read before the offering song, describing how God showed His love by sending His Son so we could have eternal life
1 Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
3 and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.
6 We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God.
8 He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.
9 By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.
16 We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
17 In this love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
20 If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
21 This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.
the primary passage for the sermon, covering blind Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus
35 As he came near Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the road, begging.
36 Hearing a multitude going by, he asked what this meant.
37 They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.
38 He cried out, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!”
39 Those who led the way rebuked him, that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”
40 Standing still, Jesus commanded him to be brought to him. When he had come near, he asked him,
41 “What do you want me to do?” He said, “Lord, that I may see again.”
42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you.”
43 Immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, praised God.
1 He entered and was passing through Jericho.
2 There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.
3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short.
4 He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way.
5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
6 He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully.
7 When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”
8 Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Jesus read from it in His first recorded sermon, proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord
1 The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified.
4 They will rebuild the old ruins. They will raise up the places long devastated. They will repair the ruined cities, that have been devastated for many generations.
5 Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards.
6 But you will be called Yahweh’s priests. Men will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations, and you will boast in their glory.
7 Instead of your shame you will have double. Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land, they will possess double. Everlasting joy will be to them.
8 “For I, Yahweh, love justice. I hate robbery and iniquity. I will give them their reward in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the offspring which Yahweh has blessed.”
10 I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My soul will be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth produces its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up; so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
quoted at the close: now is the time of God's favor, today is the day of salvation
2 for he says, “At an acceptable time I listened to you, in a day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message from Pastor Blake covered two back-to-back stories in Luke 18-19: blind Bartimaeus outside Jericho and Zacchaeus inside the city. Both men were looking for Jesus despite real obstacles, and both found him. The sermon moved into a time of communion, connecting Jesus' journey toward Jerusalem with his purpose of seeking and saving the lost.
What was said
Before getting into the text, Pastor Blake pointed out something he noticed during the second service the previous week. The two passages just before this section, the children coming to Jesus and the rich young ruler, form what is called a chiastic construction. "Allow them to come to me, do not hinder them" mirrors "drop what hinders you and come follow me." That pairing, he said, is what the whole stretch of Luke has been building toward: coming to Jesus requires setting down whatever stands in the way.
Bartimaeus couldn't see the crowd and couldn't navigate through it on his own, but he used what he had. He heard the noise, asked what was happening, and when he learned Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, he called out. The crowd tried to silence him, which Pastor Blake noted is a direct echo of the passage about hindering the children. Bartimaeus kept shouting anyway, and Jesus stopped and called for him.
When Jesus asked what he wanted, Bartimaeus said he wanted to regain his sight. The Greek word Jesus used in his reply, Pastor Blake explained, is "anableppo," which literally means to look up. Jesus said, "Your faith has made you well," and immediately the man could see. He followed Jesus, glorifying God, and the people around them saw it and gave praise too. The little visual puns in Luke, Pastor Blake said, are all over the place.
The Zacchaeus story picks up as Jesus enters Jericho. Pastor Blake noted that Luke had just recorded Jesus saying it is nearly impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom, but that with God it is possible. Zacchaeus is a rich chief tax collector, and his name means "innocent" or "clean," which Pastor Blake found worth pausing on given the man's reputation. Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was but couldn't see over the crowd, so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree. Running, Pastor Blake noted, is undignified for a wealthy man in that culture, much like the father hiking up his robe to run toward the prodigal son.
Jesus looked up at Zacchaeus, called him by name, and told him to come down quickly because he must stay at his house that day. The word translated "must," Pastor Blake said, is "dei" in Greek, the word Luke uses for divine necessity, the same word used when Jesus said he must go through Samaria. The crowd grumbled that Jesus had gone to be the guest of a sinner. Pastor Blake connected this directly to the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector from Luke 18, which Jesus had told just before these events. Now that parable was playing out in real life.
Zacchaeus responded by announcing he was giving half his possessions to the poor and paying back four times what he had taken from anyone he had cheated. Four times is the highest repayment the Old Testament requires, the penalty for rustling, Pastor Blake noted. Jesus declared that today salvation had come to that house, because Zacchaeus too was a son of Abraham. The word "today" in Luke, Pastor Blake said, is never accidental. It appears at the birth announcement, at Jesus' first sermon in Nazareth, and here, each time marking a moment when the acceptable time of the Lord is breaking in.
