be back with you and back into our series talking
about emotions and how we can handle them according
to God's Word. Music is one of those things that
can bring up and well up emotions. One song in
particular really speaks to you, and then you
kind of just listen to that song over and over
and over again. I kind of had that experience
this last week, discovered a new band, and I
just kept listening to this one song over and
over and over again, talking about how the blood
of Christ is greater than all of our worries,
and it weaves in the hymn, grace that's greater
than all our sin. It was an incredible, impactful
song. to it on repeat. But other than outside
of the Christian circles, there's one topic in
particular that basically takes first place when
it comes to the theme of a song, and that's love.
But outside of that, I was beginning to notice
that every generation kind of has a song that
sticks out, and it's about the topic that we're
gonna be talking about tonight. And that topic,
specifically, is the topic of the emotion of
loneliness. And depending on where you are, we've
got multiple different kinds of generations and
multiple aged people in here, but there's a song
in every generation that kind of encapsulates
that feeling of being lonely. When I was a kid
There was a band that talked about walking down
the lonely road of the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
Some of you may remember Celine Dion. She sang
all by herself, right? Whitney Houston, she just
wanted to dance with somebody. She was lonely.
Taylor Swift, some of our younger people would
know that Taylor Swift sang about being on the
outside. Some of them in my generation remember
that the Backstreet Boys wanted just to know
the meaning of being lonely. Some of you may
even remember probably one of the most well -known
songs probably a few decades ago Bobby Vinton
he sang and he called himself Mr. Lonely and
there's all kinds of songs no matter what generation
you're in there is a song that reminds you or
talks about this theme of loneliness. Have you
ever felt lonely before? We all struggle with
loneliness. It doesn't it's not particular of
any life stage every age every life stage faces
the idea of loneliness if you ever been on that
kind of When you ever had that experience where
maybe you posted something on social media and
it got no attention whatsoever right and it's
a friend or somebody else posts a picture of
something silly and of course they get all kinds
of likes and all kinds of comments and all kinds
of shares And you wonder, well, how come no one
responded to me? Maybe you've been there, maybe
you've been on the playground and it's time to
pick teams and you were not picked, right? Or
maybe you were picked last to be on the team
and it's like, okay, you go on that team, right?
And you really felt like no one really cared
about you. Maybe you had a time where you sat
alone at lunch, nobody wanted to be your friend,
right? Maybe some of you have sent a text message
and then you get no reply. The young people call
that ghosting and you know that they read that
They have the read receipt. You know that they
messaged you, but they didn't respond to you.
You ever feel like the preacher's preaching at
you? It happens to the best of us, right? And
you feel like, well, how come they didn't respond
to me? I know that they're talking to other people,
right? Everyone deals with loneliness. Everyone
deals with loneliness. It's universal to all
ages, all stages. Maybe some of you that are
a little bit older, maybe some older kids, maybe
you remember the first day you woke up and your
kid had moved out. Maybe they went to college
or maybe they got married and that messy room
is now clean. The hallways are spotless just
the way that you've been asking them for the
last 18 to 19 to 20 years to be, but now you
realize it's a lot more lonely in your home than
it used to be. Maybe some of you are in like
a workplace where you're surrounded by Maybe
you're working in a cubicle and you feel really
alone or maybe you're on an assembly line and
maybe you feel like you're surrounded by people,
there's people all over the building, but you
feel lonely. Maybe some of you have gotten to
this stage of life where maybe you've lost somebody
and they were your connection to the world and
it feels like now the world is passing you by,
but you feel alone. What is loneliness? Well,
loneliness is the feeling of being disconnected.
Loneliness is often associated with feeling cut
off or unnoticed or unloved or uncared for, unneeded,
and maybe even unnecessary. But what loneliness
is not is loneliness is not necessarily isolation,
the idea of just being by yourself. In fact,
isolation can be very profitable for the believer.
It was a part of Jesus's practice in his ministry
that oftentimes he would get alone and he would
get alone with the Father and he would spend
time in prayer and reconnect with the Father
to do the Father's will. Oftentimes isolation
can be good for the believer, but loneliness
oftentimes has little to do with our situation.
