At the Gates of Jericho

This morning, Tobin continues our journey of the Gospel of Luke, and we're going to be looking at chapters 18 and 19 this morning.

It's listed in your bulletin if you'd like to follow along as I read.

As Jesus was approaching Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging.

Now hearing a crowd going by, he began to inquire what this was.

And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.

And he called out saying, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.

And those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet.

But he kept crying out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me.

And Jesus stopped and commanded that he brought to him.

When he came near, he questioned him, what do you want me to do for you?

And he said, Lord, I want to regain my sight.

And Jesus said to him, receive your sight.

Your faith has made you well.

Immediately, he regained his sight and began following him, glorifying God.

And when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God.

Later, he entered into Jericho and was passing through.

And there was a man called by the name of Zacchaeus.

He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.

Zacchaeus was trying to see who Jesus was and was unable because of the crowd,

for he was small in stature.

So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see him,

for he was about to pass through that way.

When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him,

Zacchaeus, hurry, come down.

For today I must stay at your house.

And he hurried and came down and received him gladly.

When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying,

He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.

Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord,

Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor.

And if I have defrauded anyone of anything,

I will give back four times as much.

And Jesus said to him,

Today salvation has come to this house

because he too is a son of Abraham.

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save,

that which was lost.

This is God's word.

How are you guys doing?

Good.

Yeah.

As the sweat rolls down my brow,

that's a great way to integrate

real life experiences with scripture, isn't it?

Like, wow, that's good.

He's going to be preaching next week.

Better than me.

Wow.

Well, it's good to be back from Israel.

We took 26 people there.

And I realized that I'm getting older

because it just got over jet lag last week.

So we've been back about a week

and I got over jet lag.

And I think it's one of those age things, right?

I was reminded of my age last night.

We're sitting around eating dinner at the table

and kids are talking about how big they're getting.

And all of our kids,

we measure them twice a year

on a little door pane in our room.

And so we're about to measure them going into June.

And the kids are talking about

how big they're going to grow.

And one's saying,

I'll still grow a couple more inches.

And one says,

I'll grow,

I hope I'll grow a couple more inches.

And then my 10-year-old son says,

I'm going to get as big as dad.

I'm going to be 6'6".

And the kids go,

oh, come on.

You're not going to be 6'6".

No, you're not going to get that big.

He goes, yes,

I'm going to get bigger than dad

because it's a known fact.

So this is my 10-year-old, right?

It's a known fact

that when people get older,

they start to slouch.

At what time I'm sitting there at the table,

I'm like...

And so I have that going for me.

So I'm told I'm getting older

and I'm about to slouch.

So that's interesting.

But Israel is an interesting place.

We encourage you to go with us

next time we go.

It's a paradox.

It's an amazing place

where joy, incredible joy,

and incredible sadness

kind of gather together.

And history is kind of layered

on top of each other.

Old Testament and New Testament.

And today,

and they love to tell jokes.

And so every day,

I got ran into by a joke,

a Texas joke.

The Israelis,

for some reason,

they just like to make fun

of Texans and Asians.

And they didn't make fun

of Australians.

I tried to introduce that to them,

but they hadn't got there yet.

So hopefully,

by the next time we go back,

they'll have some Australian jokes.

But they just love joking.

And so every day,

they get these jokes.

And so the story goes

is that the Jewish guy

had heard that maybe

his heritage was from

this lost tribe.

When Babylon comes

and they destroy Jerusalem,

they take everybody to Babylon.

And so then about 400 years later,

Nebuchadnezzar releases them.

And all the tribes go back

into the Holy Land,

except for tradition says

this one tribe,

it just kind of disappeared.

It's called the Lost Tribe.

And this guy thought

that he was part

of this lost tribe.

And he heard that there were

a lot of Jews in China.

And so he's thinking,

maybe this is where

my ancestry went.

And so he got the ability,

saved up some money,

and he went on a trip

to do some exploring

of his genealogy.

And he landed in China

and he was meeting people

and talking to people.

And he made his friend

and he was talking to the guy

and he goes,

I heard that there's

a lot of Jews in China,

but I haven't seen any of them.

And the Chinese guy goes,

oh, ton of Jews,

ton of Jews,

Jews everywhere.

And the guy goes,

really?