Pastor Blake closed by bringing both stories together. Each man knew what he lacked, used what he had, and positioned himself to encounter Jesus. Bartimaeus used his hearing. Zacchaeus used his legs and found a tree. Neither waited for better circumstances. The sermon moved directly into communion, with Pastor Blake connecting Jesus' walk toward Jerusalem with his stated purpose: the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Mark pointed out that coming to Jesus requires dropping whatever hinders you, and that for the rich young ruler it was his money. What are some things, beyond money, that you think people hold onto that keep them from coming closer to Jesus?
Blind Bartimaeus kept crying out even when the crowd told him to be quiet. Pastor Mark lifted persistence in pursuing Jesus as a theme in Luke. What does that kind of persistence look like in your own prayer life, and what makes it hard to keep it up?
Good morning, everybody. How are doing on a beautiful fall
day? What do
say we stand together and and worship? Here's a good word from, Psalm 95 to lead us in a song. It's let us come to him with thanksgiving, and let's sing psalms of praise. What do you say we do that by singing how great thou art?
Oh Lord, my God, When I am awesome thunder, consider all who rolls thy hand in me. I see the stars. I hear birds sing sweetly in the trees. When I look down from lofty amounts in grandeur and see And when I feel that God is sunrothed sparing sent him to die I scarce can take it
Good morning. Yeah. Can I have a seat? We're gonna go through our announcements real quick. Welcome to First Baptist Church.
I just wanna let you know out on the lobby, there's a bulletin board over there. You can look at all the Bible studies and the events that are going on. Call up the leader, sign yourself up, and get involved. If you if you wanna know more about First Baptist or just get to know the people around you, that's a great way to get connected. And youth group, this is...
Youth group started back up again. Middle school is Sunday, three through 5PM here at First Baptist. High school is Thursday, 06:30 through 8PM over at the Tribe Ministry Center. If you need any help getting there, let us know. The Jackson Hole Men's Alliance is this Wednesday at 06:30AM here at First Baptist Church.
They usually have a little meal and a message. Great way for guys to get connected. Anybody involved with that this year? Is that... We're still doing that, right, this week?
We're still doing that this week. Okay. Good. Good. We put it in the slide.
We weren't we weren't sure. Awana is back. It's thriving. It's doing really well. How did it go this last week?
How do you feel?
Fantastic. Yeah, we've got almost 60 kids registered, and it is... We're lifting. It's lift off time. So just know that it's it's happening.
We have we have a meal Barb is cooking for the volunteers and their kids at 05:15, and then 05:45, that's start up.
It's going on.
That's great. And keep praying for that because it's really building momentum, and we really appreciate all you volunteers who are coming and making a difference in the the lives of these kids. Connect hour, we're still looking for somebody to take over the kitchen committee. If you've noticed, we have a bunch of boxes in there that still need to find homes. We were running out of creamer and things.
And let me tell you, if creamer is important to you, you might be the person that needs to step up. Okay? We could use you. Yeah. Today would be a great day for that.
And then also Monday night, since we're doing meals for the Iwana volunteers, if you'd be interested in helping out, you can sign up down the hall in the fellowship hall. We would really appreciate your help with that. And you can get all the announcements each week sent to your email box just by going to our website at firstbjackson.org. You can sign up right there along with our weekly and daily Bible readings too. If you wanna get involved in those, first b in the Bible, you can also sign up on our website for that too.
Is that it? Okay. That's it. Thanks so much, guys.
For your mercy never fails me. All my days, I've been held in your hands. From the moment that I wake up Can we take a moment and pray?
God's so grateful. So grateful for a brand new day and breath in our lungs. And God, every good and perfect gift, truly, it comes from you. God, we have hearts of gratitude, truly, looking back to see how you have provided and how you will provide, yielding to you moment by moment, not always knowing exactly what's what's ahead or what's what's to come, but trusting you along the way. God, would you help us?
Thank you, God, for your faithfulness. In Jesus'
name, name, amen.
Can I share a a verse? We're gonna sing of God's love. We just sang of his hope. He is our living hope, alive today, right now in us. Let's let's hear of his love here from first John four.
It's God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only son. Think about that. What a sacrifice. Into the world so that we could have eternal life through him, life forever through Jesus. The way, the provision that God has made.