Sometimes loneliness is a place that you and
I put ourselves in. We cut others off. We feel
like we've been dejected and so we reject others
and so we may be surrounded by people but feel
very lonely. The chances are in a group this
size you may be sitting in the midst of some
people right now but you feel very much alone.
Loneliness doesn't come just from being alone.
Loneliness comes from feeling alone. There was
a story of a young schoolboy one time and he
was disruptive in the class and then he got expelled
from the school And then the next day he came
and the teacher noticed a clicking sound and
every so often she would hear a clicking sound
on the window. And as she looked out the window
she saw that boy out there and he was tossing
little pebbles up against the window. And he
would do that, he was doing that for most of
the day and of course the principal walked outside.
What are you doing young man? And he said, well
I just wanted the kids in my classroom to remember
that I'm still here. And you know what? That
may be you today. And if we're all honest, that
may be a lot of us in here today. There's a lot
of people that walk around with some stones in
their pockets, constantly letting people know
around them, they're still here. I'm still here.
That may be you tonight. Maybe you're feeling
lonely. You're dealing with this emotion of loneliness.
Our modern culture often sees loneliness manifested
in the worst kinds of behavior. Online, that
can be the case. It's been said and studied that
loneliness has been linked to all kinds of school
violence, all kinds of cyberbullying. In fact,
there's a term coined trolling, which is highly
connected with this kind of emotion. There's
a research team that did research specifically
on this kind of behavior. An internet troll is
somebody who is constantly looking for attention.
And what they did is they used a few different
metrics to measure what makes the internet troll
tick. What they discovered is that with a grouping
of certain tendencies marked as what they call
the dark triad, negative personalities, things
like narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy,
with a mixture of those things and the emotion
of loneliness, what it creates is somebody who's
constantly looking for attention by trying to
drag other people down on the internet. To make
it more plainly said, the research shows that
The more you feel alone, the more you seem to
act sometimes out online, looking for attention
in negative ways. The more lonely you are, the
more attention you seek. And the reason why sometimes
that is is because I believe God has designed
us to be people, created beings who crave connection.
We have three really basic needs when it comes
to this keeping loneliness at bay. The first
one is that we have a need to be needed. We want
to be wanted and we've been created that way.
We've been created for community. We also have
a deep basic desire for us to have someone understand
us, for someone to understand how we feel, to
really connect with us. Number three, we also
have a desire to love someone and for someone
to love us. These are very basic desires. Scripture
is full and replete of human beings who went
through this kind of emotion. Scripture is full
of issues and people who dealt with loneliness.
David in the Psalms wrote many times, especially
when he was on the flight from King Saul, he
wrote in Psalm chapter 102 verses 6 and 7, I'm
like a pelican in the wilderness. I'm like an
owl of the desert. I watch. I am as a sparrow
alone on the housetop. He seemed like no one
cared for him. Elijah on the flight from... from
an evil king and queen in 1 Kings chapter 19,
and we preached about this here a month or so
ago. We looked over this chapter, but he in his
isolation, it says in verse nine, came into a
cave and lodged there, and behold the word of
the Lord came unto him, and he said unto him,
what doest thou hear Elijah? And he said, I've
been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts,
for the children of Israel forsaken thy covenant,
thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets
with a sword, and I evened I only am left and
they seek my life to take it away. Elijah was
lonely. The apostle Paul recounted this to Timothy
in his final letter to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter
four verse 16. He said, at my first answer no
man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I
pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
And of course Jesus, very famously in Matthew
chapter 27 verse 46 as the ninth hour, Jesus
cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama
sabachthanai. That is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Even Jesus alone on
the cross experienced loneliness. But what I
want to invite you to tonight is to see a character
who exhibits this loneliness in his life and
see how Jesus was the answer for his loneliness.
If you have the copy of the Word of God, I want
to invite you to open up to the book of Luke
tonight, Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. Many
of you in here will probably be familiar with
this character, but if you're not, let me introduce
you to him. This character by the world standards
had it all. Money, fame, a successful career,
a nice house, but as we discover he was very
much alone. Surrounded by people, yes, but very
much disconnected from his community. This man's
name is Zacchaeus. And this man lived in a wonderful
town in his time. He lived in the town of Jericho.
