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The Moment of Redemption is Thrilling for Every Believer!

We're in Luke chapter 19, and we're going to go through verses 1 through 10 today. It's the story of Zacchaeus. You guys know the song — the wee little man. Every short man everywhere hates that song. I always say I'm not the tallest guy in the room, but I'm not Zacchaeus short either. This one is geared more towards those of you who are already soundly saved and redeemed, and I hope it encourages you. And if you don't know Jesus yet, let this speak to you.

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner."

And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold."

And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

— Luke 19:1–10 (ESV)

There's about five different messages in this text, but we're just going to focus on a couple of things today.

I want you to start out by seeing this: when Zacchaeus climbed that tree, he was a lost sinner. But by the time he got back down to the ground, he was a child of God.

I'm interested in how that happened in his life. Do you know why? Because it happened in my life. It has happened in the lives of others, and it can happen in your life as well.

So let's take a few minutes and look at this passage together and consider — how did Zacchaeus get saved in this incredible, thrilling minute?

1. He Experienced a Strong Desire

As we talk about this guy's desire, let's first get to know a little bit about who he was.

He was the chief of the tax collectors and he was rich. You're like, "This is like the fourth out of the last six messages talking to rich people." You know why? Because if you are in America and you own a smartphone and drive a car, you're considered rich. You're in fact the wealthiest five percent of the world's population. Did you know that? See, a lot of the things that happen with rich people in Scripture — you can look and say, "Oh, in that culture, if we bring them forward to our culture, I can see it. I can see it in my life."

Because he was the chief tax collector and he was rich, Zacchaeus would have been without a doubt despised and hated by all the people in Jericho and the surrounding area. After all, he was an employee of the Roman government, and these tax collectors were notorious for overcharging the people.

In Rome, for example, if they wanted a five percent tax, the tax collectors would come and take ten or fifteen or even twenty percent — depending on who they liked and who they didn't. They could do this to whomever they wished. And you couldn't stand up against it because if you caused problems, the Romans would come and kill you.

These tax collectors were notorious for overcharging people. They were guilty of gross extortion of the people. They were viewed as the worst of sinners. In other places, Scripture talks about "sinners and tax collectors" as if tax collectors is worse.

And this dude was the chief.

The Bible is clear — Zacchaeus was a rich man and he'd grown that way on the backs of his brother and sister Jewish people in that culture. But think about it. It still wasn't enough. His money wasn't able to quiet the turmoil in his soul. His position would have given him much power over people and properties. Yet his power and position couldn't satisfy him. Seems like there was something missing.

What was it that made this small man humble himself like a child and climb up into a tree above the crowds? That would have been very embarrassing to do. What was it that got him so interested in this man named Jesus?

Maybe he heard the reports from men who worked for him as they came in collecting the taxes around the community. Perhaps he heard the stories firsthand as he was actually fleecing the people out of their cash. Maybe he'd heard stories about how Jesus had healed sick folks, cast out demons, and even raised the dead. Maybe he'd heard about all the miracles and the claims of Jesus.

Here's my take. Think it through with me now.

I think it's a real possibility he had heard how an old blind man named Bartimaeus had been healed earlier that very day. That's in Luke 18:35–43, leading right up to this passage. It's not a stretch that Zacchaeus probably knew Bartimaeus. Jesus is coming into town and He heals the old man — and now that guy can see. This story would have spread like wildfire. The old blind guy can see and He's coming down the road.

It is totally plausible that in spite of his power, in spite of his position and his prosperity, Zacchaeus was a miserable, lonely man who knew something was missing from his life. He had everything but the one thing that mattered. And when he heard about what Jesus had done for others, it stirred his heart.

God put this strong desire in his heart to look to Jesus. He says to himself, "I must see this guy." He began to think about what Jesus could do for him. That's why he climbed the tree that day. He wanted help. He wanted peace. And nothing he had tried had given him either.

Sound familiar?

When he heard that Jesus was passing through Jericho, he may have thought to himself, "Surely this man who has done so much for others might be able to do something for me. I got to see him for myself."

