Luke

[0:00] The Lord's help this evening, I will direct your attention to the gospel according to Luke chapter 19 verses 5 and 6.

[0:33] The gospel according to Luke chapter 19 verses 5 and 6. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, And said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down.

[1:03] For today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.

[1:17] When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, And said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down.

[1:33] For today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.

[1:48] In the scriptures, as doubtless you are aware, We have descriptions of the Lord's dealing with various people.

[2:06] Sometimes one is quite different from the rest. We have reason to give thanks for this situation.

[2:21] Lest any of us should be discouraged. Because our particular meeting of the Spirit of God was not like another's.

[2:38] We should always remember the warning which is given in the scriptures, That we should not compare ourselves among ourselves.

[2:53] How many have been discouraged? God alone knows. God alone knows.

[3:29] God alone knows.

[3:59] So seek it to be so secret to yourselves. Then take courage. Because God has given you, in the scriptures and from the scriptures, That which confirms your soul, That whatever others may say, You have got something to which you may cling.

[4:19] Perhaps some of you might be in the place of the man that was born blind.

[4:30] And after there had been much questioning of this poor man by the Pharisees, He said, He said, He said, One thing I know, That whereas I was blind, Now I see.

[4:46] It will be a mercy for you and me, If we can even refer to one thing.

[4:58] There is a temptation, There is a temptation, Sometimes, To cast one thing aside. But let us remind ourselves of what is written, And despise not the day of small things.

[5:17] But one thing, From God, Will be worth, A thousand things from me. Now in the case before us, We read, Of God's overruling hand, In regard to circumstance, To the person, And to the consequence.

[5:52] Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. We should remember, That as I have mentioned, I think already, The steps of the good man, Are ordered by the Lord, Certainly, The steps of the Lord Jesus were ordered.

[6:12] And it was not by chance, That he passed through Jericho, At this particular time. If, In our experience, The Lord has been gracious to us, We may indeed be able, To tell our story, Of, A certain situation, And it was not by chance, That Jesus passed by, In that place, At that time.

[6:47] Behold, There was a man named Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus, Which was a chief among the publicans, And he was rich. The Pharisees would have passed him by.

[6:59] They would have no time for such a man. And certainly, They would not attempt, To bring him into their circle, Of religious professors.

[7:12] But there was something, Evidently, In this man's heart, Which is not recorded in the scriptures, That, Made him want to see Jesus.

[7:29] And he sought to see Jesus, Who he was. Now all of you, Have heard a lot about Jesus, Have you inquired, Who he is?

[7:40] That you may know him for yourself. Now, There was a physical condition, That was the impediment, In seeing Jesus.

[7:57] And he could not, For the press, Because he was little of stature, And he ran before him, Climbed up into a sycamore tree, To see him, For he was to pass that way.

[8:14] Being in the way, The Lord met with him, That was, In reference to Abraham's servant, But here, We find, The Lord, Being in this way, Met with this man.

[8:32] And when Jesus, Came to the place, All these things, Are, Are to be noticed, As God's appointment, There is no, It or but, There is no, Chance, God's appointment, And when Jesus, Came to the place, He did not come, Uh, An hour before, Or an hour later, He came, According to his own, Mind, Will, And knowledge, At a particular time, Where, The glory of God, Was to be revealed, And when Jesus, Came to the place, He looked up, Generally speaking, The people will say,

[9:33] That they need, The Lord, To look down upon them, They see the Lord, High and lifted up, And maybe, They feel to be, So small, And they need, God to look down, Upon them, But here was the case, When the Lord, Had to look up, You may say, That the condition, Was a physical situation, But his spiritual, Counterpart, Has much significance, And he looked up, The pride of our hearts, Sometimes, Will lift us, Far above, The Lord Jesus Christ, Who was a worm, And no man,

[10:34] And therefore, In, That condition, Which was much, The Lord's condition, Throughout his life, There was this, The Lord, Had to, Look up, And if perhaps, Perhaps it has been, That God, Has had to look up, In, Your case, God knows, God knows, His, His purpose, He knows, Your heart, That is just, A point in passing, But he looked up, And will it not be a blessing, If the Lord looks up, When you are in, Quite a wrong position, In condition of mind, That if he did not look up,

