Messages from Coworkers
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| Our Lord Jesus wants to Reveal His Righteousness to the Zacchaeus type of people. |
| Phil Grahn
( New Zealand )
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2009-02-17 Views
: 34 Touched : 12 |
>Luke 19:1-10<
“Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”
Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
I am sure many have preached on this story in the Bible, but I am sure not many have seen the core issue manifested in Zacchaeus seeking heart, and like him not many have sought Jesus earnestly, but only carry on believing in their half a gospel (which is no gospel at all), prayers of repentance, exalting their own righteousness stubbornly in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came as our sacrificial Lamb of God to take all our sins away; making all who believe in His full and complete atonement for sins, holy and righteous just as it is.
Now we know by reading this story in the Bible that Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector for the Roman government in this prosperous town, and his position may have made him the most hated man in all of Jericho. You see, he worked for the occupying Roman forces and was therefore looked upon as a traitor to his own people. What’s more, he made money off his fellow Jews as part of a system primed for corruption. He was obliged to send in only what the Romans expected. But anything he took in above that, he was free to keep. “And he was rich,” reads our text, in his case an indictment rather than a description. Who would make room for him in that large crowd? Who would want to be seen with him? Who would become his friend? And who would be bothered with him as he struggled to find this Jesus everyone was talking about? Most Jews at that time looked at him, being small of stature, judged him from the outside, but only God knew his hungry heart that yearned earnestly to meet Jesus. Only God looks to the centre of our hearts and then meets our needs according to our asking, seeking and knocking. Jesus said, “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened (Matthew 7:8.”
What we must also know is that, just because the crowd followed Jesus around did not make them His followers, but only those who genuinely and earnestly sought Him. This is why Jesus said, ‘Many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 20:16)’. This scene is mirrored today where millions of spiritual butterflies (Christians) are following Jesus with their own agenda’s; the thrill and emotional seekers, like to see miracles, like to be in large crowds, like to be in the glitz and glamour, seeking after its own rather than the things of Christ Jesus. These types of Christians will follow any evangelist / pastor who has the ability to bend their ears with nice clever words and able to perform miracles even if they are proven to be spiritual frauds. Many people call themselves Christian, but in reality they are just like this crowd. Real true Christians have met the righteousness of God and believed in it, and have become Gods sinless and holy and righteous children.
Therefore there is a very important lesson to be learned in this story, and I am going to explore this.
Zacchaeus’ curiosity about this Jesus became more acute after hearing people talk about all His miracles. He must have thought deeply about this new situation, for no ordinary man could say and do all these incredible things; and being a Jew he must have known the Scriptures to some degree, and as a result, must have asked his fellow Jews many pertinent questions like, ‘would He not be the Messiah to come that they were taught about in the Torah?’ But some of them just discounted this by saying, ‘Did you know this fellow comes from Nazareth, so what good can come from that place, He is a Nazarene for goodness sake!’ Others said that He was just one that was known for eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. And others might have said other things, but never the Messiah but rather some prophet.
Some Jews did relate some of His words, saying, ‘He speaks using many parables, and we have never heard the words He speaks before, its mind blowing stuff.’ And still others related how blind men received their sight, and the crippled, the lame and sick were instantly healed when this Jesus just spoke to them. The excitement must have been running at favour pitch, for nothing had ever visited that region ever before. People were running here and there when a rumour was heard that this Jesus was coming to town.
Then one day, along comes Jesus. The word has spread about Jesus, and Zacchaeus is one person in the whole of Jericho who desperately wanted to see him and not just what He was doing, but really meet this Jesus.
He knew that people disliked him, and also being a short man would be stomped on, shoved aside and his life made extremely difficult by that large curious crowd, prohibiting him from seeing Jesus. Also Jericho was not built like our cities or towns, and the walkways were narrow. He heard so much about Jesus, but never set eyes on Him yet, but nevertheless, his desperation to just see this Jesus took a hold of him. What did Zacchaeus expect to see? And when he eventually sees Jesus would He even take notice of him, or heal his heart. We need to be able to see this scene in our minds eye.
As the noise of the crowd grew louder and knowing that Jesus would be passing by that place, he saw a tree nearby, and immediately run to it and climbed up. With heart beating in anticipation and a heart cry, saying, ‘Please Jesus just let me see you, I really need you Jesus, please pass by here.’ Have you dear reader climbed your tree yet? Do you also have a deep yearning to meet this Jesus? Or are you just like the people in the crowd, not wanting life eternal, but are the on-lookers, calling themselves Christian?
Zacchaeus must have thought that he would be safe in the tree where he could have a better view of Jesus passing by, and hoping that he could also see or hear something of Jesus. Here he would not be treated badly by all the other people, by being bullied, shoved and stomped upon. So holding on tightly while sitting on a supporting branch he saw Jesus coming towards him with all that rabble of a crowd kicking up dust and dirt, including woman and children, Pharisees and Sadducees and the disciples of Jesus.
