Gospel—Jim Hyland
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Long I was hanging in the darkness.
Now, by His grace, I am free today.
Of the day in America.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're responding to me.
You've got our line around the sun.
Let's get the slave here for me.
Thank you for calling me.
Lay down there.
They're on stay in there like me.
Sharing his blood toward my grandson.
For me.
Just as I was erasing me, they came from translucent.
No, there is no problem. And then they shine.
This is the savior for me.
Later for me.
Wow, we've got a lot of sun changing the landscape called Dark Things so Pretty.
No, it's come on. It's got a lot of kids praying.
This is a savior for me.
Shedding his blood for my grandson.
It is a savior for me.
So we ask God's help. We thank the our loving God, and I'd like to turn to a familiar portion of the word of God, Luke, chapter 19.
Luke chapter 19 and verse one. And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho, and behold there was a man named Zacchaeus.
Which was the chief among the publicans. And he was rich. And he thought to see Jesus who he was and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before and climbed up into a Sycamore tree to see him, for he for he was to pass that way.
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him Zacchaeus.
Make haste and come down, for today I must abide at my house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be a guest with a man that is a Sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my good I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation.
I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, this day his salvation come to this house, For as much as he also is the son of Abraham, for the Son of man is come to seek and to save.
That which was lost. Well, I know this is a familiar portion. I know the youngest boys and girls here this evening have often heard this portion read in the home by their parents. They've heard it read at Sunday school. They've heard it explained and gone over at gospel meetings like this. But, you know, it throws my heart tonight to think that we don't have to turn to some obscure passage of the word of God, but we can turn to a familiar story, like the story of Zacchaeus.
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And we can proclaim, as has often been proclaimed, that there's a savior for sinners, that there's a blessing for those who are seeking for the Lord because he's seeking for them. And so I'm glad that we can turn to this familiar story, and I'm glad that we can speak of the love of God and the provision for sin. You know, just before a Gospel meeting like this, two young people were heard to say, well, it's just another Gospel meeting. It'll probably be over around 8:00.
Well, it probably will be over around 8:00, but I want to tell you tonight that no gospel meaning is just another gospel meeting. It is a thrill to our souls to be able to turn to the word of God, to speak from a book where we don't have to decide whether it's true or not. You know, sometimes you go to the library. I'm speaking to the boys and girls. Now, you go to the library and you choose some books and you bring them home and you read them, and maybe they're interesting stories and maybe they're based on fact. Maybe they even profess to be true stories. But you read those stories.
And you say, well, some of it no doubt is true, but some of it, as they say, you could take it or leave it. You're not really sure if it's the truth. Because no matter what man writes, he always puts in his own opinions. He always puts in a little extra to try to make the story more interesting. But isn't it a thrill tonight to turn to the word of God and know that the word of God is true? From the first book of the first verse in Genesis where it says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth till the last verse of God's word, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Be with you all and we can rest our souls tonight on the word of God. And I can open this book and read you this familiar story. And I know that this story is true. I know that this story is a historical fact, but it's more than a historical fact. Tonight, it's part of the inspired word of God. There are many interesting historical facts that we could come tonight and present. And those who are interested in history might come and listen to those stories. And we like to look back. I know when I was in school, one of my favorite subjects was history.
And social studies. I like that type of thing. But I say this story we've read tonight from the inspired word of God is more than just an interesting story. It's more than just a historical fact. This story is given to us to bring before us the truth that we're sinners, that we need a savior. But of the Lord, Jesus has come to see and to save that which is lost. And so, as we comment on this story tonight, with the Lord's help, I trust that your ears will be open tonight.
Not just your physical ears, but I trust you listen with the ears of your heart tonight and the God will open your heart, that he will touch your conscience and your heart tonight, and that you'll receive Jesus as your Savior, if you have not already. You know, I've often said as I look into the faces of an audience like this, that I find it not only a tremendous privilege to stand and present the good news of the gospel, a tremendous privilege to proclaim that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
But I find it a tremendous responsibility sometimes. I have the privilege of presenting the gospel to those who perhaps have never heard a clear gospel before. Presenting the gospel to those where I feel most in the audience are perhaps not saved, and that is a tremendous challenge and responsibility before God. But I feel an even greater challenge tonight as I look into the faces of boys and girls and young people.
And men and women who have heard the gospel over and over and over again.
Most of you tonight, as I look up and down these rows, I know who you are. I know that you have been brought up, some of you in Christian homes. Some of you have heard the gospel from the days of your earliest childhood. But I wonder tonight if you have closed your ears to God's word. I wonder if you're indifferent to the gospel, if you sit through a meeting like this and you say, well, we've heard it all before and it's just another gospel. And you watch that clock as the hand moves all too slowly around the dial.