[11:37] Astonishing though it is, He would never see you, You see, Not everybody, Is at all times, Saying, Look how we grovel here below, Fond of these trifling toys, Our souls, Can neither fly, Nor go, To reach eternal joys, There is a, A time, With, And maybe each of us, At varying times, When the Lord, Has had to look up, What a wonderful thing, The Lord knows, Where we are, Knows where we are, In our mind, As well as, In our circumstances, He knows, Where we are, According to his, Divine purposes, So, When Jesus, Came to the place, He looked up,

[12:38] And saw him, This was no chance, See, The Lord, Knows he was up, In that tree, Before, The Lord, Came to the spot, Before the Lord, Looked up, And saw him, At our level, It will be a surprise, But, At the Lord's level, It was no surprise, It may be, That God, In his beginnings, With our soul, Has found us, In the most unusual, And unexpected places, And no one, Would have thought, Of, Looking up, Knowing, That, When he looked, When the Lord looked up, He would see him, We might have,

[13:39] Reason, To give thanks, Under God, Ourselves, That, The Lord, Looked up, And saw, You and me, Found us, In a place, That if, Uh, Friends, Uh, And even relations, Were looking for us, They wouldn't look for us there, They would say, No, He would not be there, She would not be there, And it may be, Uh, Some of us, Would be able, Uh, To bear, A humble testimony, To the great mercy of God, That, God found us, In places, Where nobody else, Would have found us, They would have said, No, They wouldn't be, In such a place, They wouldn't go on, Such a course, Oh,

[14:40] Well, Blessing be God, Uh, If, Jesus, This should be our experience, Of when Jesus, Came to the place, He looked up, And saw him, And said unto him, And here is another astonishing thing, And it will be to you and me, If our name is mentioned, Zacchaeus, And there's a character in the tree, Would, Would a man, Man generally know his name, Has God spoken to you, Uh, By name, Now, If you should say, But my name, Is not in the scriptures, I've observed sometimes, That when the Lord, Called Samuel, Samuel, Samuel,

[15:41] Samuel's name, Was not in the scriptures, So do not think, That God, Would not be able, To look up, And address you by name, Because your name, Is not in the scriptures, And said unto him, Zacchaeus, When we are addressed, Personally, Or as we read in Ezekiel, The word of the Lord, Came expressly to me, And then it is, That we are bound, To pay attention, We cannot pass by, We cannot shut our eyes, We cannot shut our ears, There is a direct word, To a direct person, And so it was here, And said unto him, Zacchaeus, And it is clear, From the context, That Zacchaeus,

[16:42] Immediately, Became all attention, Now do we know, Such an experience, In ourselves, When, Perhaps our motives, Have not been always clear, Or plain, But then God has spoken, And he has called us by name, There is no question, About, About that, If he are called, He calls us by our name, Zacchaeus, And to follow, This, Person, Named, So that there should be, No question, As to who he was right, Who he was speaking to, The Lord said, Zacchaeus, Make haste, We read in the scriptures, That the king's business,

[17:44] Demands haste, Now this was, A matter, Of great moment, And, Therefore, Zacchaeus, Make haste, And there it says, It's not a time, Today, Today, Today, It's not a time, For you, To stay in the tree, It's not a time, For you, Merely, To be curious, To see, Who Jesus is, If you are going, To find out, Who Jesus is, Then, You've got to come, And sup with him, You've got to come, Much more closely, Than merely, Having, A mental view, Of this particular person, No doubt, There were many, When the Lord, Was here upon earth, Who,

[18:44] Who, Regarded, This person, It is very clear, That, There were, There was much, Conjecture, As to who this man was, As you know, Some thought, That he was Elias, Some thought, He was Jeremiah, Some thought, It was John, John the Baptist, Raised from the dead, And so, There was a great deal, Of discussion, Amongst those, Who never came, To the right conclusion, But as, Peter tells us, We believe, That thou art, The Christ, The son, Of the living God, Make haste, And come down, And there was a purpose, In this, And God has a purpose,