And this is real love. It's not that we love God first. It's that he loved us first, and he sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sin. He didn't wait. He didn't wait.
He just did because of his love for us. Shall we sing of that love? And you can have a seat for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service, and I'll invite our ushers to come on forward. We're gonna sing.
Come to the altar. From James four eight, it is draw near to God, and what you will draw near to us. And before we sing, Ray, would you pray?
Sure. God, thank you for this time to gather, in your name, Lord. We come from all kinds of places, all kinds of backgrounds. We've come here today, Lord, to worship you. With the breath that you've placed in our lungs, we wanna breathe out and praise to you.
And this song service, Lord, has... Sorry, is overwhelming to think about the... How deep the father's love for us, that we are always welcome to come before you. We're always welcome, and that we can come boldly before the throne of grace, with our petitions and requests, Lord, and with our offerings. God, I pray that you would, take these offerings, take, whatever is put in these plates metaphorically, actually, physically, Lord, financially, that you take all that is that's seated over, given back.
We acknowledge that you have given us way more, Lord, than we deserve. I pray, Lord, that you would take this back and that you would extend your kingdom of goodness and light, that you'd take those who are stuck right now in their own difficult times, that you would use those difficult times in their lives to bring them to you, that you would pluck them out of the kingdom of the darkness, bring them into marvelous light. Lord God Almighty, would you use us to do that? In Jesus' name, I pray a prayer blessing over the gift and the giver here. In Jesus' name, we wanna be doing your will and your way at all times.
Amen.
No reason to wait. Jesus is gone. Bring your sorrows and trembling for joy. From the ashes,
Amen. Thank you. Oh, it's time for children's church downstairs. And I had somebody make a request last week that when the children get up and go, the congregation looks like Swiss cheese. There are holes all over the place.
And I had somebody ask since there are people sitting in the back, if y'all would squeeze together and just move over towards the middle, but I've never seen anybody move ever in church. Once they sit down that is their claim, have staked it and it's done, but I said I would announce it anyway and not one of you moved. Okay. Alright. I need a clicker, Blake.
So... Or I'll just run downstairs with the kids and you all can talk amongst yourselves. No. Thank you. No problem.
Alright. Luke eighteen thirty five to nineteen ten. At least two different people were looking for Jesus. It sounds crazy to say that because there's a massive throng around him all the time. But this, in Luke, we see two, at least two, looking for Jesus.
In Matthew and Mark, I've been doing a harmony of the gospels. In Matthew and Mark, you see two guys with Bartimaeus, two blind guys. But we're gonna cover just Luke today. I felt like it's a bit much to carry everything else. I also saw something last week during the second service that I didn't share with you in the first service.
I had... And this is an aside. I had an 86 year old professor, my first semester in seminary, and he was teaching a gospels class. And he had notes that were triple spaced. So he had two blank lines between every line.
He's 86. You think he'd know everything that there is to tell. He's been teaching this class literally for forty five years, and you would think he had it figured out. Know? No.
He kept triple spaced notes, and as he was going, he'd say, He'd scribble a little thing in there. And occasionally, a freshman, first year seminary student, raised their hand and say, doctor Holbrook, could this be that? And they'd say, He'd scribble it down, so I'm gonna look into that. So second service last week, saw this that I didn't see until then. This first section, is from two weeks ago, actually.
It was allow the children to come to me and don't hinder them. If I had to sum it up in a line, allow the children to come to me and don't hinder them. And then last week, the rich young ruler comes to him and he says, drop what hinders you and come follow me. Oh, wow. That's called a chiastic construction.
For seminary students, this is one of those things where people look for them all over the place and sometimes you find one that's not really there. But I think this one's really here. So ki is the X in Greek. Kai or a ki is an X in Greek. And it points to this.
Allow them to come to me and come follow me correspond and that's the a. And then the b is the don't hinder them or drop what hinders you is the b. And that's really good because that's what the passages were really about. Dropping whatever's necessary for you. Now for that rich young ruler, it was his money.
There's no doubt about it. Jesus said as much, and he needed to drop that. It might be something different for you. But coming to Jesus requires dropping whatever hinders you, and I think that's a good point. So here we are back to eighteen thirty five.