And suddenly this strange little man sitting in a tree seems a little more familiar. Did we not also when hearing about Jesus and His gospel of the water and the Spirit through the powerful books of the Rev. Paul C Jong, also have our hearts stirred, also asked many questions to our family, friends and pastors about the true faith in God after becoming truly born again by the water and the Spirit? Gave out these powerful sermon books to people to read, and preached this gospel truth to them.
But like the Jews back then, they treated us badly also. Did they not tell us, ‘What… who is this little man from Korea, don’t you know nothing good can come from this country, he is a heretic! And this gospel of the water and the Spirit……never heard of such rubbish before, where on earth did you dig this out from. I tell you its only the blood on the Cross for me man, so I don’t wanna hear about the water…what water…are you out of your mind!!”
So we became disheartened and sad, for they could not would not see the true authentic gospel that Jesus our sacrificial Lamb of God came to do for us by taking all our sins away with His water baptism by John and His death on the Cross. It became very difficult to carry on speaking about this powerful gospel to them, for every time we spoke our voices just left us and we sometimes struggled to speak. This is because we knew the terrible response we would get from these so-called Christians and family members. But as time passed this little seed that was planted in our hearts grew and grew as we joined with the true church of God, and kept reading our Bibles and also many sermons from the Rev. Paul C Jong the servant of God, and gave out many of these sermon books to other people. We also started to preach to more people and spread the fragrance of this heavenly gospel everywhere. So we became stronger in our new faith and even became much more bolder, we truly are now able to 'Rise and Shine' forth the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit.
You see, like Zacchaeus there are many people today who are completely dissatisfied with their faith, church and their fellow Christians and are seeking for Jesus and the truth. Just as we were, dissatisfied, disillusioned, asking important questions but did not receive satisfactory answers. They see and experience the hypocrisy of their leaders and others in the Church, hear messages about ethics and morals, but never get fed on the pure Word of God. Never hear about the authentic gospel of the water and the Spirit that can cleanse their sin sick hearts and make them righteous by just believing in it just as it is. These people need to run away from these crowds and find their tree and climb up it, for Jesus is coming their way. In other words, they need to run away from the many people of influence around them, that being, pastors, family, friends, etc. and read about the true gospel found in our Free Christian Books for themselves and then believe in this gospel truth just as it is.
That day in Jericho, Jesus stops directly under Zacchaeus. His heart must have stopped beating for a second, thinking, this is not happening, did Jesus hear his earnest secret hearts prayer? Would Jesus stop for him a worthless little cheating Jew? All these thoughts flooded through his soul as eyes met. Yes, Jesus also wants to meet with these kinds of people today, one on one, and is seeking them to save them those who are lost. Are you one of them?
Then Zacchaeus hears these words and nearly falls out of the tree, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” With sweating hands and a shaking body he clambers down. Then he notices the large crowd, they are just staring at him in disbelief, muttering, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” He then leads Jesus and His disciples into his home.
Now, we don’t have a record of what took place in Zacchaeus’ home, but when reading about the state of his seeking heart and the result of this visit, we can say knowing Jesus, that he and his household became truly born again, and Jesus healed his sin sick heart. Zacchaeus met Jesus and also met His righteousness found hidden in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Jesus explained to him and his household like He did to Nicodemus Israels leader in John 3:3-5, who He was and how He as our sacrificial Lamb of God according to the sacrificial system in the OT came to take away the sins of the world all at once by His water baptism by John the Baptist and His death on the Cross. Zacchaeus and his household had a heavenly visit by the King of all kings and became truly born again.
This is why Jesus said these words after hearing the confession of Zacchaeus, “Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Then Jesus and His disciples left that blessed home and carried on with His ministry.
This is why Jesus came to this earth to seek and to save those which are lost. He also hears your hearts cry, but He will meet you when you climb up your tree. Have you dear reader climbed your tree yet? You see, unless you climb your tree Jesus might pass you by, and you will not meet Him face to face.
Today, anyone can find this authentic gospel of the water and the Spirit, for it is now been preached in most languages of the world. If someone who is seeking just searches the Internet they will find us, it is that easy. Also many of our co-workers are preaching this gospel in many countries, and handing out many of our Free Christian Books. This is the time when evil is coming in like a flood and the love of many have gone cold. This world is experiencing the calm before the storm, and soon we will not be able to preach this gospel no more. So, it’s high time that people woke up from their slumber and sleep and ran to their tree and meet the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit, for if they miss this gospel in its fullness then they will miss heaven.
Are you dear reader a Zacchaeus type of person?
If you are then Jesus wants to meet with you and come and stay in your home by showing you the true narrow way and also meeting His righteousness.
God said in Jeremiah 3:14 that “He will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion.” And in Matthew 7:21 He says, ‘Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.’ So just like this story, only one person was saved and made into a true son of Abraham that day despite all those crowds following Him. Will you be this one person today? You can meet this Jesus and His righteousness by ordering our Free Christian Books here on this website, it is as easy as this.
May God Bless you.
Phil Grahn
NLM Evangelist
The New Life Mission: New Zealand Branch
www.bjnewlife.org
www.nlmnewzealand.com
www.nlmbookcafe.com/blog/philgrahn
Skype: fisherofallmen
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