And by the way — it's no accident that Zacchaeus learned Jesus was in town. It's not an accident. God was working ahead through His Spirit in the heart of this lost little man. So he comes to a place where nothing but seeing Jesus would satisfy the deep longings in his soul.

When We Were Lost

And here's the real deal. Many of us have been in that same place, haven't we?

When we were lost, God brought us to a place where nothing in our lives was enough anymore. He brought us to a place where we knew something was missing. He brought us to a place where we could no longer drown our need in alcohol, could no longer create the fog of the illusion that drugs would bring, or bury it in the shallow grave of tough talk and false bravado.

God, through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, brought us to a place where we knew we needed Him. So we came to Him and He saved us by His grace. At least that's my experience. And I praise Him for doing that in my life every day. I praise Him for the day He came to me and freed me so that I was forced to look to Him from that day forward.

So today I'm talking to redeemed people. I'm talking to people who have already looked to the Lord by faith and have come to know Jesus in a personal way through authentic repentance. I'm speaking to the redeemed.

The Desire Doesn't Stop

Even after we are saved, there is a desire to see Him. There is a desire to know Him. There is a desire to grow in our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And you can fight it. The enemy is going to come and try to take it away. But every day, out of that good old-fashioned gratitude of being redeemed, we pursue Jesus. You read His Word. You walk with Him. And guess what that creates? That creates an ever-deepening desire to know Him better.

Do you know that Paul spoke about this? About his own desire to know the Lord in a deeper fashion? There are a lot of scriptures coming today and this is the first one — it's a little bit longer, but I want to show it to you. Philippians 3:8–12:

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith —

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

— Philippians 3:8–12 (ESV)

The words "know" and "knowing" in that passage — they speak of the most intimate knowledge of all. These words refer to a knowledge that is deep, it's thick, and it's complete. Paul is talking about seeing Christ in all of His fullness and of knowing Him at the highest and the most complete of levels. Paul wants to know Jesus completely.

Only then will Paul be able to gain — or attain, and other translations say lay hold of — the proper reward. And that reward is Jesus Himself. In other words, it is the completeness of seeing Jesus that enables us to become the person Jesus saved us to be.

And a lot of us want to turn it into adding Jesus to what we got going on so that we can get what we want. Those of us who are soundly saved, who've truly repented of our sins by faith — we can identify with Paul's desire, can't we?

No matter how deep the saint of God grows in the things of God, there always seems to be more of this desire. And you can look at that as being frustrating, but it's not. It's glorious. There's a desire to know Him better, to understand Him better, and to grow closer to Him. There's a desire within the child of God to know Him in His absolute fullness.

And we can't get there on this side. So we continue to drive on. No matter how close you get, how much you learn, how much you grow in the Lord — there's always a desire for more. And that's a good thing.

I call it holy hunger. A desire for Him in the heart of the saints of God. Where there is holy hunger, there will be growth. There will be closeness. There will be blessing.

What Zacchaeus Pictures for the Lost

Now when we go back to the Zacchaeus story, we get some incredible insights into the lost being found.

Think about it. What a picture Zacchaeus is for those who do not know the Lord Jesus. From every outward appearance, they give the impression that they have it all together, that all is well in their lives. But if you rip off that veneer and look into their hearts, you find something you're not expecting to see. Many times you find that folks are empty — longing for something they do not have. They have a real emptiness and they cannot satisfy it by their sins, by their possessions, or by their lifestyles.

Zacchaeus pictures those lost people when he ran. It says he ran to get a glimpse of Jesus. He threw caution to the wind and climbed a tree to get a look. They need something and they don't know what it is. That is what I see here in the story. I see someone who is desperate. Desperate because all else had come up short.

Folks will try just about anything to obtain some sort of fulfillment, only most times to find nothing but hollow ends to their pursuits.

Many times that's right away. Many times it happens quick. You invest your time, your energy, your money — whatever it is. And then when the payoff comes — reputation, fame, riches, the envy of others, whatever you're seeking, whatever you're chasing — you get there. You made it.