[19:47] May we see it, In our own lives, A purpose, A astonishing purpose, An amazing purpose, Come down, For today, I must abide, At thy house, Now, Whether the person, Of Christ himself, Abode there, Forever, It does not appear, That it was so, But the spirit of God, Abode in that house, And if God, Visits your soul, With his salvation, You will say, That yes, The Lord God, Abides with me, You will take up, The words of him, Abide with me, Past falls, The eventide, Abide with me, Now we notice, There was a coming together,

[20:49] Of, God, Outside of Zacchaeus, And God inside him, You see, Those, Those, That are, Made, Ready, For heaven, Or even, In the process, Begin, By having, The spirit of God, Within, And the spirit of God, Within, Will answer, So to speak, The spirit of God, Without, If I can put it like that, So then, Zacchaeus, Make haste, And come down, That was, The Lord himself speaking, For today, I must abide, At thy house, Now, Had this man, Not been, Blessed by the grace, Of God, This would have, He would have raised, An objection,

[21:50] Perhaps you remember, Another occasion, In the parable, When a feast was made, And invitations were sent, Out to various people, And we have three particular cases of, Of excuse, They all began to make excuse, So, There was a falling, Into these three categories, One said, I have bought some oxen, I've got to go and prove them, And another said, That if I remember rightly, He had bought some land, And he had to look at it, And another said, I have married a wife, So therefore, I cannot come, But this man,

[22:52] Because the spirit of God, Was in it, Because the almighty God, Has spoken, Make haste, And come down, For today, I must abide, At thy house, There was a ready, Reception, He made haste, And came down, And received him, Joyfully, Now that is a general, General, Picture, Of it for us here, But how many people, How many of God's people, Have been thankful, For this record, Of Zacchaeus, If we read, A little farther down, In verse 9, And Jesus said unto him, This day, Is salvation, Come into this house, For as much as he also,

[23:53] Is the son of Abraham, For the son of man, Is come to seek, And to save, That which was lost, What an important, Consideration this is, The Lord, Came to seek, A lot of emphasis, Is very, Much, Made, On regarding, That he came to save, Sinners, But the sinners, That he saves, Will all be, All be sinners, That he sought out, If you have begun, To be a seeker, As people say, And God didn't send you, Seek you out, In the first place, Then you're on very, Bad ground, Jesus, Sought me, When a stranger, Wandering, From the fold of God,

[24:55] In which case, You had got your face, In another direction, It was the last thing, In your mind, To seek the Lord, He would, Despite the fact, That we have, In the fifty-fifth of Isaiah, Seek ye the Lord, While he may be found, Call ye upon him, While he is near, And perhaps some of you, Might be able, To remember a time, And perhaps with some of you, It's a time now, When, You, Are not interested, Others can seek, Others can call upon, The name of the Lord, But I, Am not interested, Now this man, This man, Who was, A publican, That is, An executor, An executor of taxes, From his own brethren, He would have been wrapped up, In his business, Now,

[25:57] I'm sure, Some of us will know, What that means, When we've been wrapped up, In our business, And if the Lord, Had not sought us out, We should still, Have been wrapped up, In our business, Or, And in the affairs, Of this life, Whether, It might of course, Have been, The domestic scene, And we needed, God to do, To us, As he did, To Zacchaeus, To seek him out, And God knows, The place, Just mark the spot, The piece of ground, Where Jesus, Did they meet, Notice that, What Erskine says, He did not, Said, Where you met Jesus, But where Jesus, Did they meet, And it is important, For us to get things, The right way round,

[26:58] Too many, Get things, The wrong way round, Now, Going right up to Mark, When I heard, A sermon recently, In which the minister, Drawed, Do attention, To people, Who say, We are now, Met together, Well, That sounds, All right, He said, The word of God, Says, That we are, Gathered together, And unto him, Shall the gathering, Of the people be, So are you, Met together, Or are you, Gathered together, Gathered together, Because, You are, God's people, And he is gathering you, And you, And he is in the midst of you, About to look at this, Again, When Jesus came to the place, How wonderful, Are God's appointments,