And Jericho during this time was one of the five
principal trading cities of his day. In fact,
it was actually well known as a winter retreat
for royalty and for people who had money. People
would go to this place and they would buy houses
and they would go there for their vacation times.
It was kind of like the ancient Hampton. It was
a place where you would buy a house and you would
vacation there and you loved it because it was
a bunch of people with a bunch of money having
a lot of fun. And Zacchaeus lived in this town
of Jericho. Zacchaeus worked as a tax collector.
Now, tax collectors were a little bit different
than the tax collectors we have today, right?
Hopefully you paid your taxes. It's tax season,
right? We've just passed. And the tax collection
of the ancient Roman world was a little bit different
than the tax collecting of the United States.
See, what Rome would do is Rome would auction
off the right to collect tax And so what they
would do is they would to the rich in their society,
auction off the right to collect taxes. And whoever
won that auction would prepay the taxes that
Rome was wanting for a certain area. Out of their
own pocket, they would send Rome the money. Rome
always made sure they got their money. But what
Rome would do is Rome would then empower the
person who has won this election to go collect
taxes of whatever amount they wanted to be repaid.
This official title was called publicanus. And
what they would do is they would go out with
the backing of Roman soldiers and the Roman government
and they would collect taxes to whatever degree
of money they could get out of their fellow countrymen.
And this is what Zacchaeus was involved with.
In fact, Zacchaeus was the chief among publicans.
He was the publican's publican. He was good at
what he did. But the people in most countries
that Rome occupied hated these kinds of people
because this kind of activity brought out the
worst in humanity. Zacchaeus was a Jew and so
he would extort and defraud his fellow Jews for
the sake of Romans taxes. He worked for the Romans
and the Romans had conquered the Jewish region
at this time and so basically what he did is
he sold out and betrayed his own people so that
he could get ahead in life. For Zacchaeus, even
at the top of his community, he was disconnected.
He was cut off. He was unnoticed, unloved, uncared
for, unneeded, and certainly by Jewish neighbors,
unnecessary. And this is the man we see in the
beginning of Luke chapter 19. So if you have
a copy of the scriptures, let's begin reading
in verse 1. It says, and Jesus entered and passed
through Jericho, and behold, there was a man
named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the
publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to
see Jesus who he was, and could not for the press,
because he was little of stature. You see, this
Zacchaeus is presented by Luke. He's on a mission.
Not only does he want to see and meet Jesus,
but he wants to know who He wanted to see who
he was, what kind of man he was. Now no doubt
his notoriety, his fame had become so much in
his time that he would have been known to Zacchaeus
if nothing but by reputation only. Because Jesus
had a notoriety for caring for the social outcasts,
caring for the leper, caring for the fishermen,
caring for the kinds of people that were like
Zacchaeus. And because of this, Zacchaeus was
drawn with much interest to meet the rabbi of
the forgotten and marginalized people. But as
he was going to do so, the scripture says that
he could not because of the press and because
he was little of stature. Verse three shows us
that. He sought to see Jesus who he was and could
not for the press because he was little of stature.
Now, while we make much ado of the stature and
the size of Zacchaeus, in fact, if you were raised
in a junior church much like mine, you might
know the song, Zacchaeus was a wee little man
and a wee little man was he. But we make much
ado of the size of Zacchaeus because scripture
tells us that he was little in stature. But we
also I believe should take notice of what's going
on as Luke shows us action that's happening in
this verse. It says that he went to see Jesus
but could not for the press. This idea of the
press certainly is a grouping of people, but
there's actually action involved in this word.
There is a group of people and to make it very
plainly, this group of people had marginalized
Zacchaeus. They had pushed him aside. We see
this oftentimes where if there are groups of
people who don't like a certain individual They
may turn their back on that individual. They
want nothing to do with this person when Zacchaeus
was around they wanted nothing to do with Zacchaeus
and in fact would work together as a community
to keep him away Size often was not a limiting
factor for elevated notoriety or for people with
respect in the ancient world History tells us
of people who were famous, who had no problem
getting through a crowd, but were also very short.