He goes, yeah,

we have orange juice

and apple juice

and grape juice.

Think about it, okay?

Anyway, so that was

kind of the things

that we experienced

every day.

It was a great time.

But then you also,

we have many of those.

You'll come back

with a portfolio of jokes

about Texans.

But it's also a place

of incredible sadness.

And you talk to the people

and you see the history

and you see the archaeology

and you see the evidence,

but they don't see Jesus.

And it's so evident,

it's so clear

when you walk

to these places,

but they don't see Christ.

I was talking to this guy.

If you go on a trip,

you learn that I just like

to talk to people

because I want to hear

their story

and what's going on

in their life

and where they're at

in this journey.

And I talked to this Jewish guy

and I said,

so tell me,

we're talking

and I thought,

you know,

maybe he had some kind of faith

because most Jews

are agnostic

at least in Israel.

And he goes,

I said,

so tell me where you are

in your journey.

And he said,

well, you know,

I'm in the darkness.

I'm like,

wow,

we use that a lot in church

and we talk about that,

but I've never heard

a Jew say that.

I've heard it once

at a Jewish funeral.

So what do you mean

when you're in the darkness?

And he goes,

well, we're still waiting

for the Messiah.

And until he comes

to free us

and to release us

and to put us back

as God's chosen people,

I walk in darkness.

And I sat there.

I said,

what if I could tell you

that the Messiah

has already come?

Would that be something

that you'd be interested in?

The story today

is one of my favorite stories

in the sense that

if you're a young kid,

you've heard this story

over and over

and over again.

Now, you've sung it.

It's chapter 18

and chapter 19,

and you realize

that when you study the Bible,

you have to study it

in context.

You can't just take a story

and say,

what does this story

mean for us?

But the story

of the scripture

is the overarching story

of God's story.

And then there's

an Old Testament story

and a New Testament story

that fit within that.

And then there are stories

that fit within that.

And each book has a story

that is a part

of God's story.

And when you come

to a passage

like Luke 18 and 19,

you realize that,

you know that the chapters

weren't added

until hundreds,

you know,

maybe about 200 years ago,

right?

So the chapters

and the Bible verses,

they're not inspired.

They were things

that people added

200 years ago

to help us,

you and me,

study scripture.

So sometimes

they break chapters

up in bad places

because the theme

and the story

continues into the next chapter.

But they just broke

chapters up

to help us learn them

and to memorize them

so that we could

act prideful,

we know,

John 3.16.

But in Jesus' day,

there wasn't a John 3.16.

It was just

for God so loved

the world.

And so when we come

to chapter 18 and 19,

we realize it's a part

of a bigger story.

There's actually four stories

and the stories are this.

There's a Pharisee

and a tax collector

praying in the temple.

And the Pharisee

prays out loud,

Dear God,

I'm so thankful

I'm not like this tax collector.

I'm so thankful

I'm righteous.

I'm so thankful

I'm good.

I'm so thankful

that you've come to me

as God's chosen people.

I'm so thankful

I'm not like that guy.

And the tax collector

is sitting there

and he's saying,

Dear Lord,

have mercy on me.

A sinner.

I need you desperately.

The next story

Jesus tells us

he meets this

rich young ruler.

And the rich young ruler

wants to follow Jesus

and Jesus sees his heart

and he says,

I've done everything.

I've done everything

to follow the law.

I can follow you.

And Jesus said,

You've missed one thing.

I want you to take

everything that you have

and go sell it

and follow me.

And the passage says

that the young ruler

walked away very sad

because he was very wealthy.

We said,

and we did this sermon,

that we're all very wealthy

here in Hong Kong

compared to the rest

of the world.

And the disciples

looked at Jesus

and Jesus said,

It's very hard

for a rich man

to enter into

the kingdom of God.

And they go,

Well, who else?

Then who can be saved?

How is it going

to be possible?

If you say it's harder

for a camel

to go through

an eye of a needle,

then how can we be saved?

And Jesus says,

With man,

it's impossible.

But with God,

all things

are possible.

The third story

is that Jesus

takes his disciples aside

and he tells them

what's going to happen

in Jerusalem

one week from now.

He says,

We're going to go up

to Jerusalem

and they're going

to take me

and they're going

to deliver me

to the Gentiles.