And you're glad when finally the hour is up and you can get on with with your friends, you can go out and you don't have to think about these things anymore. You know, I think too, it's a very solemn thing to stand at the last gospel meeting of a series of meetings like this and to look into the faces of those who have sat here for two days, sat here last night and heard the gospel, heard that you're a Sinner, heard that Jesus loves you, heard that God has provided a remedy for sin through the blood of Jesus.
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And you went out the door last night and you said not tonight. And maybe you're planning to do the same thing tonight. You're going to go out that door and you're going to say not tonight. I want to warn you tonight that if you go out that door and you say, I'm going to put it off, I'm going to neglect God's word, solemnly declares in Hebrews, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? You know, I think there are many in a lost eternity tonight.
Many in hell tonight who are there because they put it off. They neglected. They said I want to be saved. They were like Felix. He heard the gospel from the Apostle Paul. Wonderful privilege. Think of hearing the gospel from the apostle Paul. And he heard it and he trembled and he knew he needed to do something about it. But he said when I have a more convenient season, I will call for the when I have a better time. I'm not going to get saved tonight. I'm going to put it off. Is that what you're saying?
Are you saying I'm going to wait until I'm a little older and then I'll come to know the Lord Jesus? Oh, if you pass into a lost eternity tonight, or if the Lord Jesus were to come before this hour is completed, and you look around and you see mother and father gone. You see your older brother gone. You see Grandma and Grandpa gone. You will lift up your eyes in a lost eternity and you will realize you've lost your soul. Isn't that a solemn thing? We can lose a lot of things.
We were having some children's meetings in Widow Pitlock, Maine, last week and there was a little girl there and she went out in a canoe on the river that runs by the Fish and Game club that we rent to hold the meetings. And there were some other children and they were having some fun paddling the canoe and fishing. But this little girl, she lost two things. She lost her watch and she lost her gold ring and she was very distressed. Those, uh, that watch in that gold ring were a gift from her mother.
Well, it didn't take long to find the watch, but they couldn't find the ring. And so they came back to where we were staying, and they told us what had happened, and we all shook our head. We felt sorry that she had lost that ring because, as I say, it meant a great deal to her, not as far as monetary value, but because of the one who had given it to her. But, you know, that little girl wasn't about to give up. And so the very next day, she and some others went back to that spot where she had lost the ring.
She'd lost it in the river. And to our surprise, about an hour later they came back and she was wearing that gold ring. I don't know how they ever found it in the weeds and muck of that river, but they searched until they found it And that watch in that ring were restored. And we lose things and we search for them, and they're restored. But I want to impress upon your soul tonight, if you don't know Jesus as your savior, there will come a day when you will wind up in a lost eternity and you won't be able to restore your soul.
It will be lost for all eternity when that man in Luke's gospel, earlier in Luke's gospel that the Lord Jesus told about, He lifted up his eyes in hell being in torment, and did he ask for release from that place? Oh no. I believe he knew that he was in a fixed state. I believe he knew that he would never get out of that place of torment, and all he asked for was one drop of water to relieve that pain.
To relieve that suffering for a moment. And he never got it and he never will. He's still there tonight. And so I warn you tonight at the beginning of this gospel meeting, if you don't know Jesus as your savior, the way of blessing is open for you tonight. The Lord Jesus is still a savior on high in the glory. He still desires your blessing. And you know, it's interesting that the Lord Jesus comes to this city called Jericho. You know, on the way into Jericho, he healed the blind man. We have that in the chapter before.
If we were to turn over to Matthew, we would find that as he left Jericho, there were two blind men and he brought blessing to them too. But what about in Jericho? What was the miracle that he performed in Jericho? It wasn't the opening of the eyes of the blind. It wasn't the cleansing of the leper. It wasn't the raising of the dead. It wasn't the hearing of the year. It was the salvation of a soul. You know, there are perhaps not great miracles performed in this world tonight, like when the Lord Jesus was here.
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We don't expect to go out on the street and find someone who has loss of hearing, someone whose death do all of a sudden have their ears open. Someone who's blind to all of a sudden have their eyes open. I know that medical technology has advanced to great stages in this day in which we live, but there aren't miracles, instantaneous miracles like you have when the Lord Jesus walked amongst men. But there's still a miracle taking place in this world tonight as one another here and there in this world.
Hear the gospel and they receive the Lord Jesus as their savior. They receive the forgiveness of sins. Isn't a marvelous thing. Those of us who know Jesus is our savior, to think that our sins are gone. You know, a little boy went to Sunday school one time and he came home all excited and he said to his mother, you know what we learned today in Sunday school? He said, we learned that there's something God cannot see. Oh, his mother was so surprised.