[27:59] If our religion is right, We shall find, That we can, Indicate, A certain place, And a certain spot, Perhaps more than once, When we can say, Jesus met me there, If he hadn't met me, I shouldn't have been met at all, I wouldn't have met him, So have we got our religion, In the right way, And says, Yes, It was Jesus, My friend, And he hung on the tree, That opened the channel, Of mercy for me, He, And Zacchaeus, He has heard this word, Make haste, Though the circumstances, Are somewhat different, We turn to, The Damascus road,

[29:02] When the Lord, Spoke to Saul of Tarsus, He wasn't, Going to meet the Lord, Was he? Well he was going on, His nefarious business, Of hailing men and women, To prison and to death, And those men and women, Were disciples of the Lord, Jesus Christ, But the Lord met him, He didn't meet the Lord, Oh what a wonderful thing, It is dear friends, If, We can say, Yes the Lord met me, And he stopped me, And he said, Make haste, And he said, Come down, And to our astonishment, He said, Today, I must abide at thy house, Now this, Is all, In regard to, God's covenant, Made with David's Lord, Before the sinner fell, So then,

[30:06] And he made haste, And came down, And received him joyfully, We need to observe, Very, Very carefully, Every word of the scripture, The reception of this man, Whose heart was now, A new heart, The heart, Of the nature, Of the nature of God in it, He made haste, And came down, And received him joyfully, It was not, With a half-hearted feeling, Maybe we, We would know the experience, That someone comes, To our door, And well, We invite them in, And we are not, Whole hearted about it, But, We think, That we ought to invite them in, At other times,

[31:08] Oh, How wonderful it is, When we feel so differently, And how do you feel, And how do I feel, About the Lord Jesus Christ, It is to be feared, That some, Even professing Christians, Would be completely embarrassed, If the Lord, Knocked on their door, And so, And come, And I have come, To stay with you, Would that, To put a few things away, The things that ought not, To be in the house, What a blessing it is, If, You and I, Can be honest, And say, Well, He can come anytime, I would welcome him, And there is nothing, In my house, Of which I am ashamed, Or, In connection with, I should be condemned,

[32:11] It will be my joy, Notice, He received him, Joyfully, Now, Here was a change of heart, And, It was a change of heart, With soil of tarsus as well, Because, He said, What he never said before, What wilt thou have me to do, Have you ever put that question to the Lord, What wilt thou have me to do, Not what I, Want to do, But, What wilt thou have me to do, Let me know thy mind, Let me know, Thy will, And give me grace and power to do it, With regard to soil of tarsus, Of course, It meant a great turnaround, And the people, Of whom he had, He had hated,

[33:13] And was willing to go to great lengths, To make their sufferings great, He now joined them, And he was willing, To suffer, And as he tells the church, As Philippi, He counted all things, But dross, And done and dross, That he might win Christ, And be found in him, Not having on his own righteousness, But that righteousness, Which, Was through the faith, Of, Which is of God by faith, That I may know him, And the power of his resurrection, And the fellowship of his sufferings, Being made conformable unto his death, Now I believe we can say, That Zacchaeus felt the same, Because if you receive a person, And particularly if you receive Jesus Christ,

[34:14] It is joyfully, There is gladness, Just let us think of the words, That come to my mind, In the fourth psalm, Where, A great testimony, Is given by the psalmist, There be many that say, Who will show us any good, Lord, Lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us, Thou hast put gladness in my heart, More than in the time, That their corn and their wine, Increased, Joyfully, He made haste, And came down, And received him joyfully, Now this experience, Of Zacchaeus, Was the evident working, The internal working,

[35:17] Of the power of the Spirit of God in his soul, The power that came forth, From the lips of the Lord Jesus, Make haste and come down, You will not forget today, If God should make an application of, Of this word, Come down, From your objectives, Which are very high, From the, The points, That you are, The things that you are thinking about, There is the case, Of a young student, Who was at university, And he was interviewed, One day, By the professor, And the professor asked,

[36:18] Him, In regard to his future, And he said, What are you going to do, When you leave university, And the young man said, Well, He was hoping to get a good position, In life, They would start, In a fairly, Low position, But he hoped to progress, And, The professor said, Then what then?

