 1-4) He (Jesus) entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold,
there was a man named Zacchaeus. 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. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he
was about to pass that way.
We learn some things right away about Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector. Not just a
tax collector, but a chief tax collector. Everyday tax collectors were hired by publicans, or in
this case, a chief tax collector. The everyday tax collectors would have paid a commission to
Zacchaeus and thus he was rich. By the way, the job of tax collector itself was not
condemned by the Bible, but using the job to extort people was. In fact, some tax collectors
came to John the Baptist asking what they should do in response to his call for repentance.
Luke 3: 12-13 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall
we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.”
In other words: Tax collectors, don’t quit your job, just stop taking more than you are
supposed too!
Apparently, the life of the rich, chief tax collector was not totally satisfying for Zacchaeus.
He surely had heard about Jesus and how He received publicans and sinners. The Gospel
writer Luke, records that Zacchaeus was seeking to see who Jesus was, but because of the
crowd, he couldn’t see Jesus. Then we learn something else about Zacchaeus. He was small
in stature…yes, he was a wee little man. So he was seeking to see who Jesus was so much so
that he actually climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus. He Jesus was about to pass by
and he wanted to get a good view.
We need to pray more and more that people will seek the Lord. We get so distracted with job
and money worries, stress, deadlines, recreation, and a whole slew of things that we don’t
take the time to really seek after God. And then we wonder why we aren’t close to Him.
How hard are you going after God?
Isaiah 55: 6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;
Zacchaeus put himself in the path of God’s grace and you can too. How about reading a
book like “More than a Carpenter” by Josh McDowell or “The Case for Christ” by Lee
Strobel to seek Jesus and the truth of Jesus? How about just reading the Gospels over and
over again…praying, Jesus I want to seek you and know you?
Matthew 7: 7-8 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will
be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the
one who knocks it will be opened.
Oh and to anyone here today that doesn’t know Jesus, please listen to Psalm 34: 8 Oh, taste
and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Salvation
requires seeking Jesus…
2. Receiving Jesus (v. 5-7) 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 in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon just on Jesus’ call to Zacchaeus (“Effectual Calling”):
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It is a personal call – Jesus calls Zacchaeus by name
It is a hastening call – Jesus tells Zacchaeus to hurry
It is a humbling call – Jesus tells him to come down
It is an affectionate call – Listen to the personal pronouns. I want to come to your house.
It is an abiding call – Jesus said that he must stay in Zacchaeus’ house
It is a necessary call – Jesus said that He must come to Zacchaeus
It is an effectual call – Zacchaeus was saved and there was fruit…we will look at that in
our third point.
I love how Zacchaeus responded. He came down and received Jesus joyfully!
Spurgeon (“Jesus Joyfully Received) - And, dear Friends, you and I must receive Christ
cheerfully, willingly, voluntarily, or else we have not really received Him at all. Christ will
not force Himself into any man’s house and sit there against the man’s will. That would not
be the action of a guest, but of an unwelcome intruder! Christ will not come in, as it were,
mailed and armed, to forcibly take possession of any man’s soul! What He does is gently
change the bias of our will so that we willingly invite Him to enter our heart. We constrain
Him to come in and to dwell with us! We say to Him, “Abide with us,” and not only are we
willing to have Christ, but we are anxious and desirous to have Him. To get Him, we would,
if necessary, sell all that we have! To keep Him, we would lay down our very lives, for that
which once seemed undesirable to us is now the height of our ambition, the very core and
center of our highest desire! “He made haste, and came down, and received Him joyfully.”
His whole heart went with his reception of Christ. What do you say, dear Friend? Will you
now receive Christ joyfully? Will you willingly receive Him? I know you will if you truly feel
your need of Him and if you realize how exactly He meets that need. I know you will gladly
receive Him if you understand what blessings come in His train—what wealth of happiness
and joy He gives to the heart in which He condescends to dwell! You will say to Him, “My
Lord, I repent most sorrowfully that I ever resisted You and, made willing in the day of Your
power, I fling open the doors of my heart and cry, ‘Come in! Come in, come in! Dwell with
me from now on and go no more out forever.’”
Revelation 3: 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens
the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
John 1: 12-13 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to
become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the
will of man, but of God.
Salvation requires seeking and receiving Jesus, and lastly
3. Showing Jesus (v. 8-10) And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half
of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, 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 came to seek and to save the lost.”
What a response by Zacchaeus. He says “Look Jesus! I will give half of my good to the poor
and I will repay all those I have cheated fourfold. Wow! The joy of receiving Jesus led to
fruit of a changed life. Zacchaeus was responding to his salvation by making restitution and
this is a pattern found in the OT.
Numbers 5: 7 he shall confess his sin that he has committed. And he shall make full
restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong.
Exodus 22: 1 If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen
for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
Making restitution doesn’t save you, but it demonstrates that you have been saved and that
after receiving Jesus money or whatever you were clinging to, no longer matters. Only Jesus
matters and there is fruit of repentance.
ESV Study Bible - The example of Zacchaeus, who gave away half of his goods, underscores
the kind of openhanded generosity that characterizes those whose hearts have been
transformed by the gospel.
Listen to how Paul describes the transforming Gospel in Ephesians 4: 25-32: Therefore,
having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are
members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor,
doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone
in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building
up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy
Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and
wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be
kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
The statement, “Today salvation has come to this house,” is an indication that God can truly
do the impossible and that a rich man can be saved! Anybody can be saved by the power of
Jesus. The account ends with this statement about Jesus: For the Son of Man came to seek
and to save the lost.
Holman Commentary - The scene with Zacchaeus provides Luke's Gospel with its ultimate
statement about Jesus. Jesus knew his purpose on earth. His purpose was not to reform the
Jewish religion. His purpose was not to prove the Pharisees wrong. His purpose was not to
bring in a military, political kingdom. His purpose was to bring salvation to lost people.
Jesus dedicated the three years of his earthly ministry to finding people who knew they were
lost and showing them God's way of salvation—the way of repentance and faith.
Salvation requires seeking, receiving, and showing Jesus.
Conclusion: 1Timothy 1:15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.