She said. Are you sure the Sunday school teacher told you that? Oh yes, the Sunday school teacher told us there's something that God cannot see, the little boy's mother said. I've always taught you that the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good, that God sees everything even into your heart. Oh, the little boy was insistent. But finally the mother said, What is it that God can't see? Oh, he said, God can't see my sins when they're washed in the blood of Jesus.
Oh, isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful to sit here tonight and know if you've received Jesus as your savior, but your sins are washed in the blood of Jesus and those sins are blotted out for all eternity? I have two girls and I know sometimes when they go out to play, they get pretty dirty and we bring those clothes in and my wife will try to put some special detergent on those spots and then put them in the washing machine with her favorite laundry soap.
And then after a while, she goes back to the machine and she pulls them out. But those clothes have not come clean. The stains are still there. Often we have stains that cannot be removed. But all my stains of sin tonight are removed. They're gone as far as the east is from the West, so far as he removed our transgressions from us. Thank God. There is something tonight that God cannot see, and that's my sins washed in the blood of Jesus.
You know, Jericho is a city that really has a double connotation. It was the city of the curse. And we know the story back in the Old Testament, how God brought judgment on that wicked city of Jericho. It's true he spared rehab in her household because she had faith, but he brought judgment on that city and he pronounced the curse on that wicked city. And it's a picture of this world. This world is under judgment. And I want to impress this on your soul tonight.
So as sure as we're sitting here in our seats on the 3rd of July 1994, just as surely there is judgment coming on this world. You know, people stop at that today. But when I hear someone scoff of coming judgment, to me it's a proof that the judgment is about to fall because it says in the last days shall come, scoffers saying where is the promise of his coming for since the father fell asleep?
All things continue as they are, even until now. They speak of judgment and nothing happens. Isn't that what you hear today? The apostle Paul spoke of judgment. The Reformers spoke of judgment. The early evangelists like Moody and Spurgeon, they spoke of judgment. And it hasn't happened.
You know, I'm sure there were similar comments made in Noah's day. They had never seen rain fall from the sky on the earth. They had never seen a flood before in Noah's day. And I'm sure there was much scoffing as Noah preached righteousness for 120 years. But the judgment did come. And God, at the point of the day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained judgment, hangs over this world, the sentence has been passed.
And so Jericho was the city of the curse. But, you know, to me it's very interesting that not only was Jericho the city of the curse, but it was the city of palm trees as well. It was a place of, uh, uh, where it was pleasant. You know, I think of the man in the tent of Luke who left Jerusalem, and he started his journey down to Jericho. And I've wondered if that man looked out from Jerusalem and down that road toward Jericho, if he thought it wasn't going to be more pleasant in Jericho, the city of palm trees.
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If he didn't think he was going to find his fame and fortune, perhaps some ease, some pleasure in Jericho, but all he found that it wasn't worth the trip. It wasn't worth the cost. And before he ever got there, he fell among thieves that stripped him and left him half dead. You know, that's the work of the enemy. Satan only wants you for what he can get out of you. The Lord wants you for what he can give you.
And that man who left Jerusalem, he looked over at that pleasant city, and that's what he chose. But all here, the Lord Jesus comes to Jericho. He comes to the city of the curse. He comes to the city of palm trees. He comes in grace. He comes with a desire for the blessing of those there that would have him. You know, it is also a very solemn thing to realize that you only read once of the Lord Jesus in his pathway.
Passing through the city of Jericho. You know, I wonder if I look into your faces tonight, how many times you've heard the gospel. I wonder how many opportunities you've had to be saved. I look into the faces of boys and girls here who, as I said, have heard the gospel from the early days of your childhood. And I have been in some of your homes and I know that at the breakfast table or at the supper table, and sometimes both places.
The word of God is taken out by Father and read to you. You hear about the Lord Jesus sometimes twice a day in your home. You come to the Gospel meeting on Sunday night. You go to Sunday school. You come to the reading meeting during the week. You hear the truth. You hear about the Lord Jesus. You know you need to be saved. How many opportunities have you had? I just challenged some of you boys and girls who are a little older to go home.
Get out a calculator. See how many times your father reads the Bible to you during the day. Multiply it by 365 days of a year and multiply it by your age, and then add 52 weeks for each year that you that you've been, that you've lived. And multiply that and add that in. Because that's probably how many Gospel meetings you've attended. How many opportunities have you had? You know those in Jericho only had one opportunity.
And you've had many God speaketh once, Yeah, twice. Yet man perceiveth it not. And so the Lord Jesus came to Jericho. He came only once. But he came. And the Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He came down from heaven not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him. What was that will? To go to the cross and die so that you so that I could be saved and be in God's happy home in heaven.
