"When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, `Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today"'.

Through Dr. John Jun's message we learn that when the Holy Spirit comes he helps us repent of our sins and pray together with one mind and heart. Through Shepherd Ian Kaier's message, we learned that our Lord Jesus wants us to pray, "Your kingdom come." Today's message tells us how God's kingdom came into the heart of one lost man, Zacchaeus. We can learn how to open our hearts to Jesus in order to receive his kingdom.

First, Zacchaeus seeks Jesus (1-4).

Look at verse 1. "Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through". Jericho was a beautiful and rich city. It was a center for trade which produced considerable tax revenue. Jericho was a lovely place for a moment of relief for Jesus and his company on the way to Jerusalem. According to verse 1, Jesus was just passing through. But something happened there that became a part of gospel history.

Look at verse 2. "A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy". The name Zacchaeus means "upright one. When his parents named him, they must have had great expectations for him to be a man of God and a source of blessing. He was a bright and talented boy given the best education by his parents. But when he had to choose his occupation, he didn't choose something noble like a physician, an engineer or a teacher of the law. He chose to be a tax collector. His choice was motivated by selfishness and calculated to yield the best possible life according to his own standard. So, he became a tax collector. Then, he worked his way up to chief tax collector. How could this short man become a chief tax collector? He was probably a little more clever and a little more ruthless than the other tax collectors. He made a great deal of money. But he had to sacrifice his sense of honor. In modern terms, he was like a drug dealer; not only a drug dealer, but a chief drug dealer, who trains junior drug dealers. Zacchaeus' conscience bothered him every day as he thought about the people whom he had damaged in the course of extracting money from them.

Now he had money. He could enjoy all the things that money could buy. But he was not happy. In his heart he felt dirty all the time. Regret became his constant companion.

Look at verse 3. "He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd". Zacchaeus had heard of Jesus and really wanted to see him. But it was not easy to see Jesus. As Jesus was passing through, a large crowd was around him. Being a short man, Zacchaeus could not see over the crowd. The people in the crowd, must have enjoyed this chance to give Zacchaeus a hard time. Standing shoulder to shoulder, they blocked his access to Jesus and nudged him away, making it look unintentional. It seemed impossible to get near Jesus. But not for Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus found a way to see Jesus.

Look at verse 4. "So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamorefig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way". Can you imagine this? This short man in fancy clothes circled around the crowd, ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore-fig tree to see Jesus. Zacchaeus had not climbed a tree since he was a boy. Now, with his pot belly, it was hard to wrap his arms around the tree to shimmy up. But after struggling hard, he made it up the tree. He found a good, strong branch that could hold him and sat down on it. In his colorful chief tax collector uniform, he might have looked like a fat turkey perching in the tree. We must admit that he did everything he could to see Jesus.

St. Augustine said that God made man with an empty place that only God can fill. Until we meet God personally we are restless wanderers trying to fill that void with other things. Zacchaeus had tried to fill his empty place with money. Others try to do so with real love, acceptance and popularity, career success, and extreme sports. Sooner or later each person must realize that his eternal soul cannot be satisfied with these things. Then we must seek God
earnestly. Moses foresaw that his people would become corrupted after enjoying God's blessing in the Promised Land. As a result, they would be punished as prisoners of war and taken to a foreign land. But Moses did not tell them to give up because of this terrible mistake. Rather, he said, "'But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul" (Dt 4:29). May God help us to seek Jesus with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our strength.

Second, Jesus seeks and saves Zacchaeus (5-10).

Look at verse 5. ''When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, `Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today"'. Many people in the crowd wanted to shake Jesus' hand. But Jesus was focused on this one wretched soul. When Jesus saw Zacchaeus, he understood his inner agony.

