THE CONVERSION OF ZACOHEUS A SERMON.

Shannon News, 27 June 1924, Page 4

THE CONVERSION OF ZACOHEUS A SERMON.

(!By Ttev. A. BoiaglasyßroTvn.) , -Text? "For the Sou of'Man. is, come to seek and to save that which was lost.*'—Luke-six. 10. „ iTTl ni fi My text to-night is a very simple one. "Son of Man"--that .£ the significant titles of our Lord and Saviour: it suggests dominion over the earth. "When the Son of Man shall come, and all the holy angels; with Him." It is the title' that has with Christ's dominion upon 'this earth, and over this earth. This particular portion .of God's Word, however, is linked up, with the conversion of the tax-gatherer. It seems; a wonderful thing that this title, "Son of Man!, should be linked up with this great miracle of ounvarsion. Yet, as you study it prayerfully, you will see the Divine order of things. Nineteen hundred years ago God, in His infinite love and mercy, »ent to this world a King; but men rejected Him. They said', "We will; not have this Man to reign- over us." ' One day • , '■ THIS KING IS TO-COME BACK. I do not know when He will come. But it is enough for us to know that Jesus Christ has not finished With this world. There is to be a setting up cf the'kmg- ' dom of righteousness on this earth. May we strive so to live that when He does come, we may not be ashamed at His coming! . What is Christ doing during this dispensation of grace? He is, through His Church, and by the Holy' Spirit, ! making a wonderful offer of grace to the! sons iof men. There has been delivered to the Church on earth, by the Spirit of God, the great message of salvation. This is the day of: grace;/] God.can givo no more to this world than He has given. He can do no more for this world than He has done. God has given His only begotten Son. in I this dispensation men can either ACCEPT OR REJECT HIM.

The: great and beautiful ministry ol> the risen and glorified Christ to-day is a ministry of ■. grace -toward this world. The Lord Jesus Christ, by His Holy Spirit, through the Word of truth, conveyed by lips of His faithful and prayerfuHservaiits, is today speaking the word of saving^grace,

:>nd pi-cclaimlhs the ! ro{ssage oi! great salvation.-This story of the conversion be Zaccheus illustrates Christ's present ministry.

'Whenever you read the story of tile conversion' of Zaccheus, you ! immediately \tirin\<,,/about the sycamore tree: that the .story of c&nverisibn began long before the incident of

>, THE SYCAMORE TREE. Tlventure to suggest that the story began in Luke xviii. 3, whore we have the record of the poor widow, who ifrcnt to:-Ike »judge and .pleaded her ifciso before him. She had a .private ijnoarned income-, and when the taxation- became heavy, she was one of the people who felt the pinch most acutely; and she was at the mercy of the taft-ga there r, a very unscrupulous man, and who I suggest was Zaccheus. And her pleading was such that even the unjust judge gave in, and said: "Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troublcth me, I willavengo her, lest by her continual coming she weary mo." And -the case' went in her favour; and that must have meant something to Zaccheus. He knew that HE WAS FOUND OUT.

£lc knew that his old life had been very severely disturbed; and he began Lo awaken to the fact that a man can- ■ not go on living - a sinful life without at some period God dealing with him by very drastic and' unexpected means. 'The Case had gone against him. People would begin to make enquiries and he knew that his life and methods -would not stand out in any kindly light in the eyes of the people. I think it dawned upon Zacchcus that day that he was a sinner, that his life was all wrong. And so that night two men went up to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer. I think it was then that God's Holy Spirit begaru to work in the heart of Zaccheus. He just crept into the temple, and dropped down on his knees in penitence. And

WHEN THE PHARISEE CAME IN and saw'trim, lie summed the whole thing up.- He said: "I thank Thcc that I am-not" like some; other- people, extortioners, uaijustj s or- even■ as : this taxgatherer!" And Zaccheus knew it-was all true. "And the.publican beat upon his breast, and said,-God be merciful to me the sinner." That is the translation, 'He felt ho was the worst man in the whoje of Jericho. "And Jesus entered and passed through- Jericho.'-There you have God's answer to '■• man• under ■ conviction of sin, and whi desires-salvation.. That was the last occasion on which Jesus passed through ' Jericho. I am quite certain' of this, that no heart ever truly seeks SALVATION, .WITHOUT JESUS