Well, you know, there was a great crowd that followed the Lord Jesus as he entered and passed through Jericho. But, you know, there was one man who was interested in really knowing the Lord Jesus. He wanted to see Jesus. His name is familiar to us all. His name was Zacchaeus, and he wanted to see Jesus, who he was. You know, I hope there's someone here tonight, and you want to really know who the Lord Jesus is. You know, there was a man named Herod, King Herod, and he lived in the time of Jesus, and he wanted to see Jesus too.
It says he desired of a long time to see Jesus that some miracle might be performed. He just wanted to see the Lord do some miraculous thing, some great display of power. But you know, we never read that he got that opportunity to see a miracle done. But here was a man and he wanted to know the person of Christ. He wanted to get to know the Lord Jesus. Why? Because he felt his need. He knew. Zacchaeus knew.
That he was a Sinner. I wonder if you've ever come to that realization. You know, it doesn't matter our station in life tonight, it doesn't matter our family background, It doesn't matter whether we've been brought up in the meeting or not. Wonderful as that is, the question tonight is, do you realize that you're a Sinner and that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God? You know, sometimes I have the privilege of visiting in Western North Carolina.
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Around the area of the city of Asheville, and it's a very beautiful area, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the lush green forests. Asheville itself is a is a beautiful city as cities go. But you know, if you were to take a short drive from Asheville, which I have often done, you will come outside Asheville to a town. And outside that town is what is called Biltmore Estate. It's a beautiful area.
It's a beautiful setting. You look out on these beautiful gardens, you look over and you see Mount Pisgah and all the other mountains that surround you. And if it's a clear day, you can see a great ways off. And Biltmore Estates was built by Mr. Vanderbilt noted as a railway tycoon. And he built that uh castle like home for himself and for his family. And it's open as a museum to the public and you can walk not only through the gardens.
But you can walk through that beautiful home and imagine what life must have been in a home like that.
But here was Mr. Vanderbilt on his deathbed. He had come to the end of his life, and it was a successful life. As man would count success. He had amassed millions, one of the wealthiest men of his day. But you know, all that didn't matter. As eternity drew near, and he called for one of his faithful servants that he knew was a Christian, and he asked him to sing at his deathbed. Come ye sinners, poor and needy.
And that uh elderly servant sung that hymn and he sung it with the tears running down his face. He sung it from the heart. And as he finished, Mr. Vanderbilt turned to him. And he said, Vanderbilt is a poor and needy Sinner. And I believe Mr. Vanderbilt received Jesus as his savior. It didn't matter about all the accomplishments. It didn't matter that in a few days when he was gone, his name would be splashed across the pages of the American press.
Oh, what mattered was where he was going to spend eternity. He knew he was a poor and needy Sinner. He knew that all the accomplishments and all the good he had done for mankind didn't merit him favor before God. He knew when he stood before God that all those things that he had and had done wouldn't mean anything. And he came as a poor and a needy Sinner. Are you going to come tonight as a poor and needy Sinner? Here was Zacchaeus and he was a man.
That was rich. He had possessions. He had possession. He was noted in the town of Jarrett, in the city of Jericho, but that didn't matter either. He had a need, not a temporal need, but he had a spiritual need, and he realized it. You know, if you don't realize tonight that you have a need, you're not going to come to the Savior because the Lord Jesus said himself. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. We read that they that are whole need, not a physician, but they that are sick.
You know, if you get sick and you feel there's something you can do to cure that sickness, you're not going to seek the advice of a doctor. But when you realize that you can't cure yourself and that you really have a problem, then and only then will you call a doctor and seek his help and advice.
All tonight would that I could impress upon your soul the need that you have a need as a Sinner before God that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Solomon said there's not a man upon the earth but hasn't sinned well. Zacchaeus realized he had a need and he sought to see Jesus who he was. Not only did he realize he had a need, but he knew where the remedy was.
You know, I'm thankful tonight that the gospel doesn't end here. I'm thankful that while I have to faithfully speak about judgment to come and I have to faithfully speak about sin and the fact that we are sinners, I'm born in sin and conceived in iniquity. I'm glad I don't have to stop there. What a sad message it would be tonight if the gospel stopped there. In fact, if the gospel stopped there, we couldn't call it the gospel because the gospel is good news and it's not good news to.
Uh, just say we're sinners and not present the remedy. You know, I suppose there's nothing more frustrating than going to a doctor and having him analyze your health and then to have him shake your head and say you're very sick. But I can't help you on this one. There's no cure for your disease. That must be very frustrating. I've never had to experience that by the grace of God. But I know there are those who have had to experience that, and it must be a hopeless feeling. But tonight the good news is.
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That while it's true we're sinners and we can do nothing to better our position before God, yet tonight there's a remedy for sin. There is a Savior on high in the glory.
That the Susquehanna River flows through this area, and if we were to follow the Susquehanna River a little ways out from Binghamton towards Vestal, I believe we would come to a place called Murphy's Island.