And it's an empty room. It's a dry well. It's a mirage. It was supposed to be better than this.

Other times you get that payoff and it is truly satisfying for a spell — for a little while. But oh, how fast that goes away. The folks that are lost keep doing the same thing. Once this thing burns out, they start another thing. And when this one pays off, they're surely going to find significance and growth in their life that will satisfy.

And then it doesn't. Again. Lather, rinse, and repeat. And then they claim that life has no meaning.

But suppose one day they see a changed life. They hear a gospel song. Somebody hands them a tract. Some event takes place in their life. And they are introduced to Jesus Christ. And the Spirit of God begins to point them in a new direction.

I know that's how it worked for me. He began to show me all the things that I was seeking weren't the things that could satisfy.

Think about your own journey. Maybe you had a blind Bartimaeus in your world that got healed quickly and that got your attention. Maybe it was a leper that got healed. Maybe it was other lives that He had changed. But in our country, we get distracted by so many false converts. We look at them and say, "If that's what Jesus is, I don't want nothing to do with it." And that's tragic.

But if you're like me, it was impressed on my heart by the Spirit of God that what Jesus had done in the lives of others, He could do in my life as well.

And that is the essence of conviction. The Spirit of God confronts the lost sinner with the claims and demands of the gospel — and we will not water it down because we don't have to. It's the essential component in a process called salvation, called redemption, known also as justification followed by sanctification.

2. He Experienced the Divine

In verse 5, as Jesus passed the place where Zacchaeus was up in that tree, Jesus stopped and began speaking directly to him. He issued a defining statement to this guy. The direct exchange would result in eternal life for the tax collector.

Let's break it down.

It Was Personal

When Jesus spoke, He called Zacchaeus by his name.

Do you know what the name Zacchaeus meant in that time? It's translated to mean "pure" or "innocent." I doubt many people called Zacchaeus by his name. Pure speculation, but just me being a guy who's been around — I could probably guess, and I think I'm probably right — that most people had a nasty little nickname for him. I doubt many people called him pure.

But Jesus saw him not as he was, but as he could become through the power of God.

It's very possible Zacchaeus thought he would get up in that tree, watch Jesus go by, then climb down and go home. He probably didn't know what to expect. He just knew he had to see this man called Jesus. And when Jesus did stop, and when He did speak to him — Jesus called him by his name.

It was personal. It always is.

The very one who would have been the most offended by this guy and his character was the one who spoke to him in love and compassion. Don't you think Zacchaeus probably almost fell out of that tree when he heard Jesus call him by his name?

What this shows us is that the Lord began looking for Zacchaeus before Zacchaeus ever started looking for the Lord. That goes hand in glove with Scripture that says you can't come to Him unless He draws you first.

When the Lord seeks a lost person to come to Him, He does not issue blanket calls. When He speaks, it is personal.

When He began to call me, I found out that He knew my name. I also found out that He knew everything that I had ever done in my life. And that ain't cool at all.

But I also found out that this Savior — this God whom I had so greatly offended — loved me with an eternal love that is unspeakable. In my dirty, filthy, sloppy sinfulness, He loved me.

The Bible backs that up in Romans 5:8:

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

— Romans 5:8 (ESV)

When He called me, it was a very personal call. And if you are redeemed, you can testify to that fact as well.

Notice the personal nature of God's salvation call in these passages:

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

— John 7:37–38 (ESV)

The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come, and let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

— Revelation 22:17 (ESV)

If we had water we could sell that would give you immortality, what do you think we could charge for it? Do you see the gift? Do you see the personal call?

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

— John 6:37 (ESV)

And it can all happen for us in a very thrilling minute. I know it did for me and I know it did for many of you.

It Was Straightforward

Back to our story. Look at how straightforward it is. Look at how straight up, no pretense it is. "Hurry and come down." The Lord told Zacchaeus exactly what he was supposed to do. There would be no debating. There'd be no need for second-guessing. Jesus was clear and He was plain.

