More Than A Quest

Luke 19:8 – 10

8 and Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restored him fourfold.

9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is Salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.

10 For the Son of Man Is come to seek and to save that which is lost.

I picked this section of the chapter that is written about Zacchaeus because there are several points that can be learned through the study of these 3 versus in Him. When Jesus was passing through Jericho He was pretty much surrounded by those looking to catch Jesus breaking the Word of God, but they never could and even in verse 7 they were murmuring about Jesus being a guest with a man who is a sinner. However, Jesus wasn’t one to ever cater to the public whim or any prevailing opinion neither did he ever jump aboard the train of conventional wisdom.

8 and Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restored him fourfold.

This is a verse that is one that all Christians should think long and hard about when making the altar call to ask forgiveness for knowing the cashier gave you more change than she should have but you didn’t say anything and went on about your business and the numerous other things that go along these lines of sin. You know who you are and what sins I am talkin’ about. This isn’t rocket science people. This is looking inside and asking yourself if God would approve of what you just did?

But let’s look at the 2^nd half of this verse. Roman Law required of fourfold restitution; the mandated principal of the Levitical Law was only 1/5 part added [Num. 5:7]; the heart shows through in truth because he imposed upon himself the severe measure of Exodus 22:1; it was his own heart that judged himself unto true Repentance. Not many people are that way, especially in today’s society.

9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is Salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.

So here, we see that Jesus accepts his repentance and tells him that Salvation has come to his house. It is the 2^nd half of this Scripture that gives people, “pause,” should I say. For a lot of us it is pretty simple. But for those of you that it gives, pause, what Jesus is saying is that Zacchaeus has all of the rights to Salvation as any other person in Israel; now, the religious leaders not just may have, they surely did shut him out because he was a tax collector, they said he was unfit to be saved or worthy of God’s Salvation, BUT, Jesus Christ didn’t. I don’t know about you, but I think everybody needs to think about that statement very carefully!!!

There will be many, many, many that believe they will enter the Gates of Heaven because of their works and deeds, their wealth and charity, but they did not take stock or inventory of their heart and humble themselves before God and repent, truly repent like Zacchaeus and they will be denied entrance into the Gates of Heaven.

10 For the Son of Man Is come to seek and to save that which is lost.

God, in my limited mind I cannot imagine how long it took him to come to a decision, now remember we don’t know His existence, to send His Son in a very active participation to “seek the lost”. This does not end there, because this was such an active participation that it sent His Son, Jesus Christ to the Cross!

If you are not Saved and have Jesus Christ invited in your heart than now is the time! There is no time to wait, you’re never guaranteed another second in this life. All you have to do is pray the little prayer below:

“Dear God in Heaven, I come to you today as a lost sinner.”

“I am asking you that you save my soul and cleanse me from all sin.”

“I realize in my heart my need of salvation, which can only come through Jesus Christ.”

“I am accepting Christ into my heart and what He did on the Cross in order to purchase my redemption.”

“In obedience to your Word, I confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in my heart that God has raised Him from the dead.”

“You have said in your Word which cannot lie, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Rom.10:13).”

“I have called upon Your Name exactly as you said, and I believe that right now I am saved.”

If you have sincerely prayed these words, which have been written out for you, and believed in your heart upon the Lord Jesus Christ, you are at this moment saved, and your name is written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Congratulations!