Something happened there a couple of winters ago that made the headlines of the local newspaper. There were eight men out on the river fishing ice, fishing on a big chunk of ice, and there they were, having a good time fishing in the ice. But all of a sudden that ice broke away from the shore and it began to drift. And as it began to drift in the current of the river, it began to break up as well. It came to a bridge and as it hit that bridge.
Many pieces of the ice began to break off. The water began to flow over that ice, and those eight men knew that they perhaps only had moments before they would be dumb in the frigid waters of the Susquehanna River. But, you know, thankfully someone had noticed their peril and someone had called the rescue team and boats were on the way moments after they had, UH left their UH station.
Folks were on their way to try and rescue those men, one man said to the reporter who interviewed him. He said I was doing some praying that day isn't that interesting. Men will brush the Lord aside. They'll brush their knee to side, but when they get into difficulty, they know where to turn. Men will start to pray as they face eternity. I remember as I was traveling in the United States during the Gulf War, that many of the billboards and signboards along the highways and on businesses.
Said pray for our troops. Men will take prayer out of the school. Someone was telling me that as the Gulf War began, they in the high some of the high schools, they were announcing prayer meetings in different rooms of the school. They'll take prayer out of the schools. They'll brush the Lord aside. They'll forget their need, but they know where to turn in their extremities. Well, this. These men knew where to turn in their extremities. One man in particular was praying as that ice floated down that current, as it began to break up, as the water flowed over it.
They sent out that boat. They plucked those men from that ice, and they were thankful to be rescued. I read the newspaper accounts very carefully, and I didn't find that there was one man who resisted his rescue. They knew that they were in danger. They knew that they were in peril. Do you realize your danger tonight if you're not saved? These men knew that they had only moments, and so they gladly received the rescue team. They gladly were plucked from that thinking ice.
Into those votes. And as those men were put into those boats and they turned towards shore, they watched that ice flow. And within moments, within minutes, that ice, that sheet of ice that they had once stood on, sunk to the bottom of the Susquehanna. That's how close it was. And, you know, to me the most remarkable thing was that at the end of the newspaper article, the reporter asked one man. He said, will you ever go fishing there again?
You know what the man said? He said never. He said when God speaks once, you better listen. Isn't that remarkable? When God speaks one, you better listen. I remember hearing of a little girl. She went to a gospel meeting and the man said to her after the gospel meeting he said what? When is the best time to be saved? You know when that question is raised, usually the answer is now, but that's not what this little girl said.
She said the best time to be saved is the first time you hear about Jesus. Isn't that sweet? How many times have you heard about Jesus? How many opportunities have you had? How many times has God spoken to your soul? How many times have you sat in a gospel meeting? When God speaks once, you better listen because God speaks the truth. Sometimes I know the boys and girls. If they're like I was when I was younger. You don't listen at school.
You know, I used to have that problem, especially as the nice weather approached and I used to like to have my desk over by the window. I usually chose a row by the window so that I could look outside and Daydream and wish that I was out there rather than in school, and the teacher would be going over a very, very important lesson. And I wasn't listening. My mind was off somewhere else, my ears were closed to the lesson. And I'm afraid when Friday afternoon came along and there was a test.
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That sometimes I fail the test because I didn't listen. Those who are older here will pardon another story for the sake of those who are younger. There was a little boy one time, his name was TomTom, was five years old and he went to kindergarten and his mother had tried to impress upon him before he went to school the need of listening to the teacher. And so he went off to school and they had fire prevention week, which I know they still do have. They still have in our area and other areas.
And one day some firemen came to the school to tell the boys and girls what they ought to do if they were ever in a situation where the building they were in was on fire. And Tom listened very well to what the fireman said. And little did he know that it was a good thing he did listen, because it was just a few days later when he was returning home from school, and he noticed that he rounded his corner, that his home was on fire.
And so he raced up to his home. There was no one around. He raced up to the door. He opened the door. Smoke had been pouring out the window, but as he opened the door, the air current burst the home into flames. He went inside. He thought perhaps his mother and his sister were inside, and he began to choke on the smoke. But you know, he'd listen to what the fireman said. And he knew that when you get into a smoke filled building, you've got to get down low.
On the floor. And so he got down low on the floor because that's where the freshest air will be. And he crawled towards the door and he got out safely. As he came out the front door, he saw his mother and his sister come around the end of the house. They'd been looking for him. His mother hugged him. She said, how did you know what to do to get out of the burning house? All he said. When the fireman came the other day, I listened carefully to what they said. You know, I'm afraid there are people when we open and read the word of God, they don't listen carefully to what God is saying.
