Households (Luke 19)

… And he ran before and he climbed up a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and he saw him, and he said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. He had already touched his heart when he called his name. Some of us can remind the night that Jesus called this by name. He may be calling someone here tonight. He knows your name, you know. He knows your hiding place. He wants you to come out. And he made haste, Zacchaeus, he made haste and he came down and he received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying that he was going to be a guest with a man that was a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, for if I had taken anything from any man by false accusations, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation. Come to this house for as much as he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Now, I just want to pass a few remarks on about this part of the scriptures, and then we'll go to another house, which I don't want to repeat myself because time goes in so quickly. I suppose in the day in which we're living in, we are quite accustomed to people having a name for their house. Well, I'm sure if we passed by this house, Zacchaeus, we could put a name up, couldn't we? Salvation. Salvation. We could well write over this man's house. Salvation had never came to his house before, you know, but it made a change in him, didn't it? It made a change in his life, in his heart, and in his home. And this is what the gospel is, you know. It's good news. This is what the Lord was anointed to do, to preach the gospel to the poor and to heal the brokenhearted. And what a grand thing it is when salvation comes into a person's life and it comes into a person's home. What a change it makes. What a deliverance it is when we see salvation coming into a home. And we can well repeat tonight that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is a word that's much used amongst us. It means three things, so to speak. So to speak, it means that we're delivered from our sins, from the penalty of sin, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Now, this is a simple terms of the gospel. And then as we trust him and salvation comes to our heart and home, we realize day by day we're saved from the power of sin, saved by his life. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Those are the simple terms of the gospel. But you know, my dear friends, that someday we're going to be delivered from the very presence of sin. This is a wonderful thing. It's a wonderful day, you know. We're in a present evil world and sin and sinners are abounding in every hand. But there's coming a day very soon when we who have trusted him, we who have been changed, we who have taken salvation, we who know what salvation is in our hearts and lives and homes, we're going to be delivered from the very presence of sin. A wonderful day it is for the Christian, wonderful hope. I'm sorry for those in this world tonight, why men's hearts are failing them for fear. Everything's in disorder, but everything in heaven is ordered by the Lord and things are moving on to the end. And we're looking forward to the Lord Jesus coming when we shall be delivered from the very presence of sin. I wonder if you're ready. We're going to see Zacchaeus someday, you know. We're going to join these people who have trusted the Lord. I wonder if you're going to be with us. This man, he heard his name called out, Zacchaeus. Ah, his heart was touched. His heart was won. And he made haste and he came down. Oh, you've got to get down, you know. This is a great stumbling block today. Men are so high and mighty and heady, but you know, he that humbles himself shall be exalted. You know, things have changed so much in the world, but God's terms of salvation have never changed. Repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a way to blessing and we want you to come and take salvation. You remember David, when he summed it up, he says, what shall I render unto the Lord for all his many benefits towards me? He says, I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. The cup of salvation, what do you mean? It means this, the cup of salvation is full of spiritual, heavenly, eternal blessings tonight. Why in that cup there is salvation, there is sins forgiven, there is justification, there is sanctification, there is reconciliation, there is eternal life. Do you wish anything more? We want you to take and trust the Lord Jesus tonight and take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Now there's much more could be said about this man's house, but we'll leave Zacchaeus and we'll leave that notice above his house, salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Now we'll visit another house. Chapter 8. Now I won't read all this chapter, I just want to read a few verses here and there. Most of us are well acquainted with this. This was a man who was untamable, wild man he was. You'll see what happened to his heart and house. We'll read from verse 26. We'll just read a few verses here and there just to get the connection. And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Jerusalem. By the way, I've been in this city, in this town. And when he went forth to land and met out of the city a certain man, which a devil's long time wore no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. What a man this was. Untamable, uncurable. And when Jesus saw him, he cried out and fell down before him. And with a