The list is long. Napoleon Barnapart, Winston
Churchill, Alexander the Great, Benito Mussolini,
James Madison, and even Gandhi, who all clocked
in as short people, much shorter than the average
person, had no problem getting around in their
society, no problem taking a prominent place
in a group. I believe that a realistic reading
of this accounts for Zacchaeus' shortness, but
there is also an active crowd who wants nothing
to do with Zacchaeus and who has worked together
to press him out. He was unwanted. He was uncared
for. He was unlovely. He was lonely. Zacchaeus
was about to be shown how Jesus... was going
to be the answer to his loneliness. And that's
what I want us to look at tonight with just some
of the time we have remaining. I want us to see
that as believers we can deal with the emotion
of loneliness when we understand the three ways
that Jesus meets our need because Jesus is still
in the need meeting business. First if you're
taking notes I want to point out to you that
Jesus wants us. Those of you who feel unwanted
tonight, I want to tell you that Jesus wants
you. Look on in verses four and five. Zacchaeus
here. Jesus is coming through verse four says
he ran before that Zacchaeus and climbed up into
a sycamore tree to see him for he was to pass
that way and when Jesus came to the place he
looked up and saw him and said unto him Zacchaeus
make haste and come down for today I must abide
at thy house As an already unwanted man in his
own culture, already uncared for, already marginalized,
Zacchaeus does two unthinkable things for men
in his culture. First of all, he makes haste.
He runs. Now, those of you who have maybe studied
other passages, much like the Prodigal Son passage,
we know that men in Jewish culture were not supposed
to do such things. Those were not social norms.
A man in Jewish society was not supposed to act
like a child. Running was often associated in
public with children. And what would happen is
that many times, because of what they wore, they
would have to hike up their robes to be able
to run, and exposing one's legs in Jewish culture
was shameful, but Zacchaeus didn't care. Here,
the second thing he does is he makes haste, he
runs, but then he climbs up in a tree, in their
culture as well. This kind of activity was associated
with childish behavior. It was shameful for a
man to act as though he was a child, especially
in public. This is one we probably can associate
with a little bit more. If we saw John Hall up
in a tree after service, most of us would go,
hey Tracy, is he okay? Right? That's odd behavior,
right, for a grown man to be playing in a tree
or climbing up in a tree. We'd be wondering what
in the world is wrong with that guy. But Zacchaeus
does so because he's on a mission. He wanted
to see what kind of person Jesus was. And so
when Jesus passed by that location, Zacchaeus,
he's up in that tree, Jesus looks up to him and
sees him and he delivers a one line that would
be communicated, that would communicate something
to Zacchaeus that he has, all the money he had
in his bank account could not acquire, he could
not buy. Jesus communicates, Zacchaeus, I want
you. He says to him Zacchaeus make haste come
down for today. I must abide at thy house It
would be like if someone picked you for the first
time the teams are being set up and Instead of
you getting picked last they go we want you and
they pick you first It's as if you were going
into the lunchroom and they go. Hey Come on over
here. We saved you a seat, right? For those of
us who often feel lonely it would be as if someone
has picked you and Singled you out not to make
fun of you not to make you feel unloved But to
tell you we care about you. We want you to be
with us He tells him quickly come down. I want
to spend time with you at your house Now, understanding
the context of this passage, we know that Jesus
is not just wanting to come over for tea. He
wants to have a meal. And in this culture, sharing
a meal meant intimate time spent together. Jesus
wanted to do the one thing that every one of
his Jewish neighbors couldn't imagine doing,
spending time with Zacchaeus. In fact, this would
be one of the most defining statements about
Jesus from his detractors, from the Pharisees.
Can you believe that he eats with publicans and
sinners? It says it in the verses to follow.
You know, there's never been a person born on
this planet. Neither will there ever be a person
this planet that the Lord Jesus Christ and the
God of heaven doesn't want. Second Peter 3 9
says this about the Lord, the Lord is not slack
concerning his promise as some men count slackness
but is long suffering to usward not willing that
any should perish. But all should come to repentance.