They're going

to mock me.

They're going

to mistreat me.

They're going

to spit upon me.

And after they've

scourged me,

they're going

to kill me.

And on the third day,

I'm going to rise again.

1834 says,

And they understood

none of these things.

So Jesus tells them

what's going to happen,

but the disciples

understood none

of these things.

And these things

were hidden from them

and they could not

comprehend the things

that were said.

And then we get

to the story of today.

Jesus is walking

to Jericho

and Jericho

is an ancient city.

We want to go,

we got a chance

to go there.

Jericho,

its name means

perfumed city

and archaeologists

and historians

will tell you

that it's the oldest

city in the world.

It was destroyed

and rebuilt

and destroyed

and rebuilt

and destroyed

and rebuilt

24 times.

And by the time

that Jesus walks

into it,

it was already

9,000 years old.

It was an amazing city.

It was 17 miles

to the east

of Jerusalem.

It was on the trade route.

It was in the valley.

It was an oasis.

All the trade routes

walked through this city.

If you needed

to get to Jerusalem

from the east,

you had to go

through Jericho.

We're told

that it was

full of palm trees

and balsam trees

and the smell

was amazing.

It was the first thing

that the people

of Israel saw

when they left Egypt.

Remember?

Moses takes them out

and they're disobedient

and they're walking

through this land

and it's hotter

than it is here

because they're

in the desert

and all of a sudden

for 40 years

because they're disobedient

and then they cross

the river,

the Galilee

and they cross it

and then they look up

and they see Jericho

and it's this oasis.

It's amazing.

It's the land

flowing with milk

and honey.

We're told

that there's

this massive

garden of roses

that were planted

in there by the rulers

and so it just had

this incredible

fragrant aroma.

Josephus,

the historian,

said that in all

of Palestine

if you wanted

to live someplace,

you lived in Jericho

because it was

the best of Israel.

It was the best

Israel had to offer.

It was one of the

four main trade centers

and tax centers.

So if you had

to be taxed,

you either got taxed

in Jericho,

Jerusalem,

Capernaum

and Caesarea

by the sea.

So when the Romans

exacted their tax,

those were the four cities

that your taxes

were going from

and so it was

very wealthy

and rich.

It was also

a city of priests

because it's 17 miles

to Jerusalem

and you always

walked up to Jerusalem

and for 17 miles

so whenever you had

to serve in the temple

as a priest,

you would go

to Jericho

and wait your turn

and then when your turn

was drawn by lot,

you would take your lot

and you would go up

to the temple

in Jerusalem.

You would serve

for one day

and then you would

walk back to your hometown.

That's all you had to do

is you served for one day

so it was full of priests

and on this day,

there's a blind man.

In Mark's gospel,

we're told his name.

His name is Bartimaeus

and he wakes up

every day

like he's always

woken up

to gather his stuff

to go to the gate

of the city

to beg

because everyone

had to walk

through the gate.

It's where the elders sat.

It's where information

was exchanged.

It's where all business

happened

and so he sits

at the gate

of the city

every day

of his life

as a blind person

and he cries out,

give to God.

Worship God.

Blessings.

Mercy.

These are the things

that he would yell out

at the top of his lungs

but this day,

this blind man

goes there

and he sits in the place

that he's always set

to get the best business

from people coming in

and something different happens.

He hears this noise,

this incredible noise

and it's this kind of

almost like a rock stadium

happening.

We're told that

Jesus' following

is massive.

Thousands of people

are following him.

Now remember,

Jesus is going to Jerusalem.

He's going to get crucified

in one week

and so there's this

huge parade

and noise

and it's just

this huge commotion

and it's the Passover.

The Passover

is the most important

holiday in Jewish history

and in our calendar.

It's a day

that they celebrate

when God

freed the people

out of Egypt.

It's a day

that they took a lamb

and they killed it

and they took the blood

and they painted it

on their door

and that night

the angel of death

passed through Egypt

and whoever had faith,

whoever trusted the Lord,

whoever painted that door

with the blood,

the angel passed over them

and so everybody

goes to Jerusalem

for the Passover

to celebrate it

and on this day

historians tell us

that over 3 million

people go

to worship

because something special

is happening.

