Jesus calls us to himself, and his grace has made friendship possible
Sermon Title: JESUS OUR FRIEND
Sermon Text: LUKE 19:1-10
Sermon Series: WHO IS JESUS?
By: PTR. NIC SY
Sermon Notes:
LUKE 19:1-10 NIV
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.
2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.
4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’”
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.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
JESUS, A FRIEND OF SINNERS
MATTHEW 9:9 NIV
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
LUKE 5:29-32 NIV
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
LUKE 7:37-39 NIV
37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume,
38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is--that she is a sinner.”
JESUS, A FOE OF THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS
MATTHEW 23:25 NIV
25 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
MATTHEW 23:27 NIV
27 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.
MATTHEW 23:33 NIV
33 You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
Who is Jesus to you?
Is he a friend or foe?
Application 1.
LET’S BE VERY CAREFUL WITH PRIDE.
JAMES 4:6 NIV
6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
It’s not just what we say but how we say it.
Application 2.
LET US LIVE FOR CHRIST.
LUKE 19:1-10 NIV
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.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
Jesus calls us to himself, and his grace has made friendship possible