Doesn't matter what I say tonight, but what God is saying is what is important tonight. Are you listening tonight? We've had that over and over again in these meetings, The need for listening, because we're not talking about getting out of some burning buildings. We're not talking about failing a test at the end of the week or something like that. We're talking about where you will be in eternity. You know, we talk about spending eternity, and I know what people mean when they use that expression, but can you spend something that has no end?
You know, I have a bank account back in Smith Falls.
But it wouldn't take long to send that bank. Bank account. We have things. We have money, the children have money. And sometimes my oldest daughter comes to me and says I spent all my money. You can spend things, things get used up. But oh, isn't it solemn to consider that you really can't spend eternity? It's never going to end. For those of us who know Jesus as our Savior, we're going to be home with the Lord Jesus in the Father's house, joy and bliss. And we're not going to count the days either.
We're not going to come to the end of the meetings like we have this weekend. It's going to be forever and forever and forever, something that has no end. But what about those in hell? They will be in hell for as long as those of us who are in heaven are with the Lord Jesus. Well, this man, Zacchaeus, he desired to see Jesus. He felt his need, but there were difficulties. You have some difficulty tonight. Do you have something that's keeping you from coming to the Savior? There were two difficulties that presented it to themselves.
To Zacchaeus one, he was little of stature Again, the older ones will forgive me if I just make an application here. You know, Zacchaeus was a little person. And I'm thankful that Jesus is interested tonight in little people. You know, there were some mothers one time they brought their children to the Lord Jesus. They wanted those children to hear the words of Jesus and to receive a blessing. But you know, the older ones came along and they said take the children home. The disciples didn't understand. They said the Lord Jesus doesn't have time for little one.
Did the Lord Jesus have time for the boys and girls? Of course he did. He said Let the little children come unto me and forbid them not. He desired their blessing. We were seeing that him this morning at Sunday school. A little child of seven or even 3 or 4 May enter into heaven through Christ the open door. If there's someone here and you think you're too little to come to Jesus, oh, I want to tell you, no matter how little you are tonight you can come. He's willing to receive you. He wants the boys and girls. He wants the children to come in simple faith and receive him.
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As their savior. But you know, there was enough. Another difficulty for Zacchaeus. There was a great crowd around the Lord Jesus. You know, this crowd for the most part really weren't interested in seeing Jesus for who he was. They just wanted to see some miracles, to hear some wonderful words, some wonderful teaching perhaps. And here was this practice proud. And they were between Zacchaeus and the Lord Jesus. Are there some friends tonight that are keeping you from Jesus?
I know when you go to school, you have what they call peer pressure. And we like to be like to fit in. We like to feel we're accepted by our peers, by those we go to school with, by the other boys and girls in the neighborhood, maybe even by the other boys and girls at the meeting and at Sunday school. And you know, it's not really wrong to want to be accepted, but who's acceptance do you really want? Do you want the acceptance of your friends, or do you want the acceptance of the Lord Jesus?
You know, the Apostle Paul said, we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. Paul suffered all kinds of ridicule, all kinds of reproach. People misunderstood them, they beat them, they tried to stone them, they put them in prison for preaching the gospel, He said. That doesn't matter as long as I have the Lords acceptance.
Well, Zacchaeus wasn't going to let these two things stop him from coming to Jesus. He wasn't going to let his his thighs, and he wasn't going to let the crowd. And so he knew that the Lord Jesus would pass a certain way as he went through that city, and he ran ahead of that crowd. There was energy. Are you gonna come to Jesus tonight? Are you gonna come and receive him?
The Lord Jesus said, Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Our brother Blair gave us that verse uh this afternoon. The Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and are safe. The Lord Jesus himself said flee from the wrath to come. He gonna flee to Jesus tonight. That's what Zacchaeus did. He fled and he ran to that Sycamore tree and he knew that the Lord Jesus was going to pass that way. But you know, I'm thankful that I can stand here tonight and say there was someone who was more interested in the blessing of Zacchaeus than Zacchaeus himself.
And that was the Lord Jesus. Mr. Moody, years ago, was preaching in a large circus tent outside the city of Chicago, and there was a great crowd to hear him that night. And near the end of the meeting, a man pushed his way through the crowd, one of the men that had been hired to keep the aisles clear. And I suppose they would call him an usher. They might call him security. But he pushed his way to the front, to the platform where Mr. Moody was standing.
And in his arms was a young boy, and that young boy was lost. He'd become separated from his father in the crowd. But the young boy didn't seem very concerned as to his situation. He didn't really enter into the fact that he was lost. And so Mr. Moody was preaching from this very portion. He was preaching from this tenth verse. For the son of man has come to see and to say that which was lost. And Mr. Moody held up the young boy in his arms. And he said, there's a father in this crowd.