loud voice said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oft times it had caught him, and he was kept bound with chains and fetters. And he broke the bands and was driven off the devil into the wilderness. Jesus asked him, saying, what is thy name? And he said, legion, because many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there was a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain. And they besought him that he would not suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. Then went the devils out of this man and entered into the swine. And the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and was choked. And when they that fed him saw what was done, they fled and went and told it in the city and came into the country. Then they went out to see what was done. And they came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the devils were departed. Now notice he was sitting at the feet of Jesus. And he was clothed. And he was in his right mind. And they were afraid. And they also which saw it told them by what means he was possessed of the devils was healed. Then the whole multitude of the country of the gathering round about besought him to depart from them. For they were taken with great fear. And he went up into the ship and returned back again. Now the man of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him. But Jesus sent him away saying return to thine own house. And show how great things God has done for thee. And he went his way and he published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done for him. What a change came into this man's life. What a testimony it must have been in this village to see a wild man like this changed. You can imagine them coming along and seeing him sitting at the feet of Jesus. And he was clothed. And he was in his right mind. What does it all mean? It means this, that the man was delivered. You remember we read last night that the Lord Jesus could say the spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel to the pure, to heal the broken hearted, and to give deliverance. Deliverance to the captives. We're going to put this word above this man's house. Delivered. Why have you went along this street and looked at this house? Oh that man's been delivered. Nobody could deliver him but Jesus. Uncurable, untamable, but Jesus is the master of every situation. He was delivered. And he went to his own home. What a change. Why they would welcome him in. We wonder what's wrong. But he come in contact with Jesus. Now does these things happen today you may ask me. But I'm going to take you to two homes that I know of in Scotland. And tell you about two men who was greatly delivered. And how their houses was changed. I won't take long to tell you because the time is going on. Just after the war, I was down in Dunbar one day. You'll see this house if you visit Dunbar at any time. The house is just next to the live boat station, the left hand side of the harbour. And being acquainted with Dunbar, we'd often went in there when I was a young lad at the fishing. I knew some people, I knew some of the fishermen, and I knew their houses. And this man's house, this man is called Robert Marr. We used to call him Rob Marr. He's a fisherman, rough, rough man, wild man he was. And his house was like himself. It was wild looking from the outside and inside too. But we went down this day and I saw a text in the window of this house. And the house was nicely decorated outside and I believe inside too. By the looks of the outside, I could well imagine what would be inside. I thought to myself, well, there's a change here. I'm sure Robert Marr used to stay there when I used to know him. I'm sure it wasn't like this. It's a change. So I made enquiries and I seen Robert Marr and I thought, by there's a change in this man. And I spoke to him. And this is what happened. The man had got delivered. He'd got salvation, had come to his house and his home. And his wife and him have meetings in their house now. They're attached to the faith mission. There they are, delivered. What a change. If you had known that man as I knew him, he was a young fisher, a bad boy, you would say, well, he would have been the last in Dunbar to trust the Lord. This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. Oh, what a change. What a change. Of course, it changes our lives. It changes our hearts and it changes our homes. This man's home was changed. Number one, a few years ago in the shop, there was a traveller came in. He said to me, he knew me as a Christian, he said to me, have you heard about that wild man in Airdrie who's been 40 odd times in Berlin, prison, he's got converted, you know, he says he's turning the place upside down. What a man, what a testimony he has now. So I said to myself, why, I would like to meet that man. However, a few weeks after that, I heard about this man again. I said to my wife, you know, I would like to meet this man. I'm sure I've heard so much about him. I would like to meet this man. Well, we have friends in Airdrie and I thought, well, we'll take a run round through to Airdrie someday and we'll take our tape recorder and we'll meet this man, we'll get his testimony. And when we went to visit our friends, they said, oh, yes, Duncan Donaldson, you know him, some of you have read about him in the papers, wild man he was. It took about five or six policemen to put him into a car, into a van to take him to jail. Massive man, huge man, some of us have met him. And we went