A man’s life was changed, from one who people hates to a person who is willing to help others.
• He did not attend a moral course or nor a training class. He met a person. He met Jesus. He met the Saviour of his life.
• He trusted Christ and experienced His love and the forgiveness of his sin. This changed him.
How do we know? We saw a big change after he met Jesus.
• He stopped thinking only about himself and how to get more money; but now he is given it away. He is thinking about the poor.
• He repented. He wants to return to those he cheated, four times more.
You can sense the joy in him. Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house…
• No one can change your life. Only Jesus can. He has the POWER to change life.
• He is the Giver of life, and He can restore to us the meaning and purpose of life.
• Jesus says He has come to give us an abundant life. John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Luke 19:10 "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
Zacchaeus was not a good man. He is the tax-collector; a pro cheat.
• They worked for the Roman government. Rome collects 3 main kinds of taxes, (1) a land tax, (2) a head tax, and (3) a customs tax.
• A tax office or booth would be located near a city gate or port to collect the custom tax. They employ as tax collectors to work in different tax districts.
Whatever they collected over that amount was theirs to keep.
• They use the authority of the Roman govt to press the people to pay up.
• You can gain substantial amount this way, therefore most tax collectors are rich.
The society regards them as thieves and robbers.
• In fact, the crowd all regards Zacchaeus as a sinner. Verse 7 - Jesus has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner’.
• Zacchaeus himself confessed in verse 8 “if I have cheated anybody out of anything…”
For the Pharisees (religious people), they do not even want to eat with them – it will render them spiritually unclean, as if you are a part of their sin.
• You cannot enter a tax collector’s house. Even a house entered by a tax collector was considered unclean.
• Therefore for Jesus to enter the house of a tax-collector is unimaginable.
If Zacchaeus is the chief tax collector, which mean, not only was he overseeing a group of collectors, he has been in this business very long.
• This is what people see – a sinner, someone whom they hate.
• But this is not how Jesus sees him – he saw someone whom God loves. Jesus saw someone who is precious, someone whom He has come to save.
Love changes people. Jesus’ love changes us. Our love for others can bring change to them. How we see a person is very important.
In an experiment, a speaker was to make a speech to 2 groups of people. He was introduced differently. To the first audience, he was introduced as a criminal, and the audience showed a very negative response to his speech.
To the second group audience, he was introduced as a scientist, and he was applauded warmly for the same speech. How the man was introduced determined the kind of reception he received.
But Jesus loves, eat with him and changed his life.
• No matter what wrong he has done, for how long, no matter how far you are from God, if you have a heart to seek God, you will find Him.
• Jer 29:13 "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Those who seek God will be blessed.
• Zacchaeus has a heart to seek Jesus. You can see that in his behaviour.
• The crowd cannot stop him. He may be short, but he will find a way to see Jesus.
• So he climbed up a tree. No adult will do that, unless he really wants to see Jesus.
If Jesus has the answer you are looking for, if Jesus can really give you a new life, you too will want to find out more, you will want to know this Jesus.
• Imagine Zacchaeus’ present state – he is living in a society that rejects and hates him, in an environment where no one likes you, no one accepts you.
• Just like working in an office environment, where no one talks to you, no eats with you are lunch time, no one accepts you. You will want to quit.
Living in a society that shuns you, cannot be a happy and fulfilling life.
• Zacchaeus wants more. He wants to look for that missing part.
The Lord says if you really seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him.
• Jesus came near and stopped, and called out to him. Jesus knows his name.
• He knows his needs, and wants to go to his house. It’s not Zacchaeus inviting Jesus; Jesus offers to go to his house.
Today God wants to enter our lives; He cares for us. He wants to guide and bless us.
• Very often, we thought we were the ones seeking God, but in actual fact, it is the other way around.
• God has been searching out for us. The Bible paints for us this picture – God became man and enters this world, so that you and I have the chance to know Him.
• Jesus says He is the good shepherd; he looks for the lost sheep and brings them back to the fold.
• Jesus says, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (19:10)
God gave us the chance to hear the Gospel. God gave us the Bible to read and understand His will. God led us to Singapore where we find a church and know Him.
• God is searching for man today. Many were there that day, but only Zacchaeus’ life was changed. He sought and believed Christ, and God changed Him.
THE EASIEST AND YET HARDEST THING TO DO
Many were following Jesus, but they do not really want to trust Him as their Saviour. It seems so easy and yet so hard. D. L. Moody shared this experience.
One day he went to his little nephew house, who was then about 3 or 4 years old. He threw a Bible on the floor. It was a good book and I don’t like to see this. His mother said to him, "Go pick up uncle’s Bible from the floor."
"I won’t," he replied. "Go and pick up that Bible now."
"I won’t."
"What did you say?" asked his mother. She thought he didn’t understand. But he understood well enough, and had made up his mind that he wouldn’t.
She told the boy she would have to punish him if he didn’t, and then he said he couldn’t, and by and by he said he didn’t want to.
This is the way people behave. At first they say they won’t, then they can’t, and then they don’t think like doing it.
The mother insisted upon the boy picking up the Bible, and he got down and put his arms around it and pretended he couldn’t lift it. He could have picked it up easily enough.
I was very anxious to see the fight carried on because she was a young mother, and if she didn’t break that boy’s will he was going to break her heart by and by.
So she raised her voice and told him again if he didn’t pick it up she would punish him, and the child just picked it up.
It was very easy to do it when he made up his mind.
If a person decides in his mind to do something, he can do it. The trouble is they don’t want to give up their will. What can be done in 10secs told 10mins because the boy was not willing. People do not want to believe in what Jesus says; they do not want Him to be Lord of their lives. To give them food, yes; to heal their sicknesses, yes, but not to be the Saviour of their lives.
If they truly recognise Jesus, and just say, “Lord Jesus Christ, I trust you from this hour to save me,” and the moment you take that stand he will change your life. Zacchaeus experienced the love and grace of Jesus Christ.
If you do not know Him, you are still lost. If you have not trusted Christ, you are still someone God is searching for today.
• The saddest thing is not getting lost. It is being lost and not knowing you’re lost. If you know, you will change your route. If not, you are on the wrong path, and you are still walking down the wrong way today.
Not everyone may love you today, but Jesus loves you. He notices one person in the crowd.
• He wants you to know that He has come to save you from your sin. Trust Jesus and we’ll receive the forgiveness of our sin and a new life.
• Zacchaeus was saved not because he does good works. He was saved because he believed what Jesus said and trust Him as Saviour.
• As a result of the change in his heart, he wants to do good works. He wants to help the poor and repay those he cheated.
• In the past, he loves money and uses people; now he uses money and loves people.
Jesus will come into your life if you allow Him to.
• No education can change us. If it can, we ought to be in a better world today.
• Only Jesus Christ can change your life today. He only has the POWER to do it.
No one is beyond redemption. Everyone can be saved and his life changed by the power of Christ.
• Love changes people. Learn to accept and love people. Be concerned with those who are lost and in need.
• Jesus initiates the move to love and care for those in need. Ask God to give us Christ’s perspective of people.
• As his disciples, His concern is our concern today. Christ’s mission is our mission today.
