June 23, 2021
Wednesday
Luke 19:1-10 Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2 Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way.5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. 7 But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”
8 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”
9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
The key verse here is verse 10. We have had teaching about this meaning we have triumphed over hell. We will never have to go there. But we will look at it from a different angle.
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
Genesis 3:7-9 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
In Genesis 1 & 2 we see the creation and the making of man. Everything was perfect the way God made it. Then the snake comes along. We don’t know how long Adam was in the garden before the snake came. It didn’t happen the day after he married Eve. The bible says that Adam was put in the garden to dress it and keep it. Or tend and guard it. God wouldn’t have told him to guard it if there were not some sort of enemy. God knew about the enemy. He was not surprised. Adam was not deceived. Eve was. He made the decision and was held responsible. We don’t know how long Adam and Eve enjoyed fellowship and walking with God in the garden before the fall. So, in this perspective, Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. What was lost was man’s walk with God in the garden. Man died spiritually there. His walk with God was lost that day in the garden. This is what Jesus came to save! There are people all over this world that have been saved and accepted the sacrifice that Jesus made. But because they haven’t had all of the Gospel preached to them, they don’t recognize that they’ve been given much more than a ticket out of hell. It’s not just about what we’ve been saved from, it’s about what we’ve been saved to! Now you can fellowship with God! You can come into His very presence. You don’t have to wait until you get to heaven. You can have Him now! You can enjoy what God intended from the very beginning! The entire Bible from Genesis to the maps is about getting back to Genesis 1 and 2. Jesus came to restore that!
So, in light of this, when we look back to the story of Zacchaeus, Jesus found Him up in a tree. And he’s got all these problems. He couldn’t have been a popular man. He was a rich chief tax collector. Tax collectors were employed by the Roman government to find ways to get people to pay their taxes. They were good at what they did, and Zacchaeus had risen to the top. How do we know he has problems? Because, after the meeting in his house, he starts confessing. We see that he has committed crooked transactions and felt the conviction. Jesus responds with, “today, this man has turned around and is on the right track.” What would happen if Jesus came to your house? After Jesus came to Zacchaeus’s house, a great turn around took place. If Jesus walked through your wall at your house and said, “today, you and I need to sit down and have a talk.” Do you think that your life from that moment wouldn’t change completely? Do you think you’d get some answers to some questions? Of course, you would. The thing you have to see, is that Jesus made a way so that every single day you and I can sit down with Him and have that talk! Jesus came and restored a way! Anytime you want to, you can sit down with Him face to face. Zacchaeus went to the top of the tree because he couldn’t see down on the ground. Haven’t we been talking about coming up to a higher perspective? Jesus is offering you what you are really searching for in life.
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—
Another Comforter was sent to us. Jesus had to leave and go to Heaven. But the other Helper will never leave us. The Holy Spirit lives within us forever. This is enough to be thankful and worship Him for the rest of your life. Hebrews says that we are not to neglect so great a salvation. We never have to go to Hell! You can have a relationship with Jesus Christ every single day! The Holy Spirit is here living inside of you to represent! He does not replace Jesus; He is here to enforce the Lordship of Jesus. He brought with Him Jesus’s mind, will, and everything within. He’s here to help you and guide you with the very mind of Christ who knows everything about you and your future! He is the guide inside of you! You don’t have to walk through life alone with no direction!
We all know there are things in our lives that need to change. We are like a tree. We have stuff above ground and stuff below ground that no one sees. If you will start sitting with Jesus daily, He will start talking to you. It’s amazing that He won’t talk to you about something when He knows you won’t listen. Here’s why: If He starts talking to you about something that you won’t listen to, you cross over into disobedience. And disobedience opens the door to the devil. He won’t turn you over to the devil like that. It’s called mercy. It’s called love You’ve got this person that loves you like that, and you don’t have time for Him? You realize when He found you, you were up in a tree and you had a lot of problems too? Until you come down from the tree and sit down with Jesus and deal with the problems, you’ll live and die with them. Sit with the Lord every single day!