There's this new rabbi

who's come forward

and he's spoken

and taught

and done miracles

in ways

that no one else

has ever experienced

and they hear

these rumors

that he's going

to bring the kingdom

and when the kingdom

come it means

power

and position

and freedom

and authority

and we're no longer

going to be slaves,

we're no longer

going to be in bondage

and so they are

following Jesus

in this huge crowd

and the blind man

is going,

what's going on?

what's going on?

And he asks the question

and he says,

well Jesus of Nazareth

is coming by.

Well this blind man,

he's been sitting

at the gate

his whole life,

he's heard information

exchanged,

he's heard these stories

about Jesus,

he's heard these miracles,

he's told in Isaiah

that when the Messiah

comes he will make

the blind see

and he's heard

that Jesus makes

the blind see

and so as he sits

there day after day

for 3 years

of Jesus' ministry

hearing these stories,

he wonders,

is he the Messiah?

he has to be

the Messiah.

Maybe he's the Messiah.

Yes,

he's the Messiah.

Now remember,

he hears a noise

so he can't weave

his way through the crowd

and so he just yells out

in Greek,

he just yells out,

Jesus,

son of David,

have mercy upon me.

It's a very interesting

thing that he reads out

because up until

that point

when we read

those stories,

no one knew

that Jesus

was the son of David.

I mean,

he kept telling them

over and over and over

all the people

with sight

heard these things

over and over

and over,

his disciples,

but none of them

understood.

But now this blind man,

a blind man,

he sees who Jesus

really is

and so he yells out,

Jesus,

son of David,

Messiah,

I need you,

have mercy on me.

Verse 39,

we're told,

the crowd,

shh,

who's the crowd?

The crowd's us.

The crowd's the churchgoers.

The crowd's the religious people

who are following Jesus

because they want to see

a new kingdom coming.

I mean,

the people who aren't religious,

they're not going to follow Jesus

because they don't care

what's going on,

but the crowd,

the religious people

who are following Jesus

were told that they sternly

rebuke him.

What do you do

if you're a blind person?

And everybody around you

is saying,

shut up.

Be quiet.

Don't make a scene.

I remember reading this story

about Helen Keller.

If you don't know her,

she is an amazing woman.

She was born in America

in the 1800s.

She's very famous.

She's born blind and deaf.

She's the first person ever

to graduate from the university.

She graduated from Radcliffe College

with a degree.

And she became a writer

and an advocate.

She helped start the ACLU

for civil liberties and rights.

But she was blind and deaf

almost her whole life.

It happened when she was really young.

And one time a reporter asked her,

he said,

isn't it terrible being blind?

Well, she couldn't answer, right?

So she has to respond

and she could read lips

by touching people's lips.

And you can go to YouTube,

Google it.

There's actually some YouTubes

of her speaking,

which is amazing

because she learned how to speak.

Isn't it terrible being blind?

And she responded,

no,

it's better to be blind

and see with your heart

than to have two good eyes

and see nothing.

I guess there are worse things

than being blind.

And what the scripture says

is that thing is being blind

and not knowing that you're blind.

Blind to your sin,

blind to your hopelessness,

blind to your selfishness,

blind to your self-righteousness.

But the blind man believes,

he knows that Jesus is the Messiah.

He knows that Jesus can heal him.

And in verse 39,

it says in the Greek

that he screams out like an animal.

Jesus,

son of David,

have mercy on me.

Save me.

There's a massive sense of urgency.

Though no one else sees

that Jesus is the Messiah,

he sees and he knows

that he cannot let this opportunity

pass him by

because if the Messiah passes him by,

his life will always

stay

the same.

We're told in verse 40

that Jesus stops.

Now remember,

he's going to Jerusalem

and for him to stop,

a holy man would have been

totally unculturally

unthinkable

because the blind man

was unclean.

Because everybody in the culture

would have thought

he's unclean

because of his sins,

that's why he's blind.

And a holy person

would never touch

an unclean person

because the minute he did that,

he would be unclean.

And remember,

Jesus is busy.

In one week,

he's going to Jerusalem

and he's going to be crucified

in one week.

But the scripture says

that no matter how busy

Jesus is,

he always has time

for people

like the blind man,

like you and me.

So Jesus calls

for the crowd

to bring him to Jesus,

which is what they should have done

in the first place.