Jesus called him by name, "Zacchaeus." It was God's voice to him. It ignited the hope of God in his heart. It awakened God's purpose for his life. Jesus' one word , "Zacchaeus" expressed God's personal love and desire to save him. Jesus said, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately". This was not a suggestion "you can come down" or a request "would you come down". This was a command, given with a sense of urgency. And Jesus said, ¡ÆI must stay at your house today". If Jesus had a house, he would probably invite Zacchaeus to his house. But Jesus had no house. So he invited himself to Zacchaeus' house. Jesus wanted to have fellowship with Zacchaeus. In the same way, right now, Jesus wants to come into our hearts and have fellowship with us. Revelation 3:20 says, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me".

How did Zacchaeus respond? Look at verse 6. "So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly." Zacchaeus did not hesitate. Jesus' command was irresistible grace to him. With gladness of heart, he obeyed Jesus. His obedience was the expression of faith growing in his heart through Jesus' words. Jesus was happy to find Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was happy to be found by Jesus. But the people who saw this were not so happy. They began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner". They knew Zacchaeus was a sinner. They knew he had done awful things out of his selfishness. But they did not know his heart. More importantly, they did not know Jesus' heart for Zacchaeus. They began to criticize Jesus for going to the house of a sinner. But Jesus did not mind. He was ready to save this one man.

To Zacchaeus, it was really surprising that Jesus cared for him. He could see that Jesus was being criticized for associating with him. He might have expected Jesus to change his mind and not go to his house. But Jesus did not change his mind. He kept smiling at Zacchaeus with a joyful heart. Jesus was ready to bear this misunderstanding for him. Through Jesus' action, Zacchaeus could taste the sacrificial love of God. He could understand that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. His heart was melted. He found new hope in Jesus. He could make a new start with Jesus.

Look at verse 8. "'But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."' Zacchaeus responded to Jesus' love with repentance. Until now, money had been his master. But when he tasted the love of Jesus, he was freed from the love of money. He accepted Jesus as his Lord. He began to see others with the love of God. He made an immediate decision to give half of his possessions to the poor and to pay back anyone he had cheated. He was completely changed by the love of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, '"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" At the news of this one sinner's repentance, there was a shout of joy in heaven. The angels began to sing sweet hymns of praise to God. Then Jesus said to Zacchaeus, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham". It was true. Zacchaeus received God's salvation through Jesus. His sins were forgiven. His terrible selfishness was healed. His shame and disgrace were taken away. A true sense of honor as a son of Abraham filled his heart. His restoration as a child of God was immediate and complete.

Look at verse 10. "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Here Jesus reveals his purpose of coming into this world. Jesus, the Son of Man, came to seek and to save lost sinners.

Though Jesus is the Eternal and Almighty God, he gave up his power and glory and came down to this world in the form of a man, dying on the cross for the sin of the world.

It is truly amazing that Jesus came to seek the lost. Jesus is the good shepherd who goes after the one lost sheep. Jesus is like the father of the prodigal son who waits eagerly for his son to return and then runs to embrace him. Jesus sought out a broken and lonely Samaritan woman. (Jn 4:23). This is the heart of Jesus.

Jesus not only seeks the lost, but he also saves the lost. Zacchaeus was lost because his soul was captured by the power of sin and the devil. But Jesus saved his soul and made him a son of Abraham, a child of God. When we come to Jesus, he saves us from our sins and restores us as the children of God.

When we know the heart of Jesus, we too are compelled to seek and to save the lost. It motivates us to visit the campuses and invite students to Bible study. These days, young people in Russia, America and all over the world look lost in selfishness and sinful pleasures. In order to become rich, they become corrupted and lose their souls. But Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Jesus can raise lost young people as shepherds and missionaries for the world. May God help us to participate in Jesus' ministry by visiting the campus library, the cafeteria, and the sports stadium to bring lost students to Jesus.

In this passage we learn that only when we have God in our hearts can we be truly happy people. So we must seek God more than anything. As we seek God, God is seeking us. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Let's open our hearts to his love, repent of our sins and receive his grace. May God make us instruments of his saving grace to the lost.