How to know Jesus Personally
Luke 19:1-10
All scripture marked NKJV: The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Tonight, we are going to look Luke 19:1-10, which is found on page 929 in the red Bible underneath your chair.
Here we find a man named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a man who came to know Jesus personally.
Do you know Jesus personally tonight?
We live in a world that longs to have a relationship with God.
In the celebrity world, we have recently heard that Tom Cruise is outspoken about his commitment to Scientology.(www.religionfacts.com)
Lindsay Lohan recently acknowledged that she was “looking into Kabbalah,” and is planning a “spiritual journey” with Madonna. (www.msnbc.com)
Angelica Jolie was asked "Is there a God?" and she gave the following answer:
“For some people. I hope so, for them. For the people who believe in it, I hope so. There doesn’t need to be a God for me. There’s something in people that’s spiritual, that’s godlike. I don’t feel like doing things just because people say things, but I also don’t really know if it’s better to just not believe in anything, either. (www.religionfacts.com)
The world is seeking answers to how to know God. Not as some far away mythical being, but something close and personal.
We see in this story, that Zacchaeus was similar to the people that I have mentioned. He was rich and he was powerful.
Tom Cruise, Lindsay Lohan, Angelica Jolie, and Madonna are some of the most powerful names in show business. Zacchaeus was powerful and like those actors, it really doesn’t matter whether people liked him or not—Zacchaeus was a tax collector, he was still powerful—and rich.
But it wasn’t enough.
He was missing something in his life. He was missing companionship. He didn’t have many friends, he probably used all that he had to get ahead and he probably didn’t trust them because of his wealth.
He was not well liked by the people; they called him “sinner”.
He was a thief. He made his money by charging extra for the taxes, and he was good at charging high taxes. He was the chief tax collector.
He needed love, acceptance, and freedom from the guilt he held.
What is it that you are missing in your life today?
Is it acceptance? Is it encouragement? Is it freedom from guilt?
We were designed to know God personally. When God created the heavens and the earth, he made man and woman in his image to know Him and to have a relationship with him.
We desire a relationship with God, much like Adam and Eve had when they were walking through the garden having intimate conversations with the Father.
A recent study by released in American Sociological Review says that one in four Americans have no one they feel that they can confide in. This means that people are living lonelier than they have in the past. (http://www.psycport.com)
We have a desire to have close friendships. We desire love and acceptance because we were built to receive that.
The Bible teaches that you and I can have a personal relationship with God through knowing Jesus Christ. In fact, the Bible says that “No one comes to the Father except through (Jesus).” (Jn 14:6, NKJV).
Therefore, you can know God personally through knowing Jesus personally.
Look with me at Luke 19:1-10;
1Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. (LK19:1, NKJV)
Jesus was passing through Jericho. If you look at the previous chapters, you will read about Jesus teaching and performing miracles. He was ministering to the people as he traveled, teaching them and helping them.
As He is traveling along, a large crowd surrounded Him. This was a common occurrence. People flocked around Jesus, several times in the New Testament, the Bible mentioned that several thousand were surrounding him.
What does that feel like? Think back to the SRP at Dryer Field House. Think about how tight that was. Or what about the DFAC at lunchtime. Or Wal-Mart at Christmas.
Jesus was often surrounded by large crowds and they were all focused around him. This was no different.
2 Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. (LK19:2-3, NKJV)
Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. But, Zacchaeus was short.
The crowd was large and tall around him.
Have you ever noticed that the bigger the crowd is, the shorter you feel?
That’s because it is harder to get around the tall people that are in your way.
That is why stadium seating in movies is so desirable, because I don’t know about you but in the traditional theaters…it never fails for someone who was taller than I to sit in front of me.
I sit down and get all comfortable as the movie starts and Shaquille O’neal sits down right in front of me. Not only that but he brought all of his buddies with him. There’s no way to see the movie and there is no where to move, because the movie is sold out.
This is Zacchaeus. He was prevented from seeing Jesus, because he was short in the first place and the crowd was large. He was separated from him.
All of us desire to know God. The Bible says that knowing God occurs through knowing Jesus. Therefore, whether we know it or not…whether we are willing to admit it or not—we all have a desire to know Jesus.
We were designed to know Him. But we are separated from him because of our sin.
Sin is anything that we think, say, or do that makes God unhappy. Sin is disobedience to God. The punishment for this sin was death—which is separation from God.
