Lesson 186 - Junior

Memory Verse

"The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them" (Luke 9:56).

Notes

Curiosity

The fame of Jesus and the miracles He performed had spread throughout Judea and Galilee. Wherever Jesus went great throngs crowded about Him, curious to see Him do something unusual, even though most of the people did not want to serve Him. On one of Jesus' trips to Jericho, a tax collector by the name of Zacchæus found himself among the crowd that was pressing close to see a miracle performed.

Perhaps he had not thought about wanting to be a follower of Jesus, but everyone else seemed to want to see the Nazarene, so he pressed close too. But he was too short to see over the heads of the people in front of him, and there were so many people standing shoulder to shoulder that he could not get through. So Zacchæus ran ahead to a sycamore tree which stood near the road where Jesus would pass. From there he would be able to look right down upon Jesus when He came along, and he would not even be seen.

Riches

Zacchæus was a rich man, and Jesus had taught that it was hard for rich men to enter Heaven. It was not that Jesus did not love the rich men as much as the poor, but that they did not love Him. Many times the people of wealth think more of their money than they do of God. So, in the minds of the Pharisees, it did not seem likely that the little publican who climbed the tree would be saved. And the Jews hated him because he was a tax collector. In their opinion such people were beyond hope of redemption. That may have been one reason they did not let Zacchæus press through the crowd to get near to Jesus.

God's Leading

Who would have thought that Zacchæus' climbing up a tree would lead him to repentance? Perhaps we can look back and see incidents in our past that have led us to Jesus. We may have thought we were planning our own lives, or that the things which happened were quite accidental; but as our hearts hungered for salvation, God led in His own way until we heard the truth and believed it.

"Whosoever Will"

Jesus' teaching was: "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." In His sight, everyone who has never repented of his sins is a sinner. It does not matter whether he is rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, servant or master, educated or ignorant; everyone has the same opportunity to be saved if he will repent and believe in Jesus.

The true believer knows that everyone who wants to can be saved, but not all people have had that teaching. There was a time in the early days of John Wesley's ministry when people believed that only a privileged few could be saved. The men who ploughed the fields, the boys who took care of the horses in the stable, the poor people who toiled in the factories and mines had no hope. But after John Wesley was saved and sanctified, God sent him out to preach throughout the countryside of England and the streets of London, that "whosoever will" might come and be saved: the ploughman as well as the prince, the stable-boy as well as the preacher, the sinner in the gutter as well as the respectable church member.

No wonder great joy spread throughout the land! Poverty lost its sting. The joy in the hearts of the people made them forget that they were poor. A great revival spread, and thousands of people were born into the Kingdom of God. They sang praises to the God who loved them and had bought them with His own precious Blood. And as they continued to pray and tell Jesus how much they loved Him, they were sanctified, too.

Many of those respectable people who had thought they were the only ones who could be saved were offended at the teachings of John Wesley. They drew themselves apart from the happy throng who had learned about and experienced full salvation, and they lost the blessing that could have been theirs if they had hearkened to the teachings of that great man of God. They were like the Pharisees who condemned Jesus for going to be a guest of Zacchæus.

When Jesus came close to the tree in which the little tax collector was hiding, He looked straight at him as though He had seen Zacchæus climb the tree. Jesus knows everything, and He knew that the little man was up there. And He knew, too, that Zacchæus would like to have Him for his guest.

Restitution

Jesus said to Zacchæus: "Make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house." Many of those self-righteous Pharisees did not want Jesus in their homes, but Zacchæus came out of that tree as fast as he could climb down. He did not say that Jesus was too poor to have dinner in Zacchæus' fine home. He recognised Jesus as being more than a man. Jesus' presence had brought conviction to him for his sins, and as soon as he could speak, he said to Jesus: "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold."

Why did Zacchæus say that? So far as he knew, Jesus did not know anything about the wrongs that he had done. But Zacchæus received the Lord joyfully, not only as a guest into his home, but as the Saviour into his heart. And when Jesus comes into anyone's heart all sin must go out. When sin went out of his heart he was saved, and he knew that he must make restitution. No one needs to tell a person who is truly converted that he must make his past wrongs right; the Spirit of God and His Word teach him that. The Christian has been forgiven by God, and he wants to be forgiven by man also.

Forgiven

Away went Zacchæus, walking joyfully beside his Saviour, happy that his sins were forgiven. What about the people who were watching? Were they happy that a sinner had been saved? Were they glad that the little tax collector would not cheat them any more? No. They did not even notice the change. Their eyes were blinded by their self-righteousness. They still called him a sinner, and thought that surely Jesus would defile Himself by going to be a guest of such a sinner. They considered the scribes and Pharisees as God's peculiar people, the children of Abraham, because they worked hard to try to keep the Law. But Jesus had told them upon another occasion that if they were the children of Abraham they would do the works which Abraham had done.

Abraham had believed on Jesus and had lived a righteous life. Jesus told them plainly: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do" (John 8:44). Those who do the will of Jesus are the true children of Abraham, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:29).

Questions

1. Who was Zacchæus?

2. Why did the Jews hate him?

3. What did he do in order to see Jesus?

4. What did Jesus do when He got to the tree?

5. How did Zacchæus answer Jesus?

6. What is restitution?

7. What doctrine that John Wesley preached was a surprise to the people of England?

8. How can we prove that we love Jesus?