to his house, what a change, what a change was in his house. By the way, he has some testimony in that place in Airdrie, near Glasgow. What a change was in this man. And we went into his house and he welcomed us in. Come in, brother, he says, come in, brother and sister. There he was and we had an interview with him. And he started to sing, great boy to sing, but he had something to sing about. He used to sing in the pubs, you know, but he had something to sing about now. And he's still singing, you know, and we can well put over his house, salvation, deliverance, many other things, spiritual blessings. So, you see, it works, it does work, you know. We can remember when our feet tread a very, very bad way too, but we've been delivered, you see. Men in this place can give testimony to deliverance. Well, I'm sure if there's one in this room tonight, we want you to come to Jesus. This man, he was sitting and he was clothed and he was in his right mind. Now, what does it all speak about? Well, I'll tell you what it speaks about. It means that you're in perfect suitability for God's presence. Anyone who's in Christ, they are secure eternally. We're not safe today, you know, unless tomorrow, oh no. If any man be in Christ, there is new creation. And this was the verse that Duncan quoted to us. I want to read you a verse brother, I've been enjoying today. And this is what he read from Corinthians. If any man be in Christ, there is a new creation. I was living in the good of deliverance. Oh, we want you to come to Jesus tonight. There are many homes in this gospel by Luke and Jesus. He makes a good job of men and women's lives, but he changes their homes. And we want you to come to him tonight. Now we'll visit another home. Could we turn to chapter 18? Chapter 18. Verse 9. And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray. The one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and he prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican standing far off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you that this man went down, down to his house, justified. Rather than the other, for everyone that exalted himself shall be amazed. And he that humbles himself shall be exalted. Well, there's no doubt as to the name above this man's house. He went home to his house, justified, justified. What a wonderful thing it is to be justified. One of the spiritual blessings, isn't it? Who justifies? It is God that justifies. Of course, we have to go to the epistle to the Romans to enter the truth of justification. We're justified by faith. We're justified by blood. It is God that justifies. Who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies. In Romans 8, we have no condemnation. We have no accusation. And thank God, there is no separation. This man stood far off. You know, in Luke's gospel, there are quite a few scenes where people are standing far off. And this man was standing far off. You remember the letters in chapter 17. They stood afar off because they were unclean. But God doesn't want men and women, boys and girls to stand far off. He wants us to be near him. Joseph says, come near, I pray thee. The Lord wants us near, near to him. And you know why men and women are far off tonight? It's because of their sins. There is the separation, the sin question. The sin question. But the moment you get this barrier cleared, your sins forgiven by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, him who died on Calvary's cross for your sins and mine, we not only get sins forgiven, but we get justified. Just if we had never sinned. Justified. It's removed. And we're justified because it is God who justifies. And this man, of course, he prayed the right prayer. He came the right way. He accepted God's terms of salvation. And you know, there's no modern terms today. We must have the terms from the Bible, from the scriptures. And it's God, be merciful to me, a sinner. This man, we've read, we can read in chapter 15, isn't it? This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. And sinners, Jesus came to save. And this man knew he was a sinner. A guilty sinner. And he said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. It wasn't a long prayer, was it? You don't need to pray for half an hour or 20 minutes or 10 minutes. There's some very short prayers in scripture. In fact, in Luke's gospel, we have one of the shortest prayers came from a dying man. On the cross, you remember when the two thieves and Jesus was in the midst, there was a dying thief and he prayed a very short prayer. Lord, remember me. Oh, the short prayers in Luke's gospel. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And you know, God hears prayers and he answers them. Just a brief sentence from the heart takes account of the heart. We read last night that the man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord takes account of the heart. And here was a man from his heart, wouldn't lift his eyes up to heaven. He says, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. But he got the blessing, you see, like the dying thief with the Lord. He got the blessing. The Lord said to him, and the Lord was dying for his sins and for your sins and for mine. And call this cross. Sitting down, they watched him there. And the Lord of glory was numbered with the dead dying. The just one for us, the unjust to bring us to God. This man, this dying thief who deserved to die in his sins. The Lord said to him today. Today, I shall be with me in paradise. The answer