We know better that others about separation. We have spent a year separated from our families, from our homes, from our way of life.
We have spent time longing to be back to where it is comfortable. We have missed speaking face to face with the people we love. We have missed holding our children. We have missed watching life evolve around us.
In my midtour brief, I encouraged the people to “understand that change has occurred while you have been gone. There are new TV shows, new hit songs, new clothing styles. There have also been changes occur with the people you love.”
We have missed all of that—we have been separated.
And we are separated from God, because of our sin.
We desire to have a relationship with Him—but because of sin we are separated.
One major difference between the separation during a deployment and the separation between God and man is that deployments end—the separation between God and sinful man does not.
This separation is eternal and we can not escape this punishment. There has to be a punishment. Since the beginning of time the punishment was set. We are to die for our sin and be separated from God.
But,
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (Jn 3:16-17, NKVJ).
The sin must be punished. God knows this. He sent Jesus to become the payment. By dying on the cross Jesus paid the penalty of our sin. He paid this by dying on the cross in our place.
Most of us, at some time have dealt with debt. The average American carries more than $8,000 in credit card debt alone. (www.msn.com) We seem to get buried in paying for this debt. The longer we wait to pay it off the higher the amount becomes and the harder it is to pay off.
Monica and I have struggled with debt several times in our marriage as we have gone from place to place in my career and sometimes not finding a way to make ends meet.
Each month, it has been a struggle to pay off this debt little by little. Monica has done a wonderful job of getting this all paid off, but debt can become like a set of handcuffs—restraining everything that you do.
We have in our spiritual life a sin debt. The Bible says
10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. (Jas 2:10,NKJV).
That means that if we have committed one sin we are guilty of it all. Another way of saying it is “If we have gone in debt for one dollar, we are in debt for all the debt in the world.”
With one stroke, Jesus paid that debt for us. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for all of our sin.
I looked at my credit report this week and for the accounts that I’ve had in the past the statement said; Balance Zero, Paid.
I look at my credit report with God. I look at the sin that is in my life and the payment that I must pay an it reads balance Zero, Paid.
All because of Jesus died on a cross, 2000 years ago in my place.
Through this payment, Jesus makes it possible to approach him and accept him.
Zacchaeus saw a tree—a sycamore tree. I looked online at what a sycamore tree looked like—they are very big trees. As we would say when we were little—it is a good climbing tree. They have big trunks and low braches.
And Zacchaeus ran up and climbed that tree to see Jesus pass by.
I believe God placed that tree right there, so Zacchaeus could see Jesus.
The crowd was all around him and he couldn’t see anything. This was his one chance to see this man they called Jesus.
4 So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. 5 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.” 6 So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.
(LK19:4-6, NKJV)
Jesus stopped and looked at Zacchaeus and said “I must stay at your house today.” Of the entire crowd that was around him—he asked to stay with Zacchaeus.
And the Bible says that Jesus is doing the same thing in our lives. He is giving us opportunities to meet with him. The Bible says that Jesus is knocking on the door to our hearts asking for us to open it up to him. (Re 3:20)
Zacchaeus jumped at the opportunity to invite Jesus in.
8 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.”
9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (LK19:8-10, NKJV)
Zacchaeus began a personal relationship with Jesus that day. He invited Jesus in and he turned from his sin and followed Jesus.
A relationship with Jesus begins with inviting him into your life turning from sin and turning toward Jesus. He paid the penalty for your sin. He has made it possible to know God and regain a personally relationship with him.
Do you know Jesus tonight? Are you sitting in your chair tonight thinking to yourself, “I have never accepted Jesus as the payment for my sin. I have gone to church. I have given some money. But I have never turned from my sin and followed Christ.”
Tonight is your opportunity to do this.
Tonight, we are going to do something a little different, something we don’t normally do.
We are going to open up this platform for you to take time to do business with God.
Maybe this is time for you to invite Jesus into your life. I will be down here in front to talk with you more about that. This is a time for you to do this. Every person that Jesus called, he called publicly—this is your time to invite him into your life.
This is also a time for those of you who have invited him into your life, but want to take time to renew your commitment.
You may have an issue you want to talk with Jesus about. There’s nothing special about walking forward to bring this before the Lord, but it will give you an opportunity to solidify your commitment to him.
What ever you have in your heart, this is a time where you can do business with God.
You come.
