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T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
in the message?- W hether we are seek ing to lead our scholars to Christ and . build them up in the faith of God’s Word? Jesus knows H is own. He is th e Shepherd. Note how quietly He com-" mands Zaccheus to come down. I t will never do fo r men to look down on Him. They m ust look up to Him. So Jesus would say today to th e critical scholars, » “Come down from your lofty thoughts of self; come down from: your conde scending ways; com e1down and take your places as helpless, hopeless sinners a t my feet.” Here is a tru e picture of our Lord Jesús: “Seeking to save; seeking to m anifest to men His g ra c e .and power; seeking to save and bless; passing down through th e centuries, hands ou tstretch ed to bless.” There were many rich men in Jericho, many beggars, bu t only two are re corded as waiting and willing to re spond to His invitation- (3) THE SELF-INVITED STRANGER, vs. 6, 7. “ I must abide in thy house.” How gladly Zaccheus came down and received his self-invited, guest; Perhaps he had thought, “How I would like to have th is man in my home, as Matthew did,” (Luke 5 :2 9 ), and th e Lord an swered his unspoken desire (John 1:11, 12). He w ants to live in the h earts of His own, bu t how often He is an un known, unrecognized, unwelcome guest! How little we make of Him! “No room in the inn .” Jesus waits for no invitation from the sinner. He H imself gives th e invitation. He wants to come in, bu t how often the door is shu t and th e re is no response to th e knock or the call. W hat an honor for the poor, despised publican!- W h at a Guest! The World- C reator becomes th e friend and guest of sinners! Let us give Him the best seat, th e guest room, th e place of honor always.
Could Jesus be the promised Messiah? W hat a struggle in his soul! He was small of statu re. Jesus was leaving th e city. His opportunity would soon pass. How undignified to run ahead of the crowd and climb a tree! But a strange fascination controlled and compelled him and he ra n ahead, climbed a syco- more tree and sat on a limb. Do not fail to get th is picture of the soul-hungry man and remember th a t th ere are thousands of ju st' such weary, soul-sick men and women waiting to see ‘‘Christ in us, the hope of glory” -and to personally realize th a t He can fill the hungry soul w ith gladn,ess. W hat a strang e emotion m ust have swept over the sbul of Zaccheus as the procession stopped and Jesus looked up into his face and w ith his own eyes he saw th e m iracle-worker, th e F rien d of th e publicans and sinners! W hat thoughts passed through his mind, th ink you? Was th e re a hope in his b reast th a t in some way he m ight re ceive a blessing ere He passed by? (2 ) THE SAVIOR SEEKING TO SAVE THE SINNER, v. 5. “ Zaccheus, make haste and come down.” No one had to tell Jesus th a t a man was in the tree, th a t his name was Zac cheus and th a t he was a tax-gatherer. The purpose of His coming th rough J e r icho was to find th is sinner. , He knew when th e tree first sprouted from th e seed th a t some day He would find th is man in it, waiting for Him, and th a t He would pluck precious fru it from it. He knew w hat was going on in the h eart of Zaccheus ju st as He knew what was in the h ea rt of N athanael uh d er the fig tree (John 1:50, 51). Did He not see the man carrying th e p itch er of w ater? (Luke 22 :10 ). Did He no t read th e h earts of the Pharisees? Did He not know what was in th e h ea rt of every man? Does He not know today? Do we not know th a t we can never hide anything from Him? Does He not know when we teach whether our h earts are
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