And Jesus asks

the question,

what do you want me

to do for you?

You see how he answers that?

I want my sight

to be restored.

The Greek and the words

say that he knows

that Jesus is going to do that.

He knows that Jesus

is the Messiah.

He doesn't ask for merit.

He doesn't say,

well, I've been walking

with you all this time.

I've been waiting for you

this whole time.

I've been wondering

when you're going to do this for me.

I really need for you

to come through for this.

All he says is he asks

for mercy.

His wants to be healed

in verse 42,

we're told that his faith

healed him

and then immediately

his sight was restored.

Immediately he follows Jesus.

Immediately he glorifies God.

And we realize

that a blind man sees

what no one else could see.

He responds in faith.

I wonder

if we were there,

what would we ask Jesus

to do for us today?

If you came home tonight

and you met Christ

and you knew it was him

and he asked you,

what do you want me

to do for you?

What would you ask him

to do for you?

Would we understand

our need enough?

Would we understand

who he is enough?

Would we ask

the right things?

Or would they be

selfish things,

things that we'd want

to spend on ourselves?

Jesus enters into Jericho

and he's passing through

and we're told

there's a man there

by the name of Zacchaeus.

He was a chief tax collector.

He was rich.

And you know,

being a tax collector

was good in some ways

and it was terrible

in other ways.

I mean,

tax collectors

were the social outcasts

of Jesus' time.

They were worse

than the blind person.

They were thought of

as the Jews.

They were a Jewish person

who went to the Roman occupiers

and said,

hey, I will help

collect tax from my people.

And so they contracted

with the Jews.

It was almost like

a pyramid scheme.

And so the tax collector

knew how much

the Romans wanted.

No one else knew.

And they went out

and they taxed

the people of God

for what the Romans needed.

Always at a higher rate.

So you bring your donkey

and your cart

and the guy goes,

well, I think that's worth

about $300.

You need to pay 1%

on $300.

What?

It's only $100.

What are you talking about?

No, it's $300.

His word was law

and so you paid $300.

Then he'd write a note

to the Roman officials

and he said,

I taxed a donkey

in a golf cart today

or cart $100.

Here's a tax on $100.

So that was very,

very, very common.

So everyone knew

that tax collectors

were corrupt.

And Zacchaeus

was extremely wealthy.

He was extremely powerful.

He was kind of like

at the top.

He had hundreds

of tax collectors

underneath him

and so he actually

got a percentage

of everything

that they also

siphoned off of people.

He was so hated

that tax collectors

had to be given

bodyguards by the Romans

because they realized

that if they didn't

have a bodyguard

they would be killed

because they were

so despised

and such outcast.

Verse 3 says

that Zacchaeus

is curious.

He wants to see

who Jesus is.

Maybe he had heard

the stories too.

Maybe he had heard

about one of his

fellow tax collectors

Matthew in Capernaum

who left tax collecting

to follow Jesus.

Maybe Matthew

was his best guy.

I don't know

but he had heard

the stories

because tax collectors

tend to gather

and talk about

tax things

and things like that

because I guess

because they're the

only friends they have.

No one else wants

to be a friend

of a tax collector

in Jesus' day.

I don't know

what it's like today

but they did that

and so Zacchaeus

wants to find out

who Jesus is

but we're told

in the passage

that he can't

because he's short

and he can't

look over the crowd.

The crowd again

is keeping him

from seeing Jesus

and he's afraid

to go into the crowd

because he realizes

that yeah

they'll let him in

but as he's walking

through the crowd

someone's just

going to knife him

and the crowd's

going to separate

and he's dead

because everybody

wants him dead

so he doesn't know

what to do

so in verse 4

he does something amazing

he says

he ran ahead

now no one

in Jewish culture

as a grown man

would ever do this

I mean it was something

that you read

all the rules

and all the laws

grown men

never run

because you wear

this robe

and to run

you have to tuck

your robe under there

and you're like this

and it looks totally stupid

doesn't it?