I can say for a fact that God wants you. In Copenhagen,
Denmark, there's a series of statues, 13 to be
exact. There's 11 of the apostles. Judas is replaced
by Paul. And there's one more statue, and it's
the statue of the risen Christ, a very unique
statue. It's carved out of marble, and it's carved
by an artist by the name of Berthold Tholvudsen.
It's up there on the screen. It's located in
a Lutheran church in Denmark. And at first, when
you walk up to it, it seems a little awkward.
It seems that Jesus is disinterested in you.
His eyes are looking down as if he was not paying
attention. His hands are sort of out to his side
awkwardly. And if you were to stand before this
statue, you would feel as if he was trying to
ignore you. You know, you've probably been there,
you might have even been in that situation, right?
You're in a large group of people, you see somebody
from the corner of your eye that you don't really
want to talk to, and of course you kind of just
put your eyes down, right? You want to ignore
that they're even there. Hopefully they won't
come and talk to me. That's the kind of feeling
you get when you walk up to the statue. However,
when one approaches the statue in a different
posture, when one falls to their knees, before
the resurrected Christ and looks up at the statue,
the statue is said to come alive. The arms are
no longer awkwardly extended to the side, but
rather they're reaching down. The hands show
the marks of the nails that Jesus took for our
sins. His eyes are not down as if to cast aside
and to look away, but they're looking down at
the penitent sinner, looking intently with love
to then any who would come and bow the knee and
look at Jesus. On the base of that statue in
Danish reads Komr til Mig, which is a reference
to Matthew 11 28 that Christ says, come unto
me. He says in Matthew 11 28, come unto me, all
you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Jesus wants you, and He is waiting
for you to come to Him. Secondly, if you're taking
notes, I want to point out to you that Jesus
not only wants you, but Jesus understands us.
Jesus not only wants us, but He understands us.
Skip on down to verse eight. Verse 6, Zacchaeus
comes hastily and joyfully receives him. Of course,
there are people who complain. Verse 7 says he's
gone to be a guest with a man that's a sinner.
And verse 8, Zacchaeus stands before Jesus. It's
implied that some time has gone on in this meal.
And verse 8, Zacchaeus stood and said to the
Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give
to the poor, and if I have taken anything from
any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
And Jesus said unto him, Today, this day, is
salvation come to this house, for as much as
he also is a son of Abraham. Zacchaeus, of course,
quickly comes down, he prepares a meal, and he
ushers Jesus and his disciples into his home
in Jericho for that meal. While at the meal,
Zacchaeus has this life -changing moment that
I believe can only be characterized truly by
one word, and that word is repentance. That Zacchaeus
has a change of heart when he meets Christ, and
he changes. Here Zacchaeus makes a two -fold
commitment that we see in verse 8. He says, first
and foremost, Lord, half of my goods I give to
the poor. Who were the poor? Well, the poor were
the other marginalized in their society. They
were people that could never pay Zacchaeus back.
These weren't people who he was gonna be able
to somehow flip and maybe change his reputation,
right? Somebody who has a bad reputation and
maybe a lot of money might have been thinking,
hey, well, I can use my money and I can leverage
it maybe to help out my social standing. God,
Jesus, let's make a... a place for homeless people.
We'll call it Z's house and we'll put it in Jericho
and it'll be all for all the homeless people,
right? I'll open up a soup kitchen and I'll donate
every week and we'll make sure we have every
poor person fed. I'll use my money to help people.
And of course all along he's... Trying to increase
his social reputation. That wasn't Zacchaeus'
motive. Zacchaeus said, Lord, I'm just gonna
give half of what I own to the poor, to the people
who could never pay him back, to the people who
could never increase his social standing. Because
Zacchaeus didn't care about such things. Jesus
had changed him. Number two, he promises something
else. In verse eight, he says, and if I've taken
anything from any man by false accusation, I
restore him fourfold. What does that mean? Well,
that means that anything he had taken through
his act of being the publicanus from taxing people
and overtaxing them more than what was required
by Rome. He said, anything that I've taken out
of someone else's pocket. For my own benefit,
I'm going to pay back, and I'm not just going
to pay them back, I'm going to give them times
four, fourfold, I'm going to give them back in
repayment. This was way much more than what the
Mosaic law required. The Mosaic law required
that any person who had stolen and had repented
of such things was to give back what they stole
plus an extra one -fifth. But here he says no,
no, no, I'm gonna give back to them fourfold
Essentially by following these two things I believe
That Zacchaeus would have bankrupted himself
Half of all of his goods given to the poor and
then from the other half he had he would pay
back fourfold Essentially Zacchaeus would get
rid of his earthly goods There's no way Zacchaeus
would be the same after this decision. There's
no way that he would be able to financially recover
after such generosity. And Jesus, seeing the
proof of the change of Zacchaeus' repentant heart,
responds with a statement that I believe would
demonstrate that Jesus truly understood who Zacchaeus
was and what he truly needed. He recognized Zacchaeus.