[36:50] Well, He said, I hope to, Be able to, Get a promotion, And, Eventually, I hope to retire, And, Live comfortably, So the professor said, And what then?

[37:10] What then? Well, He said, I suppose, I shall, Find some, Useful thing to do, In my retirement, And what then?

[37:27] Well, He said, I shall die, What then? And here, The young man, Was brought to his senses, If I can say that, And in making this account, And referring to this account, I do not want to discourage, Anybody, In their ambitions, But do remember, That you can go up, And be up in a tree, So to speak, And looking down, Upon the Lord Jesus Christ, And thinking, That you are quite able, To manage things, Without his help, Now, That will be a great day, In your life, And we, Shall not, I shall not, In any way, Say that will come, Of course, When you are so old, Because, God can speak to us, When we are very young, He can speak to us,

[38:28] Well, When we are a little older, He can speak to us, When we have advanced, To positions in life, And he can speak to us, When he says, That we are up, We are up there, And he is down here, So then, Zacchaeus, Make haste, And come down, He wasn't, Apparently, He was not to be, At a loss, At least, He was contented, With those things, That were honest, His composition, In life, Was a dishonest profession, Recognized, In that way, He was willing, To leave that, And to give everything up, For Christ, In our religion, Have we come to that place,

[39:29] Where we are willing, And ready, To give everything up, For Christ, Because if we do not, Give up everything, For Christ, That is, In its principal thinking, Thinking, Then, Well, What you will be thinking, When we come to our dying bed, Zacchaeus, Make haste, And come down, Broadly speaking, If God, If God was to speak, To any of you, This evening, Make haste, And come down, Here it is, Just gone eight o'clock, Make haste, At midnight, The cry went forth, And the door was shut, And those, And those who were ready, Went into, The marriage supper, And the door was shut, So, Zacchaeus, Make haste, And come down, There is no time,

[40:31] For delay, Now this is God speaking, Do not mistake, It is me speaking, I know I am using the words, And the expressions, But if God should speak, To you this evening, For a reason not known to me, Zacchaeus, So wherever you are, Make haste, And come down, For today, I must abide, Thy house, Thy house, The house of this, Tabernacle, Well, The word of God, Speaks of, Of this, Rather the apostle Paul, Refers to it, In the, In the, Epistle, Second epistle, To the Corinthians, For we know, That if our, Earthly house, Of this, Tabernacle, Were dissolved, We have a, Building of God,

[41:33] And house, Not made with hands, Eternal, In the heavens, So, Make haste, And come down, From your, High perch, And, And be found, Sitting at the feet, Of Jesus, Clothed, And in your right mind, For in this, We groan, Earnestly, Desiring, To be clothed upon, With our house, Which is from heaven, If so be, That being clothed, We shall not be found, Naked, Dead, And he made haste, Then came down, And received him joyfully, This was no decision, Of the carnal mind, Whatever, You may think, Your carnal mind, Will never, Make haste, And come down,

[42:33] If it could, Consider the matter, If it could, Perhaps, Hinder you for a time, Yet, You'll, See return, Because, Your heart, Is still, Not right with God, With regard to Zacchaeus, Without any doubt, His heart, Was made right, With God, It is very difficult, To, Describe, The change of heart, When Jesus comes, To think, That you can leave, Everything, And apart, With everything, Willingly, Lovingly, And find, That the loss, That you have,

[43:34] As a statement, Is nothing, Compared, With, What you gained, One, Well known, A doctrine preacher, In earlier years, Gave up, His, His position, In Harley Street, To become, A minister, Of the gospel, And somebody, Said to him, Afterwards, What a lot, You've given up, To become, A minister, Of the gospel, His reply, Was, I haven't, Given up, Anything, That's been, A loss to me, I've gained, Everything, But I've, Lost nothing, How, Do we look, At our profession, If, We've had to, Give up, Some things, If, We've had to, Depend upon, God, And live, To part, Live, By,