No grown man

ever ran

that's why the story

of the prodigal son

is so amazing

because when the son

comes after stealing

all the money

and spending all the money

the dad

it says

runs

to him

the dad was wealthy

and he's powerful

in Hebrew culture

says it

especially powerful

and wealthy men

never run

but Zacchaeus does it

and he runs

and then we're told

something even more

astounding

if you had seen this

and you told your friends

that day

after Jesus passed

no one would believe it

if you said

I saw Zacchaeus running

and all of a sudden

he climbed up

into a sycamore tree

again

culturally

men would never

climb into a sycamore tree

it would be unheard of

it would be

something that

they would

never ever do

it would be something

that children would do

powerful

rich

men

or anybody

who's older

would never do that

I have a picture

of the sycamore tree

on the back of your bulletin

it's in Jericho

we were there

ten days ago

we took a picture of it

it's a big leafy tree

it's short trunk

it's easy to crawl up into

it's easy to hide

you can see that

you know

one time

the U.S. ambassador

to Egypt

was outside

in his compound

and his wife

was having a birthday party

and he

got up

into the tree

and he hung lights

for his wife's birthday party

and his servants

and helpers

and the neighbors

saw him do that

and it caused

such a disruption

in the culture

that the president

of Egypt

had to call him

into his office

and he said

I have to ask you something

because I know

that it's impossible

it's unreasonable

you would never do that

but somebody told me

they saw you

climbing up

a sycamore tree

and hanging

and doing work

and the ambassador

was

he didn't know

the culture

he didn't understand things

and he said

yes

my wife's birthday

blaming on the wife

I did that

you know

and I didn't realize

it caused

such an international fuss

and the president

of Egypt

said to him

you know

men don't climb trees

especially powerful

enrich men

never climb trees

so Zacchaeus

is hiding in this tree

and he's hoping

that no one's

going to see him

and in verse 5

Jesus gets to the bottom

and he looks up

and he draws

the attention

of everyone

to Zacchaeus

it'd be like

your worst moment

right

you don't want

anybody to see you

you didn't do your hair

you didn't brush your teeth

you went out shopping

you're saying

no one's going to see me

they're not going to recognize me

and all of a sudden

the most important people

in your world

see you

they recognize you

and that's what happens

and Jesus looks up

and says Zacchaeus

I have a lot of questions

like how did he even know his name

he's God

you wonder what the crowd

is thinking right then

they're like

good

you're going to get him

bring him down

criticize him

rebuke him

he's terrible

he's a sinner

let's go after him

but instead

the passage says

that Jesus says

hurry

come down

I mean

it's a sense of imperative

and it's a necessity

I have to do this

I need to come to your house

again culturally

it would have been unheard of

everybody watching this

would have been in shock

because Zacchaeus

is a sinner

and for Jesus

to go into his house

it means that he takes on his sin

in verse 7

it says that the culture

in the crowd

mumbles and grumbles

and they're like

wow this is really bad

because if Jesus walks in there

that means he's accepting this man

and we hate him

if Jesus walks in there

that means he's putting in

grace and blessing

and forgiveness

into this guy's life

and into his house

that's terrible

because we don't want that to happen

because this man is a sinner

if Jesus walks in there

Jesus is going to become

a sinner

he's going to eat this guy's food

and that guy's sin

is going to fall on him

and Jesus then

cannot be the Messiah

that we're hoping for

because he's tainted with sin

so the crowd

does not want this

the crowd

is appalled

and they don't want this thing

to happen at all

then in verse 8

we're told that sometime

in the night

we're not sure

when it happened

but Zacchaeus probably

threw a party for Jesus

and had other tax collectors there

and in this party

he stands up

and he says something