With that as the preface, this is all we're gonna cover today. It's two different paragraphs. Now as Jesus was approaching Jericho, the last three sermons, four sermons that I've done from the book of Luke have been where Jesus was traveling in Perea towards Jerusalem. Perea is on the other side of the Jordan River. So Jordan comes from Sea Of Galilee down towards the Dead Sea.
It's kind of like the Great Salt Lake. There's no outlet for the Dead Sea. Perea is over here to the East and Jericho is on the west bank of that river. Old Jericho is a little further north than New Jericho, first century Jericho, and Jericho has continued to grow obviously over the years. But from Perea to Jericho is where he was heading.
So Jesus has been ministering for some time there. The last three sermons at least and maybe more that I preach from Luke have been set there. So some of y'all are map people. This is what it looks like. When he heard a crowd going by...
Oh, now as Jesus was approaching Jericho, a man who was blind was sitting by the road begging. Doesn't name him right here. A man who was blind was sitting by the road begging, but when he heard a crowd going by, okay, if you're begging and there's a crowd, and it's a good place to be begging. Right? When he heard a crowd going by, using the faculties that he had, he began inquiring what this was.
What's going on? What's all the hullabaloo? I didn't hear anything scheduled today. Didn't know what was going on, and they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And Jesus, this is probably just a couple of weeks out from the cross.
If we're looking chronologically, it's within a month for sure, and probably within just a couple of weeks. They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was coming by. He had achieved some fame, specifically because he had healed the blind and the lame, and he had unstopped deaf ears. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. Like, the doodad is not doing its dad.
Here. Here he called out saying, Jesus, son of David. That's a messianic description. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Oh.
We don't know how long he was blind. In John, there's a man that it says this man was born blind, and it comes out in the text multiple multiple times that this guy was born blind. Nobody has ever healed a man who was born blind. This one, we don't know anything much about him. We know he's blind.
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. Remember what it was? Allow them to come to me. Allow them to come to me.
Do not hinder them. Literally, they are hindering him from coming to Jesus. He cannot see him. He cannot make his way on his own, and they're just saying, hush. Stop it.
Quit. You're driving us nuts. Those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more. Persistence. Again in Luke, persistence is lifted up as a good thing.
Be persistent when you're pursuing the Messiah. Those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept out crying all the more. Son of David, have mercy on me. He knew that that's what he needed, and Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to him. Again, allow him to be brought to me.
Do not hinder him. And when he came near, he asked him, Blake, don't know what's going on. What do you want for me to do for you? What is it that you want? You're crying out for me.
What is it that you want? And he he'd already said he wanted mercy. Right? And he said, the the mercy that I want is to regain my sight. So he had previously been someone who saw, and he knew what it was like and he'd lost his sight.
My brother had a car accident, lost his sight in one eye. And he said, man, miss it. But can you imagine losing it in both eyes? We had a deaf girl in the school for the deaf that we were building in Mexico, and she only had vision in one eye, it was pretty awful. She just barely could see it all, but she spoke American Sign Language, Mexican Sign Language.
She could read in English and she could read in Spanish. Pretty good. The faculty that she had, she was using to pursue Messiah Jesus. What do you want for me to do for you? And he said, Lord, I wanna regain my sight.
And Jesus said to him, regain your sight. It's a command. Regain your sight. Your faith has made you well. The word right there for regain your sight is anableppo.
Anableppo is the word. It means to look up. Look up. That's what he said to him. That's that's the way it would have probably been understood.
Regain your sight is the metaphorical sense or figurative sense. But I can imagine this guy pleading for Jesus' mercy as it pertains to sight and Jesus saying, look up. You know the Will Graham tour was last week? You know what it was called? Anableppo.
Look up. Yeah. Look up. Your faith has made you well. You're crying out for Messiah, and he's answering.
Immediately, he regained his sight and he began following him. Allow him to come to me and what do they do? They do. He came to him. And he didn't just stop there, come follow me was what he had said to the rich young ruler who went away sad.
But this guy regains his sight and follows after him, and it says, glorifying God, and that leads to all of the people seeing what happened. I love the little puns in Luke, they're all over the place. And then when all the people saw what was happening, they looked up and they gave praise to God. That's the end of that story. So that's one.
And I'll come back at the end and try to kind of put a bow on that. But using the faculties that you do have to pursue and plead with God for those that you know are lacking in your life is important. Okay? Jesus entered Jericho. So now he's not approaching, but he's entering Jericho.