passing by that soul in order to satisfy its deepest need, to solve its' biggest problems, and do bring it into the sweet peace oil Divine grace. It your soul is going out after God tonight, it is because Jesus Christ is passing by.; Ar<? you seeking Him? "God be merciful to me, a sinner." Is that the cry of your heart? The greatest thing in the world is not your sinfulness; it is tihe mercy of God. "Where sin abounded, there did the grace much more abound." If you are tonight seking the Lord Jesus Christ, it "is bec'atise the Holy Spirit is preparing your heart to receive Him., and preparing your life to come under His .rule and sway. Jesus Christ is passing by. The love and;gra"e of God in Christ is;'His answer to every seeking soul. Of course, Zaccheus had his difficulties. No man who is genuinely striving to come to God can do so without meeting difficulties. If you have no difficulties, then I very much doubt THE REALITY OF YOUR , REPENTANCE, i and the depth of your desire. Tf you really desire to come to Him, you must meet with difficulties. Your-first-great

difficulty you find within, yourselves. Zaccheus felt a sense of his own unworthlncsß. Ho tut he was not worth troubling abolit. The ■ only thing- he could' ltray for was for mercy. When 'be thought of his own sinfulness, he could not elass himself with others. He :put himself lu a class away ;from all the resl.. aud said, "I am a sinner. 1 Have mercy upon me." If that sense , (.£ unworthiness is tempting: some ot you to hold back tonight, 1 pray you look to Calvary, and remember that Jesus Christ died on the Cross, not, for the best, but for the worst. He gave us an illustration of His ineffable grace in winning that dying thief m the J,AST HOUR OF HIS 'AGONY. Take all your difficulties to Calvary. Bury them at the foot of the Cross, Dare to believe that there is something greater in the world than your unworthiness; it is the worthiness of Jesus Christ. Zaccheus had personal difficulties also, as well a s the difficulties within his ,o\vn heart. He was small of stature We'are all small somewhere, There is some part of our character not fully developed. We are all small at some point, and that may be the very point where you are being kept back from the Lord Jesus Christ. It may be pride; it may he jealously; it may be fear of man. But there is something. There is a personal difficulty. Then, of course, there are • outside difficulties. And there always will be. Zaccheus could not see Jesus for the press. There always will *he difficulties if you want to come 1 to th e Lord J'fsus Christ. Your circumstances may slemto yon' to be almost, insurmountable. At one of my campaigns a lady came into the room of quiet; and she said to. one of the Christian workers: "i know exact 1> V - what I ought to do.. The difficulty with m e is not that I do not see God's way of salvation clearly, —the'difficulty with me is FEAR OF MY HUSBAND.

The fact that lam attending' these meetings has aroused his auger,, and lie.'lias-.forbidden my attending any more of these gatherings. If I hand my life over to God, it must be a real thing, and I am counting the cost, and in counting the cost I am discovering my cowardice." On thati same night G-od had been dealing with a* man, and when the invitation .was .given;'out he Went down into one;.of .the rooms of quiet. He knew his duty; he knew ; the way to salvation; he wanted, to make the great decision. But his circum r stances were - difficult,, so he thought. ;He said* "If I were to decide v £or Christ to-night,no one would believe me. I liave let all my friends down badly. I have .■ ■ • ■- ■

iTKEATED MY WIFE SHAMEFULLY -I said: "if you give your life to Jesus Christ, don't you 1 think you can trust (that wonderful -Saviour -to make people believe it, if it is real?" After some prayei lie made the great cb'fliI fession, and left; the dreaded to-mor--row with God. A lew mniutes before, ; the lady had also come to the same 'decision, and when they met after leaving the room of quiet, the husband and vvife,fcame face to face! Yes, Satan tries'* his level best to keep you \ back from decision for Christ, - by-re-" * mincling»you of thei diHicil]ties and pro. blems of your, life." There is something greater than all your difficulties put together, and that is tho call of Christ Himself.

So Jesus came to the sycamore tree, and looked up.and saw Zaccheus, and said to-"him: "kaccheus, make haste and come down, l'or today I must abide at thy house." Make haste and come down.ll' you. come to Him in all sincerity, in penitence for the past, and iu simple faith .because of Christ's work on Calvary, all. the past will be wiped but.

"MAKE BASTE AND COME DOWN.". They may;laugh at you in-the factory to-morrow. They may say sarcastic things about you behind, the counter to-morrow. But Christ promises to look after to-morrow as well as you. J-le will give you daily grace as well salvation. Make haste and come down. Yon may owe money to people. You may have been aii. extortioner. But Christ knows all about the past. That is why He stopped. You cannot put the past right. You have got to gut yourself right first. When you are right yourself, then He will give you strength to. put right the things that are wrong. "Make haste ; and come down, fur to-day I must abide at thy house."