He understood Zacchaeus. Jesus makes the statement
here. What he sees already the fruit of the change.
He says today, this day, is salvation come to
this house. Now I don't believe that Jesus was
saying that Zacchaeus was somehow buying eternal
life, that somehow he was doing things, good
works, to earn salvation? No, no, no. Rather,
I believe he was making a statement of what he
already observed was happening in Zacchaeus'
life. Zacchaeus' heart had changed because Jesus
had come, because he had met with Jesus. His
heart had changed, and the agent of this change
was Jesus. He was the salvation that had come
to that house. And He gives salvation to all
who will place their faith in who He is and what
He has come to do. Jesus also makes a statement
here in verse 9. He says, Now we have to keep
in mind that in this culture of honor and shame,
to go against one's own people would ultimately
have cost Zacchaeus his place in his own culture
and society. I told you already that more than
likely the people of his own city and the people
of his own culture would want nothing to do with
Zacchaeus. In fact, many of them probably turned
their back. on Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was an outsider.
He may have spoke their language. He may have
had a Jewish lineage, but no one in his culture
would accept him as one of them. No doubt, perhaps
maybe even his own family would have seen him
as an outcast. Zacchaeus, I have no such son.
He is dead to me. However, Jesus would redefine
what it means to be a son of Abraham. It was
more than just the blood that flowed in his veins.
It was more than just a place that he lived or
the lineage he could trace back through his family
tree. It was a life that was characterized and
embodied the qualities of those who were fit
to be part of the kingdom of God. Zacchaeus had
changed. because he had met with Jesus. And Jesus
would redefine what it meant to be a son of Abraham
for him. He would accept him as one of them.
My wife and I, we have a favorite vacation spot.
How many of you have ever been to St. Augustine
in Florida? It's a very historic town. If you've
never been, it's a really cool destination. It's
a place where you can have a little time at a
bed and breakfast, and you can kind of walk everywhere.
You can ride a trolley. Lots of things to do,
lots of great things to eat. It's right near
the beach. But my wife and I, we've been there,
went there on our honeymoon, went back for an
anniversary, and we've enjoyed our time there.
But one of the weird and strange places that
you can visit while you're there, it's not unique
to St. Augustine, it's in other places, but it's
a place called the Ripley's Believe It or Not
Museum. Anyone ever been to a Ripley's Believe
It or Not Museum? There's all kinds of strange
and weird and unique things that are in those
museums. But in this particular museum in St.
Augustine, there's a mirror. And at this mirror,
as you walk up to it, there's a challenge and
there's some rotating images. And the challenge
is to copy the strange and weird faces into this
mirror. And as you do so, the face appears and
there's all kinds of people that try to copy
the faces, right? And they'll pull out their
ears and they'll pull down their eyelids and
they'll make these weird faces and they'll stick
out their tongues trying to imitate and have
fun with these strange and weird faces. But for
those of you who have maybe been to this museum,
this is not just an exhibit. It's actually a
trick. You see, as you continue throughout the
exhibit and turn the corner, you're faced with
a two -sided mirror. And as you walk around the
corner, you can watch the people as they try
to imitate all these crazy faces. And you can
sit there and you can laugh at them, and it's
soundproof. And I remember as my wife and I did
all the crazy faces and then we walked around,
there's a group of people and all of a sudden
you realize what's going on. Those people have
been watching you the entire time, laughing at
you, making a fool of yourself on display in
this exhibit. And of course it's your turn and
you get to sit there and you get to watch and
you're waiting for somebody to come up and then
you see them making their faces and of course
you're laughing and having a good time and then
they come around and they're embarrassed. There's
no camaraderie like making a fool of yourself
with other people, right? Instantly there's a
group that becomes that as more and more people
come around that corner and more and more people
realize, oh no. You did it too. There's a camaraderie
in that kind of behavior. Finally, if you're
taking notes tonight, I wanna share with you
finally this. Jesus wants us. Jesus understands
us. Finally, Jesus loves us. Look on at 19, verse
10 here at the end of this story. Verse 10 says,
for the Son of Man is come to seek and to save
that which was lost. The final verse is really
the main theme that Luke has throughout his gospel,
that Jesus is a man on a mission who has come
to seek and save the lost. Jesus' statement here
I believe is in part a fulfillment of Ezekiel's
prophecy about the Messiah in chapter 34 of Ezekiel.