that's again

so counter cultural

and so other worldly

that no one would ever believe

after you told them

he's responding

to Jesus' grace

of Christ

of Christ coming into his life

and into his world

and treating him

like a normal person

which no one else ever did

he's responding

to the gospel

that was given to him

and immediately

what he says is this

I'm going to give 50%

of everything that I own

to the poor people

now the Bible only says

you give 10%

or if you're really generous

you give 20%

but Zacchaeus

is so touched by grace

so touched by mercy

so touched by Jesus' love

that he gives 50%

and then he goes on

and he says

I'm going to repay

anybody I cheated

it says that in your text

but in the Greek

it basically says

I've cheated a lot of people

and so whoever I've cheated

I'm going to repay them

400%

in the Bible

in Leviticus

it says if you cheat somebody

you only pay them 20% more

so Zacchaeus is paying back

400%

again it's this

it's this public confession

he's saying it to everybody

this is what Christ

has done for me

this is how it's impacted my life

these things used to be

idols in my life

they're no longer there

I'm giving them away

I'm making retributions

I'm making things right

and in verse 9

Jesus said today

salvation has come

it's in the passive

it means that

Zacchaeus didn't grab it

it means that

Jesus brought it

God brought it

into his world

he brought it

into his life

he showed him grace

he showed him love

he showed him acceptance

he showed him mercy

and Jesus took it

and because of that

mercy and grace

and love in his life

he responded

he paid back

he made things right

he made restitution

all these things

point to a heart change

in his life

all these things

point to what happened

because he met Jesus

I wonder what would have

happened if Zacchaeus said

I believe

but like a lot of us

nothing ever changed

in his life

he didn't make restitution

he didn't change

his practices

he wasn't a different person

he said I believe

but the community

and the crowd

who looked at him

saw that there was nothing

really different

do you think people

would believe him

in Jesus' day

that was unheard of

because if you believe

and you meet grace

and mercy

your life is changed

then in verse 10

Jesus makes his purpose statement

I bolded it for you

it is the purpose statement

of why Jesus came

will you read it with me

let's read it together

for the son of man

came

to seek

and save

that which was lost

one more time

for the son of man

came

to see

save

that which was lost

okay

that's the story

it's a pretty amazing story

isn't it

I have a couple things

I want to share with you

as I

sweat up here also

I'm probably sweating

more than you

so you can feel good

about that

there's a couple observations

that are true

about these men

and I think they're true

about you and I

the first one is

that they're both blind

one is physically

and one is spiritually

but the Bible says

that you and I

are also

spiritually blind

both men are outcast

I mean both men

are deemed

unworthy

in their society

there's no reason

why a holy person

would talk to them

there's no reason

why God

should talk to them

or come into their world

the Jewish culture

would not accept that

but both of these men

were outcast

and they had no value

both of these men

had to fight

the crowd

you notice that

I mean both of these men

had to fight the crowd

because the crowd

was trying to keep them

from seeing Jesus

in verse 39

they said

shut up

be quiet

you're nothing

you're an outcast

in verse 7

you're a sinful person

this cannot be happening

the Messiah cannot go to you

who's the crowd

the crowd's us

the crowd's the religious people

the crowd's the people

who are following Jesus

the crowd are the pilgrims

the crowd are the older brothers

the crowd are the people

who know what's going on

in their life

the crowd are the people

who are perfect

the crowd are the people

who know scripture

they can quote it

backward and forward

but it doesn't change

their life

and when I ask that question

I have to ask us

the question

is that us?

am I the crowd?

am I keeping people

from seeing Jesus?