When the Lord calls a lost sinner to Himself for salvation, He leaves no doubt in what He expects you to do. There'll be no debating. There'll be no second-guessing. Jesus is clear and He is plain.

People may not know how to pray before they get to the Lord, but they know what they need. They know they're under the pressure of the heavy weight of sin. And if you come to Jesus without that, you're not coming to the Lord Jesus. You might be being sold a counterfeit.

Authentic saved people know they've offended a holy God. They know Jesus is their only hope and they know that He is the key to getting that sin taken care of. They know that He has a plan and that following His plan is the only hope.

He does have a plan. It's as easy as A-B-C. Acknowledge. Believe. Consider.

A — Acknowledge yourself to be a sinner.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

— Romans 3:23 (ESV)

"All people are good who just go astray"? No. All people are sinful and in need of a Savior.

B — Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

— Acts 16:31 (ESV)

And Romans 10:9–10 is the mic drop:

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

— Romans 10:9–10 (ESV)

That is not saying a little prayer and adding Jesus to what you got going on. FYI.

C — When it's real, you consider yourself saved.

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

— John 6:37–40 (ESV)

There it is — the big showstopping number. The big crescendo right there: "And I will raise him up on the last day."

And a little frosting on the cake:

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

— Romans 10:13 (ESV)

That's His plan and it never fails.

It Was a Promise

The words of Jesus promised more than just a casual meeting under the tree. Jesus said, "I must stay at your house today."

Look in the text. He's saying, "Hey Zacchaeus, none of your neighbors will come home with you. No one in this town will have anything to do with you. But I want you to know that I, the Lord of glory, am coming to your house."

There are people who want to trust in the Lord, but they don't want to walk into the church. "People would be shocked if they seen me walking in." No — most of us would be praising God. You're no worse than the rest of us.

Jesus wanted to go to his house. How cool is that? What a promise.

And then what does it say in verse 7? The people grumbled. The greatest man to ever come through this town picks this guy. Can anyone relate to that? When you see Jesus save the worst of sinners in your town?

See, I found out when I got redeemed that my association with Jesus wasn't going to be confined to that moment or even to the church building. When we get new life, nothing stays the same. It just doesn't. Jesus goes with us and stays with us every day in our new life.

I also found that He wasn't going to leave everything in my house like He found it, either. He was going to change some stuff. He's going to change everything. And the whole thing is in an effort to get us to walk better and honor Him and live for Him in the days we have left to walk out our sanctification. Many of you can testify to that same truth today.

A life cannot stay the same when Jesus moves in. Neither can a marriage. Neither can a home. Neither can any relationship in life. When He comes in, He changes everything to suit Him. He makes everything different and He makes everything better.

And sometimes when you hear that, you say, "Everything better? I just lost my job. Everything better? My loved one just got diagnosed with cancer."

Yeah. Everything is better — because now you have peace with Him.

And the Bible says in Romans 8:28 that God works out all things for those who love Him for the good. And the good in that may not be the American dream. The good in that is for eternity. And whatever your circumstances are, you can have contentment. It can be well with you.

And Zacchaeus is about to find that out, too. He's about to find that out, too.

I show this verse a lot because it's so important for us in this modern time — 2 Corinthians 5:17:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

— 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

That's why you come to know Jesus. There needs to be a place you can walk into where you see other people there that are just as bad as you that are also redeemed. I don't see royalty in the bunch. We're all people. Most of us are people who have been redeemed by Christ and we don't think higher of ourselves than we ought. And that's why we roll the way we roll. And that's why everyone is welcome to hear our settled truth. Why? Because we want them to experience redemption.

3. He Experienced Redemption

And that's exactly what happened to Zacchaeus. In verses 6 through 10, before he can set his feet back on the ground, our little dude Zacchaeus is a new man.

Notice what happened in his life in verse 6. Zacchaeus did exactly what the Lord told him to do. He hurried down. But the Scripture says he also — don't miss this — received Him joyfully.

The word "received" is a big word. In the original, it means to receive as guest, to receive beneath the surface, to take in. The idea here is that Zacchaeus received Jesus as guest, but at the same time he was receiving Jesus into his heart as well.