A chapter 34 of Ezekiel is a stark warning. The
beginning of the chapter, there's a warning against
those who were false shepherds in Israel, those
who had become fat, who had become strong off
the backs of the house of Israel known as the
flock in this chapter. In verse 15, there's a
promise about this Messiah that would come. In
the Ezekiel chapter 34 verse 15 scripture says,
I will feed my flock. I will cause them to lie
down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which
was lost and bring again that which was driven
away. I will bind up that which was broken. I
will strengthen that which is sick. But I will
destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them
with judgment. The Messiah, his mission was to
seek and to save the lost. And he began with
the lost house of Israel. People like Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus before meeting Jesus was unloved by
his culture, unneeded, unwanted. misunderstood
mostly because of his own doing that's the truth
mostly because of his own doing and you and I
can be there as well we may be in a very lonely
state not because of what someone else has done
but because of what we've done and the choices
we've made but loneliness has a way of stifling
us more importantly has a way of stifling our
own spiritual life as well I've noticed over
the years that when people experience loneliness,
they do the very one thing that would help them
with their loneliness. They get away from people.
Oftentimes, even believers, they'll do things
like drop out of church, the very place that
they can go to get the strength and the encouragement
and the hope that they need. They'll leave because
they're lonely. They do the one thing that would
help them. I believe the worst form of loneliness
truly is spiritual loneliness. It's a life separated
from God, lived apart from God. And the reason
why it's lonely is because life was never meant
to be lived apart from God. Not in this life,
nor the life to come. But that's exactly what
will happen to everyone who... does not accept
Christ, those who reject Christ. And you may
be in here and you might say, well Pastor Corey,
I'm not really someone who rejected Christ, I
just haven't really decided to receive him. Can
I tell you lovingly that if you have not received
Christ, then you have rejected him. But he has
come to give you life and life abundantly. Jesus
even said himself, he who is not with me is against
me. A life separated from Christ is not a life
to live at all. And I will implore you that if
you're here tonight and you've never trusted
the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, tonight
may I implore you to consider to receive Christ
as your savior because he wants you, he understands
you, and he loves you. He demonstrated that love
for you in that while you are still a sinner,
still sitting actively against Him, He has died
for you, as Romans chapter 5 verse 8 says. When
God created the very first human Adam, He made
a statement in Genesis chapter 2. Chapter 2 verse
18 says, the Lord God said, it's not good that
man should be alone. And so God goes on to create
a help meet for him. God has placed within each
of us basic needs. A desire to be wanted, a desire
to be understood, a desire to be loved, to be
needed. And God himself has fulfilled the need
that you have. And he has done so with his own
son, Jesus. Jesus wants you. Jesus understands
you and Jesus loves you. Can I leave you with
one scripture tonight? If you're already a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you already have the
Holy Spirit living inside of you, you maybe know
all of these things already. You're familiar
with the Zacchaeus story, but you find yourself
feeling lonely tonight. Can I read from you what
Romans chapter eight says? Romans chapter 8 verse
35 says this who shall separate us from the love
of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution
or nakedness or famine or peril or sword as It
is written for thy sake we are killed all the
day long We are counted as sheep for the slaughter
nay and all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor
any other creature shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. May I remind you tonight, believer,
that because of Jesus, we are never alone. Would
you bow your heads with me this evening?