That more anxious to find this boy than this boy is to find his father. And as he said that a man was pushing his way through the audience up to the front and without stretched arm teeth, and turned toward the boy. And that little boy saw his father, and he ran to his father and all. His father was indeed glad to see him. He'd been anxious for the welfare and safety of his voice. He was more anxious, more concerned about the sun than the sun was about the father.
And there's someone tonight who's more anxious about your soul salvation than I am. There's someone who's more anxious about your soul's salvation than mother, then Father who are praying for you. There's someone who's more anxious for your soul salvation than perhaps you yourself. And that's God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the Lord Jesus came so that you could receive blessing when the prodigal son returned from the far country to own his guilt and his need. Who was watching for him afar off, who desired the blessing of that boy? It was the Father. He ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And what a blessing that boy received, as he was welcomed not as a servant, but as a son, back into the Father's house. Well, Zacchaeus was anxious to see Jesus.
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But the Lord Jesus wanted to speak to Zacchaeus, and so he comes. We know the story well. He comes under that Sycamore tree. He looks up. And how startled Zacchaeus must have been when he called him by name. You know, if the Lord Jesus were to come, I speak reverently. If he were to come physically to this room tonight, we wouldn't have to introduce anyone. You know, the other day we were at a graduation and there were a great many people there, and some of them, uh, we weren't familiar with and they weren't familiar with us. A lot of people we didn't know.
And so it was decided that we would go around the room and say our names and introduce one another. But you know, I speak reverently, the Lord Jesus, you wouldn't have to be introduced to him tonight because he knows all about you. You know he knew about you even before you were born. He knows your family background. He knows your situation. He knows if you're the oldest in the family. He knows if you're the youngest. He knows if you're somewhere in the middle. He knows if you feel sometimes the older ones don't have time for you. You feel neglected and left out. Nobody to talk to. The Lord Jesus knows that.
And he looks into your heart and he knows whether you're saved or not. And he knows your name. He knew Zacchaeus name. Zacchaeus had never personally met the Lord Jesus before. But the Lord Jesus knew Zacchaeus. He knew his name. He knew all about the desire of Zacchaeus heart to see the Lord Jesus. If there's someone here who's truly seeking for Jesus tonight, the Lord Jesus knows the desire of your heart and He's seeking for you.
Well, we find that he calls him by name. He tells him to come down. And what did Zacchaeus do? He made haste and came down. You know, I've been impressed in reading any portions of the word of God that have to do particularly with the gospel. There's always haste involved if there's always an urgency about the message.
Someone was preaching the gospel one time in the Gospel hall, and there were a couple in that had never been there before and perhaps had never heard a clear gospel.
In fact, they were from a communist country. And after the meeting, someone asked them what they thought of the message and they said, well, the preacher is very passionate about what he believes. Why is that so? Why are we so earnest about the gospel tonight? Why do we make an appeal to you from the heart of God? It's because there's an urgency about the message. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. This is the last meeting of these, this series of meetings this weekend.
It might be the last gospel meeting that is ever preached in your ears. Think about that. You might never sit in another gospel meeting because you may leave this world by death, or the Lord Jesus may come and take all the Christians home. You know what is a searching thing to realize that in Elijah's day when Elijah was taken to heaven in a whirlwind? Who was it that misty Elijah? If I can put it this way, it wasn't the general public.
It was the sons of the prophets.
They were the ones that missed Elijah. And if the Lord Jesus were to come tonight and most in this room were to go through the ceiling on to glory, to meet the Lord in the air, who would miss?
Those who are gone, who would miss? Mother, father, grandmother, brother, sister.
As it were the sons of the prophets, the sons and daughters of Christian parents, the sons and daughters whose parents sat in these seats and prayed that they'd be saved.
That's who will know. And if someone you were to go out on the street and someone would ask you what happened, you'd know you'd know that the Lord Jesus had come. What a solemn thing to realize that this may be your last opportunity, Zacchaeus. As I said earlier, he only had this one opportunity to see Jesus. He took advantage of it. Are you going to avail yourself of the opportunity tonight? I mentioned Felix to put it off. Instead, when he had a more convenient season or a better time, he would listen.
Again to what Paul had to say, you know you can search the pages of God's Word and you'll find you'll not find any record of him having a more convenient time. Now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Satan says put it off, put it off. You'll have another chance. But Satan's not your friend. We were Speaking of friendship this afternoon, and the Lord Jesus is that friend that sticketh closer than a brother. But Satan is not your friend. He wants to drag your soul down.
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To a lost eternity. Well, he was to make hay. He was to come down, and he made haste and came down. He realized that the Lord was only passing through Jericho, and that there was an urgency with the message, and that appealed to come. And he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. Do you want joy tonight? You know this world speaks of happiness. They speak of joy, but their happiness depends on their circumstances.