was given immediately. My hero tonight, if you just cry to the Lord, call upon salvation. He will hear you and you'll be saved immediately and you'll go home tonight. Justified, justified, justified before God. Wouldn't you like to take that thought home with you tonight? Thought of justification. What a thought, what a blessing. The blessings of the Lord can be used tonight by simple faith and trust in the Lord Jesus. We desire that you might call upon the Lord tonight. Take this prayer into your lips and cry, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And you go home to your house as this man did. He went home to his house. Justified. Now we'll take you to another home. Chapter 10. Now we've been discussing a few men going home to their homes. Now we're going to visit a sister's home. We're going to bring the sisters in now, the women in. We'll read from verse 38. Now it came to pass, chapter 10. Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she and her sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard the word. And Martha was coming about with much serving, came to him and said, Lord, does they not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Bid her, therefore, that she help me. Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, oh, he knows our names, all right. Oh, he knows our names, all right. Now we're careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her. Now we have two sisters. I wonder what we can put over this home. Well, this was a home that the Lord Jesus enjoyed happy communion and fellowship. Could we put over this home communion or could we put fellowship? He enjoyed fellowship. Now, you know, divine persons like fellowship. When John, in his writings, he tells us that we have fellowship with the father and with his son and with one another and the blood of Christ, God's son cleansed us from all sin. You know, we were speaking about the tabernacle last night. Well, it was where God would dwell with his people. I will meet with thee. I will dwell with thee. And what a grand thing it is to have companionship with the Lord Jesus. And here was a home, Martha and Mary. They had no doubt came in touch with the Lord. They had the joy of salvation and they could ask him into their house. You notice he speaks to them individually. He mentions them by name and he calls Martha twice, Martha, Martha. You know, sometimes we need the second call. Martha, Martha. There are many second calls in Scripture, you know. First one was Abraham, you remember? Abraham. You remember too, there was little Samuel in the temple. There's young people here tonight, children. But the Lord takes account of the children too. And you remember young Samuel, he says, Samuel, Samuel. When we come to the New Testament, we have three, I think, who had the second call, whom the Lord had to mention twice. You remember the apostle Paul when he got converted, Saul? Saul, why persecutest thou me? You remember too in Peter's case, Jesus had to say to him one day, Simon, Simon. He might be calling your name tonight. I don't know your name, but Jesus knows your name. He has called Zacchaeus by his name. He's speaking now to Martha and Mary, and I'm sure we've a lesson to learn here. Martha, she was complaining about much serving, complaining about much serving. Although, mind you, we need the Marthas. The Marthas are needed in the assembly, those who are going to serve. And Jesus knows just what is needed. We know that Mary chose the good part. And Jesus had to say, one thing is needful. How true this is. One thing is needful. There are many one things in scripture. David says, one thing have I desired of the Lord, that which I will seek after. Apostle Paul says, one thing I do. One thing thou lackest, rich man. One thing I know, once I was blind, but now I see. There's a list of them. Is there one thing in your life tonight that's keeping you back from the Savior? As Jesus to say to you, one thing is needful. He knows what it is. I don't know what it is. But Jesus knows. He knows your name. He knows your circumstances. I'll tell you better. He knows your needs tonight. And you need Jesus. If you're still in your sins, he's the only one that can take your sins away. He's the only one that can clothe you with garments of salvation. He's the only one that can make you fit for God's presence. What a joy it is to be clothed and sitting at his feet and in your right mind. Perfect suitability for God's presence. What a joy it is just to come to Jesus in simple faith. Well, this was a home where the Lord could come and he could have happy fellowship with those dear sisters. And you know, there's homes in Newcastle, homes in the assembly here, where there's Martha's and there's Mary's, and Jesus takes account of it. And it's a good thing when salvation not only comes to our heart and into our lives, but into our homes. And he takes account of all these things. And someday we're going to be ushered into his presence. Now, there are many more homes, but I think we better finish with chapter 15. That's about time. That's about time we'll be up to this time. Now, in chapter 15, it starts away telling us that this man received the sinners and he did with them. We have the work of divine persons working here, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But time doesn't permit just to go into the account of this wonderful chapter, this chapter of the prodigal son or the younger son. But you'll notice that even in the finding of the lost sheep in verse