And I think he was probably between Old Jericho and New Jericho in that last story because of Matthew and Mark. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. So he's passing through, and we know in Luke nine fifty one, it says that Jesus set his face like flint toward Jerusalem. And for the rest of the book of Luke from nine fifty one all the way through to the cross, he is a man walking with purpose. He's teaching lessons along the way.
He's doing miracles along the way, but he's walking with intent and purpose to get to that place of sacrificial atonement, which we will celebrate today in communion. He's walking from Perea. He gets into Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. And Jericho to Jerusalem is like walking from right here to the top of the pass. It's almost exactly the same distance.
It's almost exactly the same elevation change. And so from right here to the top of the pass. And Jesus knows when he gets to the top of the pass, he's going be
crucified. I
often think about biking to the top of the top pass, but all I want to do is come down the other side. That's why all those guys are hitchhiking at the stagecoach to get to the top so they just ride down. Jesus, the pinnacle, the top is crucifixion, and he's walking towards it. Jesus entered Jericho. He was passing through, and there was a man called by the name of Zacchaeus.
Luke doesn't make a mention of it. Zacchaeus means innocent or clean. Ain't that something? Because he's a tax collector. He's a chief tax collector, and he's rich.
Oh, gracious. This is right after the rich young ruler. We know about how hard it is for a rich man to come to Jesus, and Jesus has already said it is possible with God. It's not possible with man, but it is possible with God. And now we're gonna get a vivid illustration of it.
Jesus entered 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, and Zacchaeus was trying to see who Jesus was. Now, we just heard the story of blind Bartimaeus, Matthew and Mark say, calling out to Jesus, and he didn't have sight, but he was still on watch and looking out for Jesus. Zacchaeus was trying to see who Jesus was but he was unable due to the crowd because he was short in stature. Oh, that's terrible, isn't it?
Just awful. So mean. This is our favorite little Zacchaeus. Isn't that he's a wee little man, a wee little man was he. This is...
We love this man. I wanted to put that in there just to say he's doing great. He's doing great, the family is doing great. The girls have had a chance to meet their cousins that they've never met before. They were born here.
Violetta and Florin were here for seventeen years before they went back. Romania has changed a lot in seventeen years. He said that some of the little villages when he left are pretty big towns now, and they have right now a thriving youth ministry and music ministry that's going on. And so he asked for your continued prayers, obviously. He knows and is thankful for the support, but sweet little guy.
He's so sweet. Sorry to use him for an illustration. So he ran on ahead. So this is another story of a guy knowing his limitations and working with what he had. He runs on ahead, which is kind of undignified in that culture.
The only other time we see it in the book of Luke is when the father sees his prodigal son coming and he hikes up his robe and he runs. That's kind of undignified for an older guy or for a rich guy. But he ran on ahead and he climbed up in a sycamore tree in order to see him. Y'all know the song. Right?
Everybody in here knows the song. No. Not everybody does. I'm surprised by that. But when you come to Jesus as an adult, you miss Zacchaeus was a mean little man.
A mean little man was he. Yeah. He climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. As the savior passed that way, He looked up in the tree and he said, Zacchaeus, you come down for I'm going to your house today. I'm going to your house today.
Yeah. So he ran on ahead. That's the whole story of Zacchaeus right there. So he ran on ahead and he climbed up a sycamore tree in order to see him because he was about to pass through that way. And so Zacchaeus gets out in front of him, climbs up in a tree.
And when Jesus came to that place, he looked up and he said, everyone of y'all did this. I don't think it was a wagon finger. I think it was a big smile. He says, Zacchaeus hurry and come down. Now he had just run to the place where he was to get a bird's eye view of the savior.
And he runs ahead and he says, with the same haste that you made to get ahead of me, come on down quickly. Zacchaeus, hurry and come down for today. I must stay at your house. The I must there is dei in Greek, and it's it's usually used of divine necessity. Isn't that sweet?
I'm staying with you. When he said, I must go through Samaria, he knew he needed to meet that woman at the well in John. Right? I must stay at your house today. Oh, today in Luke.
If you read the book of Luke and you just read it straight through and you don't really think about it, there are four or five places that might not stand out to you. But anytime today is mentioned in Luke, it's significant. Today is born to you in the city of David, a savior. Oh, that's good. What did the shepherds do?