[44:35] From God, And by, His power, If, It has been, Our privilege, And blessing, To, For him, To abide, With us, And remember, In the, 15th chapter, Of John, We read, Of the importance, Of abiding, Abide, In me, And I, In you, As the branch, Cannot bear fruit, Of itself, Except it abide, In the vine, No more can ye, Except ye, Abide in me, So, For today, I must abide, At thy house, You see, It was not, An invitation, Which needed, A response, From Zacchaeus, God, Was putting, Into the heart, Of Zacchaeus, That readiness,

[45:36] Of will, And as, He received, The Lord, As we might say, With open arms, Do you fear, Have you received, The Lord, With open arms, This may not be, An everyday experience, But, In your beginnings, Did you ever feel, That you could receive, The Lord, With open arms, To think, That he had looked down, From the height, Of his sanctuary, And looked upon you, You, Who were not seeking, After him at all, And he looked upon you, With love in his heart, Undoubtedly, When the Lord looked up, And saw Zacchaeus, He knew he was there, And the love of God, Reached him, And so,

[46:38] He said, The Lord said, Zacchaeus, Come down, Not just to have, A friendly chat, Or, To have, A little explanation, Of what is happening, And who I am, I must abide, At thy house, Now, It is one thing, For us to, Have a casual visitor, And another thing, For us to, Live with, Have them living with us, All the time, Does the Lord, Live in your house, And does he live in mine, If so, There's going to be, A change, From what it once was, Because, We are going to hear, A little check here, And a little check there, And a query, Raised in our mind, Not by our carnal mind, But by the Spirit of God, As to, The,

[47:39] There is this, According to the will of God, That which you are contemplating, Will God go with you? And you will say, If you're, He is in your heart, Leave me not, Until I say, Father, Thy will be done, So then, My presence, Shall go with thee, And I will give thee rest, Can you, Dare you, Be in a place, Going along in this evil world, Without the presence of God with you?

[48:19] What a dangerous situation, Because, If God's presence is not with you, Then, Whose presence will be with you?

[48:32] Surely, Satan will take the opportunity, And especially, If, There is that done in your heart, That indicates even to him, That God has a favor towards you, There is a case, In the scriptures, Of, A man that was, Had a devil, And he was cast out, And after a time, This devil returned to the man, And he found the man's heart, Cleaned, And dusted, And so on, What did he do?

[49:15] He went and got to himself, Seven other devils, More wicked than himself, And they entered into that man, And the work, That state of that man, In the end, Was worse, Than in the first place, So then, How important it is, That we should know, The experience, That the Lord Jesus is with us, I am with thee, Under all conditions, Under all circumstances, Now, If the Lord is with us, And we are walking with him, And he with us, Is it not true to say, That we should want to hear his voice, Sometimes, I know it is possible, For, People that are in trouble, And deep thought, Might walk a long time, Without saying a word, But if you are downcast, And the Lord is walking by your side,

[50:16] You'll want him to give you, A knowledge that he's with you, By his speaking a word to you, I am thy shield, And thy exceeding great reward, For the words that the Lord spoke to Abraham, I am thy shield, And thy exceeding great reward, We are reminded, Of the great, Trial of faith, That must come upon, The Lord's people, In, This, This world of woe, And so, The apostle Paul, He writes to, To the Ephesians, And, He says, Wherefore, Take hold, Put on the whole armor of God,

[51:19] For, That ye may be able to stand in the evil day, And having done all to stand, Stand therefore, Having your loins girt with truth, And having on the breastplate of righteousness, And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, Above all, Taking, The shield of faith, Wherewith ye shall be able, To quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, And take over the helmet of salvation, And the sword of the spirit, Which is the word of God, Praying always, With all prayer and supplication, In the spirit, And watching thereunto, With all perseverance and supplication, For all saints, And for me, For today I must abide at thy house, And he made haste,

[52:20] And came down, And received him joyfully, Oh, As it may be, Our favourite lot, Each of us, If it could be the Lord's good pleasure, To bring us to that point, Some of us have known it already, I feel confident, To bring us to that point, Where, We receive him gladly, Gladly, Then, When I tell to sinners round, What a dear saviour I have found, I'll point, To his redeeming blood, And say, Behold, The way to God, Amen, It has concluded, Let us conclude this evening by singing hymn number 771.

[53:33] The tune is Remington 395.