six, and when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours said, Rejoice with me, for I found my sheep that was lost. And the piece of silver, it's in connection with the house too, a home too, so on. But I just want to draw your attention to the confession of the young man. Verse 18, he says, I will arise and go to my father and say to him, I have sinned against heaven and before me, and I'm not more worthy to be called my son. Make me one of thy hard servants. And he arose and he came to his father. And when his father saw him a great way off notice, the father ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. We have a divine person. God the father running, running to bless, running to save, fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to the father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to him, bring forth the best robe. Notice it's the best robe. It's new creation. It's the best robe. There's nothing but the best God will give you. Sinners, Jesus came to save and it's the very best, the best robe. We get those three scriptures, you know, good, better and best. It's a good thing to draw unto the Lord. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put your confidence in men. But when you come to this, God gives us the very best. The best that heaven could provide his own beloved son, the Lord Jesus. If any man be in Christ, there is new creation. And this is new creation, the very best robe. Bring forth the best robe and put it on his feet. Ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. Bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found and he began to make merry. The elder son was in the field and he came and drew nigh. He drew nigh to the house and he heard the music and the dancing, but he would not go in. We can well put over this house reconciliation. Reconciliation, what a thought. Every Christian in this world has been reconciled to God through the death of his son, the death of his son. And what a house this is. Why we can apply it to the father's house, the singing and the dancing. Sinning and sadness have fled away. Joy and gladness fills our hearts. It says in this chapter, there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. Oh, what a joy. There's joy attached to salvation, you know. When David was out of touch with the Lord, that was his cry, restore unto me salvation. No, restore unto me the joy of salvation. Oh, the joy of salvation. The joy of divine persons is a wonderful thing, you know. We have the joy of God. We have the joy of the Lord. You could say my joy I give unto thee. We have the joy of the Holy Spirit. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God. My word, when you get to heaven, you know it's a scene of joy. Not much joy in this world is there. Sin, sorrow, sadness and death on every hand. Is it true what I'm saying? You know it's true. We all know it's true. We all feel it very much like we're going to a scene where there's no more sin. When all taint of sin shall be removed, all evil shall be done away, and we shall dwell with God's beloved through God's eternal day. Ah, the music, the joy and the singing. We were singing this last night. He leads the singing, joy in the singing which he leadeth. Ah, it's a grand thing to be able to sing. When we first get converted, you know, we always sing about the Lord. But as we grow in grace, you know, we are taught to sing to the Lord, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. We all do this, brothers and sisters alike. Sisters, when they're washing the dishes and so on, carrying on with the music and singing to the Lord. So can we at our work. But you know, the greatest singing in scripture is singing with the Lord. He's singing in the midst of the assembly and we sing with him. We join him with his singing. And the singing going on now, it will go on eternally. You want to join us? This elder son, he wouldn't go in. My, there's many hears the gospel and they hear about the joy of salvation and the joy and the singing that goes on. They won't come in. My, here, some day the door will be closed. The door was open here for this elder son to come in. He wouldn't go in. There's many like this, you know, they won't come in. But there's some day the door is going to be shut. Oh, how sad it would be, especially going through Luke's gospel. We have so wonderfully seen the gospel by grace. And yet we come to a chapter like this. There was a great gull fixed separation, eternal separation for those who reject God's salvation. Joy and gladness in heaven, but there's one landed in hell. And there was a great gulf fixed. Oh, my here, we must be faithful to God. There is a heaven to gain. There is also a hell to shun. We do pray tonight that the way of salvation has been made clear and plain. We do pray tonight that the way of salvation has been made clear and plain. Salvation is of the Lord. We visited a few homes. We've had interviews with men and women who have come in touch with Jesus through the word here. How we're encouraged as we read the gospels. Oh, I love to read the gospels. I love the epistles, but I'm always glad to get into the gospels. Why? We see the footprints of Jesus. God's man moving in amongst men and women. No respecter of persons seeking souls here and there. Healing the sick. Delivering men who are undeliverable. As far as man's efforts were considered. What a man is this? Jesus. Nazareth. Pass it by. Oh, that you might come in contact with him tonight for his namesake. …