you know often I talk

to people who are not

Christ followers

I mean I talk to

a lot of people

in the business world

and other places

and I ask them the question

why aren't you

a Christ follower

and almost always

they tell me

Christians are hypocrites

Christians say one thing

but they do another thing

Christians are self-serving

Christians are dishonest

Christians are more

dishonest in business

sometimes than non-Christians

and the bad thing

is that the Christians

expect you to believe them

because they're Christians

but often they cheat us

just as worse

as the non-Christians do

sometimes I talk

to Christians

who feel radically

called by God

to do something different

in their life

and they feel like

God's calling them

to step out

take a step of faith

and do something different

but then religious people

come into their world

and say don't do that

that's too radical

that's unwise

I mean I know it says

to trust God

but maybe you shouldn't

really trust Him

that much

don't act foolishly

don't act recklessly

I talked to a guy

who was walking

with the Lord

and he said

I feel like God's

calling me to do this

and I really want to do this

and when I talked

to my friends

my friends looked at me

and said

wait until you have

five million dollars

saved in the bank

and then if you have

five million dollars

saved in the bank

then

then you can really

follow God

you ever said that

to somebody

each one of them

had to fight the crowd

often it's just

amazing to me

because Bartimaeus

and Zacchaeus

had to fight

through the crowd

they had to fight

through the religious people

they had to fight

through the hypocrites

they had to fight

through the people

who said I follow Christ

but their lives

are not changed

and the Bible says

that Jesus fought

those people also

the Bible says

that Jesus was angry

he hated hypocrites

he was talking about

them all the time

he confronted

the religious people

the people who said

this is what I do

this is what I do

I'm really religious

I go to church

I do all these things

but inwardly

their heart is not different

and Jesus says

he despises those people

they're the Pharisees

if you're here

and you're one of those

two people

you're a non-believer

trying to see Jesus

but the crowd

is stopping you

or you're a Christian

and you want to follow

Jesus

and the crowd

is stopping you

wow

air conditioner

came on

didn't it

if you're one

of those two people

I beg you

I beg you

do not

let the crowd

stop you

from following God

the blind man

had to yell out

like an animal

Zacchaeus

had to run

and climb up

into a tree

to see Jesus

but they would not

allow the crowd

to stop them

from seeing God

today

what you do

is you go home

you read the Bible

you read the Gospels

you read what's going on

and if you do that

you're going to meet Christ

not as people say

he should be

or how you should be

but you're going to meet Jesus

and my prayer

is that you would do that

and you would see

who he is

and how he is

and what he's called you to do

and that you would trust him

both of these men

acted in crazy ways

getting to Jesus

and then after they found Jesus

both of these men's lives

changed radically

both of these men's

showed you that grace

hit them

and they understood

that grace was costly

what Jesus was going to do

and what he has done

and it changed everything

in verse 43

when Bartimaeus

regained his sight

it says he followed Jesus

he continued to pray

he continued to worship

and the history books

tell us that Bartimaeus

followed Jesus

all the way to the cross

he saw him crucified

he saw him resurrected

he was a part of the early church

and he became

one of the most influential

lay leaders

as a business person

in the church of Jerusalem

his life was totally changed

it was totally radical

Zacchaeus

when he met Jesus

when Jesus came into his life

his household was changed

in Hebrew

there's a sense

that when someone

walks into your house

they change every part

of your house

and Zacchaeus

we see that everything

in his life was changed

everything had different meaning

he went on to be a pastor

of a church

in Caesarea Philippi

and his life

was radically changed

after meeting Christ

the question is this

has everything changed

in your life?

I mean if people look at you now

since you became a Christian

has your life radically changed?

is it radically different?

has the gospel and grace

impacted everything about you?

I mean is your language different?

are your values different?

are your priorities different?

how you spend your money

is that different?

how we parent

is that different?

how we date

and what we do on our dates

is that different now

that we've met Christ

and he's changed us?

how we view our jobs

and why we even do jobs

is that different?

how we spend our time

I mean has grace

in the gospel

affected everything

in your life?

not me either

I realize that sometimes

I just forget

how costly grace is

I realize that sometimes

I just forget

how costly

Christ's love was for us

I realize that I need

friends in my life

gospeling me

speaking the truth to me

especially when I go astray

I realize that sometimes

I hold grace

in the gospel

and Jesus' love

and his sacrifice

and his blood

too lightly

sometimes I think

that just coming

to Christ

is a one time event

but I don't realize

like Zacchaeus

and Bartimaeus

and everybody else

in the Bible

that it's an event

that affects

all the rest

of my life

everything else

I do

has to be

impacted

by Christ's love

and sacrifice

for me

last thing

and I've been thinking

about this

in both of these

men's lives

Jesus had to come

to them

Jesus had to call

them out

I mean Jesus

was on his mission

and his mission

is to seek

and save lost people

and some of us

are still blind

some of us

are still hanging

in trees

looking

and peering

and this passage

says

to you

that Christ

is calling

your name

and he's good

and he's in control

and he wants

to give you

even more

than you expect

and he's begging

you

don't let

the crowd

keep you

from him

and the question

of Bartimaeus

and Zacchaeus

in this passage

and in the Bible

is

will we come

down to the tree

will we come

down

and meet

Jesus face

to face

will we allow

him

into our

house

for some

of us

we've already

come into

the family

but we need

to ask

ourselves

the question

over and

over again

are we

the crowd

I mean

have we

forgotten

Jesus

mission

statement

because

either

we're

a part

of the

mission

he's

trying

to save

us

or

we're

on

schedule

with

the

mission

and

we're

being

a part

of

saving

other

people

but

there's

only

two

options

as

Christ

followers

and the

option

as a

Christ

follower

is that

we need

to be

a part

of the

mission

do we

feel like

we're

here

because