They got up immediately, and they went to go just as the angels had said. And Jesus delivers his first sermon that we know about, first recorded sermon. He gets up and he reads from Isaiah 61. Right? He gets up and reads this passage about halfway through.
He gets up to the favorable time of the Lord and opens up the favorable and acceptable time of the Lord. He stops one verse short of, and the day of God's vengeance. And it made everybody mad that he didn't get to the vengeance because we're the good guys and they're the bad guys. But when he said, I'm opening up the acceptable time of the Lord. I'm here to set the captives free.
I'm here to save those who are lost. Today, you have heard this. You have seen this. It has been fulfilled in your hearing. That's what Jesus said.
Today, the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. He's claiming that he is the one who came to set the captives free, and they got mad at him and wanted to throw him off a Nazareth Ridge. This, it says today, they're not... It's not quite here yet, but this is a little precursor. Zacchaeus hurry and come down for today.
Right now, this is the day. I must stay at your house. And he hurried and came down. This is one of those places I've told you before where it says, go wash the guy. He says, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, the guy with the mud on his eyes.
He says, Go wash. The next two words are, Went washed. This is one of those places too. Zacchaeus, hurry and come down. And it says he hurried and came down.
Direct and immediate obedience right there. And he received him joyfully. He wasn't scared. Oh my goodness. I forgot to clean the bathroom before I left the house.
I hope the shower curtain's closed. You know? He didn't... He received him joyfully. Went with him, invited Jesus into the house.
The verbiage there doesn't look like it. We might think, well, he just popped in for a little while. But the verbiage in Greek says, I must stay at your house. Like, I'm spending the night. I might be here a while.
We don't get the full story of Zacchaeus. And some people say, really would like to have the full story because it seems like he jumped a big important part here, but we'll get to that. And he hurried and he came down. He received Jesus joyfully. And when the people saw this, they all began to complain.
That's what people do. They all began to complain. Gong gitso. Gong gitso is this thing and it's a murmuring. Sounds like Gong gitso.
It's an onomatopoeic word. When the people saw this, they all were like, he's gone in to be the guest of a man who's a sinner. That filthy joker stole money from me. I know how much the Roman was requiring taxes, and he took more than he was supposed to. How many of you can testify?
You know? They they were the... He was the other to them. Even though even though he was a Jewish man with a Jewish name, he was seen as a traitor because he was collecting taxes for the Roman oppressors. And so he's gone in to be the guest of a man who's sinner.
Extortionist, filthy joker. Earlier in Luke, do you remember the tax collector and the Pharisee? Jesus has told that story and now we're seeing that story played out. When the people saw this, they all began to complain saying, he's gone in to be the guest of man who's a sinner. Here it is.
Luke eighteen nine says, now he told this parable, two went up to the temple to pray, a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. And the Pharisee stood and began praying this in regard to himself, oh God, thank you that I am not like these other people, swindlers, crooked adulterers, or even like this pitiful tax collector. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all God. I get this is a religious person.
But the tax collector standing some distance away was even unwilling to raise his eyes toward heaven. There's another place where it's look up. He was unwilling to look up, but he was beating his chest, and he was saying, God be merciful to me, the sinner. And I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the Pharisee for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. That little short guy hiking up his robe and running ahead of Jesus and climbing a tree to see Jesus.
That's humility. He wanted to see Jesus. But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, behold, Lord. Look. Half of my possessions I'm giving to the poor right now.
I'm giving away half of what I've got. And if I've extorted anything from anyone in the sense of the Greek there, as commentators say, I don't see it, but they see it. It's saying, and since I have, since I have extorted some folks, I'm giving them back four times as much. I've been careful with my money, and I'm able to, and I'm going to. Half my possessions, I'm giving to the poor, and the folks that I cheated, I'm paying back four times as much.
That's the highest that the Old Testament requires, and it's required, funny, since we're in Wyoming, rustlers. Somebody who steals cows. You have to pay them. You steal one cow, you gotta pay them back four cows.
I'm
giving back four times as much. And Jesus said to him, and this is the today I'm talking about. Today, salvation has come to this house. Now for me and for you, if you grew up in church, you're like, wait a second. He didn't ever pray the sinner's prayer.
He didn't ever say... But this is... This was an act of faith. This was a transformation. When Jesus called him by name and he invited him into his house, it changed the way he lived his life.