They can be happy when they get that, that promotion or that new job, when they get that nice home or that car they've always wanted, when they pass all their grades at school and get a good report card, but just introduce something adverse, some little problem, some little difficulty, and that joy is immediately gone. But here Zacchaeus received him joyfully, and this is true joy, as the Lord Jesus said, your joy no man taketh from you.
If you want fullness of joy. But I'll tell you again, they'll be they'll be joy not only in your soul, wonderful as that will be, but there will be unparalleled joy in the heart of the Lord Jesus and unparalleled joy in the presence of the angels of God. Because we read that there's joy in the presence of the angels of God over 1 Sinner, that repenteth. You want to cause all heaven to rejoice tonight. Do you want to cause joy far beyond anything that's ever been experienced in this world?
In the heart of the Lord Jesus. Oh what joy it will bring to him. What joy to the heart of God tonight.
If you come as a needy Sinner like Vanderbilt came and received the Lord Jesus, be washed in the precious blood of Christ, look forward to that happy home in heaven, well, you know he received him joyfully. But there were those who didn't understand. There were those who were self-righteous, who thought they were pretty good. They didn't realize they had a need. And they murmured and they marveled that this man went to be a guest with a man that is a Sinner.
You know, on another occasion we read this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. You know, that statement was really made in derision, in mockery. But I'm thankful for the truth of it. Well, they said made that statement in mockery. Little did they realize how we would stand here and rejoice tonight that he received sinners and eateth with them, that he loves and longs for the blessing of those who realize they have a need.
He received sinners. He came to the home of Zacchaeus, and what a blessing was brought to that home, he says in verse 9. This day is salvation come to this house.
You know, I think of another man. I think it's in the chapter before he went up to the temple to pray. There were two of them. One didn't recognize his need. He told God he was a pretty good fellow. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. I'm not like this publican. But what about the other man? The other man only was a Sinner and confessed to sin. What does the Lord Jesus say of that man? He says, I tell you, you know, I like that language. You don't often read language like that in the word of God, I tell you.
This man went down to his house, justified rather than the other. And here in Jericho, where this multitude around the Lord Jesus, how many do we read of receive the blessing? One man.
You know, we would like to have multitudes come in and hear the gospel tonight. And if people really knew the love in the heart of God, this room couldn't contain the people that would want to hear in the city of Binghamton. But, you know, while we would love to have multitudes come in and hear the gospel, I've been impressed in reading through Matthew, Mark and Luke and John to see that there was something that was really dear to the heart of the Lord Jesus than speaking to the multitude. And that was speaking to individuals, that was meeting the need of individuals.
We find in John's Gospel he stays up one night to speak to Nicodemus. He travels a great way so that he's weary with his journey, so that he could be at that. Well at Sycar to speak to one woman that he knew would be there and a woman who again felt her need. We read in Mark's Gospel how there was a blind man and he took them outside the city, and that man received a blessing. He received his sight. Oh, how the Lord Jesus delighted to speak to individuals and to meet the need of individuals, because you're an individual.
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In God's sight tonight, He's looking down. It's just like you're the only person here at this gospel meeting. In fact, I believe that if I had been the only Sinner in this world, God would have sent his Son, the Lord Jesus, to die for my sin so that I could be washed in the blood of Jesus and be in that happy home in heaven. God loves you as an individual. Why did he pass through Jericho? Because he knew there was a man there that was in earnest. He knew that there was Zacchaeus, and Zacchaeus was going to receive a blessing. And he makes that trip through Jericho, you might say.
Naturally speaking, and I don't want to suppose or read in the scripture, but if there had been headlines in a local paper in that day, his trip through Jericho would have been forecast proclaimed as a failure. But was it a failure? People might look in these windows as they passed by and say what is that handful of people doing in there with someone preaching from God's word and we go out and we don't hear of any blessing and man says it was a failure.
God knows the heart tonight He knows if there's someone here who needs Jesus, someone who wants to receive Him and all. Tonight I trust you're like Zacchaeus, that you'll make haste and come to the Savior, receive him joyfully. For the Son of Man is come to see and to save that which is lost. And if you remember nothing else from this time together tonight, remember this The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.
You know, if you receive the message of this little verse, two or three lines, no big words in it. If you receive the message by face tonight, and there's true repentance in your soul, you can be saved by this one verse of Scripture. The Son of Man is come to see and to save that which is lost. We don't have time. But I could stand here and tell you stories of folks I know and folks I've read of who heard one verse of scripture.
And it was enough to save their soul. Oh, won't you rest your soul tonight on the word of God? Won't you rest your soul tonight on the Lord Jesus, that rock, that tower that the righteous runeth into and are safe? Won't you rest your soul tonight on the blood of Jesus? There's no security in this world. There's no security for eternity apart from the salvation that God is offering through the Lord Jesus Christ. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. The Son of Man is come to see.
And to say that which is why shall we pray?