He heard the claims. He heard the call. Now he makes the commitment.

That's what redemption is all about. The lost person hears the claims of the gospel. They feel the call of the Spirit. And they receive Jesus by faith. It's a commitment. It's a surrendering commitment. I call it the free gift that'll cost you everything — received joyfully.

Many go through steps one and two, but they never make it to step three. You can go through some of the motions, but to be saved you must come to a place where you come down from wherever you are in life and commit to Jesus in full repentance of the weight of your sin. The Bible is crystal clear — faith is the only component that will bring you to a saving relationship with God.

He Demonstrated a Change

And then in verse 8, he demonstrated a change. It doesn't take long for the new Zacchaeus to appear.

He stands and makes a bold promise to give away half of his fortune and to restore fourfold anyone he has taken anything from under false pretenses. I wonder if Zacchaeus's ears were shocked to hear what was coming out of his mouth.

All he is doing here is publicly renouncing his old life of sin — lying, cheating, extortion. He is embracing the new life of faith and holy living. Zacchaeus is merely displaying the kind of change Jesus makes in all of those who are authentically saved by His grace.

Now don't miss this. He is not making restitution prescribed by Jesus. No, it is not. Don't read into what's happening here. See it plainly for what it actually is.

The big message is this: when you meet Jesus, you will never be the same. This is the proof that you now belong to Jesus.

He Received Confirmation

Look at verses 9 and 10 of our text and we see old Zacchaeus received confirmation of this proof. It spilled out of him. He knew he was different. But it was confirmed by the words of the Savior. Jesus told Zacchaeus — and anyone else who was listening — that this man was now a saved man. He was a new man in the Lord.

Salvation always brings with it the assurance that it is real.

"Yeah, but I always struggle with doubts." You struggle with doubts because you have an enemy trying to steal your seed, steal your truth, counterfeit what's real.

Salvation always brings with it an inner witness and an outer witness. There are a bunch of scriptures to show you as we start heading towards home today. You ready?

The Inner Witness

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

— Romans 8:16–17 (ESV)

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

— 1 John 3:19–22 (ESV)

What are we asking for here? We're not asking for material possessions. We're asking for the assurance of our salvation. We're asking that our redemption is real to us. That's what we're asking Him.

And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

— 1 John 3:23–24 (ESV)

Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.

— 1 John 5:10 (ESV)

You've got an enemy that wants to make you out to be a liar and take that inner proof of your salvation. Don't let him.

The Outer Witness

But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

— James 2:18 (ESV)

Indeed, this is our boast, the testimony of our conscience, that we conducted ourselves in the world and especially toward you with godly sincerity and purity, not by human wisdom but by the grace of God.

— 2 Corinthians 1:12 (ESV)

The inner witness and the outer witness.

Do you have the inner witness of the Spirit to support your profession of faith? Do you have the outer witness of a changed life to support your profession of faith?

If both are there — rejoice. Get excited. For it demonstrates the truth that you claim to be who you are. Your claims are true. Don't let anybody tell you different. It is as if Jesus Himself were saying what He said to Zacchaeus: "Salvation has come to you."

The Mission Statement

Jesus closes His remarks with a clear mission statement. It's right in the text. Verse 10:

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

— Luke 19:10 (ESV)

It is as if Jesus is saying to anyone who would ever hear or read these words, "What has happened to Zacchaeus can happen to you."

Do you see it? It's still true. It's still true today.

If your life lacks meaning, if there's no hope, if everything you have tried left you defeated, discouraged, disillusioned, and looking for more — then maybe that is the Lord trying to draw you right now. And redemption in Jesus is the only solution. And if that's the case, you don't have to climb a tree to meet Him. You just need to respond to His call and come to Him in full repentance. If you will do that and you will receive Him, He will save your soul and give you eternal life.

And if life and death is on the line — which it is — then maybe we should take this seriously.

To the redeemed brothers and sisters — when you get into your prayer time, go ahead and bow at His feet and say, "Thank you, Lord, for stopping where I was on that day and saving me."