And Jesus said to him, today, salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham. Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Zacchaeus believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. For the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. He's on a rescue mission.
He's on a rescue mission. He's reaching out to everybody. And the fact that he's using tax collectors and sinners, prostitutes, and people who are hurting, which their theology said if you're blind, it's your own fault, or maybe your parents. If you're lame, it's your own fault, or maybe your parents. We're not sure about that.
But certainly, there's some reason, just like Job's friends. There's some reason. Confess. No. Jesus is on a rescue mission.
He's come to seek and to save that which was lost. He has come to proclaim the acceptable time of salvation, the acceptable year of the Lord. He's opening that up. That's the last slide. We're going go to a time of communion right here.
And I think that this is very, very appropriate. There's one actually, one more slide. Here's a takeaway slide. How about this? Sometimes we need to just use the senses that we have and then call out to God for what we're lacking to be made whole.
Recognize we don't have it, right? I don't have it. I can't forgive that person, Lord. But I know you've forgiven me, and I know you've commanded me to forgive them, so I'm going give it to you. Leave room for the Lord.
Every sin is gonna be either mercifully forgiven or justly condemned. And Lord, I don't want it to be on me that they're justly condemned. They're justly condemned, but would you mercifully forgive them? Please. Forgiveness makes you free.
There are other things. Otherwise, you might need to be made whole. I don't know what they are. But use the senses you have and then call out to God for what you're lacking to be made whole. Sometimes, we need to put ourselves in a better position to see Jesus.
I I think going to church, I don't ever just blast people and say, go to church, go to church, go to church. There's a sign in Prattville, Alabama on the side of a water wheel next to a lake and it says, go to the church go to church or the devil will get you. It's a picture of the big picture of the red devil. Go to church or the devil will get you, and I think, my goodness. I wouldn't wanna go to that church.
But putting yourself in a better position to see Jesus. The pages of the New Testament are the clearest picture that I have of who Jesus is. So go to the word of God to study the word of God. Jesus. Sometimes we need to put ourselves in a better position to see Jesus even if it means climbing a tree.
I love this that he knew Zacchaeus' name. It doesn't say how he knew his name. We could we could go with, well, he's Jesus. But he might have said, who is that little guy up in that tree? That's Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus. I don't know. But I do like to think that he knows your name, and he's inviting himself in to visit with you. Will you receive him joyfully? Now we're going to communion.
Right? This is a celebration of the fact that he came and lived a perfect life, led the way, did not deserve the death that he died, but he gave his life sacrificially and voluntarily so that anybody who would put their trust in him can be made whole. Ushers have come forward. I'm going ask the band to come back up. We're going to play a bit during communion here.
This is an open table. It's open to anyone who has put their faith in Christ. And I mean anybody that did when you were 11 years old at church camp or you did when you really went through confirmation or when you just heard the word ten minutes ago. It's an open table. God help us.
In Jesus' name, I ask your blessing on this bread, this little cracker. It's representative of the body of Christ, the perfect life that was walked out in submission to the spirit. Lord, would you bless it? Amen. Now on the same night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread after supper, and he said to his disciples who were there with him, and he...
His voice rings out today. This is my body which is given for you. Take this and eat of it and do as often as you will in remembrance of me. Lord Jesus, thank you for your submitted life. Thank you for your resistance of the evil one.
Thank you for your humility and your example. But, Lord, thank you for the innocent blood that was shed voluntarily and sacrificially. We ask your blessing on this cup, this little small plastic cup of grape juice that you would, that it's a representative of your blood that was spilled on behalf of all who would come to put their faith in you. Lord, transform our lives like you did Zacchaeus. Amen.
In just the same manner that he had taken the bread, he also took the cup, and it was a common cup, a common cup for them. We've waited to partake together. He said to them and he says to us, this is the new covenant covenant in my blood. It's on me. This is the new covenant in my blood, Jesus says.
He says, take this, take it in, drink of it, and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me.
Thank you, Jesus.
Amen. Would you stand? Paul says that we proclaim Christ's death until he comes again every time that we do that. Can we just sing the doxology together? How about a g?
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host. Praise father, son, and holy ghost. Amen.
And he says, in the time of my favor, I have heard you. And in the day of salvation, I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of God's favor. Now, today is the day of God's salvation. Amen.
