Deliverance for the Lost (Luke 19:1-10) by: Francis Jackson

         In the New Testament times, the government would fix a tax amount which was required from every province.  Tax collectors paid for their right to collect taxes and would make their profits by collecting more tax than was required. For example, when certain tax collectors came to John to be baptized, part of their changed life required they tax fairly (Luke 3:12, 13). The abuse of this position is what provoked hatred from the Jews.  In addition to their greed, custom stations were placed everywhere in order to collect more taxes from people.  For instance, taxes were collected at some bridge crossings, certain roads, and at the market for those who came to sell.  This explains the heated attitude the Jews had towards these people in the Gospels and the striking criticism Christ faced by associating Himself with them (Matt. 9:9-11; 11:19; Mark 2:15-16; Luke 5:30; 7:34).  They were pretty much the poster for sinners (Matt. 9:10-13; 21:28-32).  These were your basic tax collectors.   Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector (Luke 19:2).  He was a short man, so the huge crowd mentioned in verse 3 made it hard for him to see Jesus.  The crowd may have been from the people of Jericho awaiting Christ arrival after hearing of His miracles elsewhere.  Surely they heard of the huge miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11) since Bethany was only 15 miles away.  Zacchaeus climbed in the tree to see who Jesus was and became spotted (v. 4).  Sycamore trees were sturdy with branches strong enough to hold a short person if they were to get on and hang over a road.  This was not usually something rich people would do, but Zacchaeus really wanted to see Jesus.  When Jesus mandated He stay with Zacchaeus, he received Christ joyfully (vv. 5-6).  Of course, the crowd’s response in verse 7 confirms the reputation tax collectors had as mentioned earlier, but salvation was designed for people such as this (Matt. 9:11-13).  Zacchaeus’ fruit in verse 8 were evidence of his salvation confirmed by Jesus in verse 9.  Mosaic law required one-fifth restitution for money acquired by fraud (Lev. 6:5).  Four-fold restitution was only required if an animal was stolen or killed (Ex.22:1).  Zacchaeus judged his restitution more harshly than fraud.  However, his financial burdens posed no threat in comparison to the spiritual riches he received through faith in Jesus Christ.  Verse 10 sums up Zacchaeus’ encounter with Christ in that Christ came to seek and to save the lost.  Zacchaeus was delivered by God from amongst the lowest sinners in the eyes of the people of that day.  There is no one too bad or so far out that they are beyond the reach of God’s grace (Romans 5:20-21).  Just as this chief tax collector was saved, Jesus can do the same thing for you if you can get out of your own way of sinful pride and trust Him.

Suppression of the Lost (Luke 4:22-30) by: Francis Jackson

                This gospel of salvation is not a popular message.  Many pastors, teachers, and others out sharing the gospel have diluted the purity of its truth in order to spare the emotions of sinners.  In this passage, Jesus calls out the wretched spiritual state of man by calling those who were in the synagogue spiritually poor, blind, prisoners, and oppressed.  In the company of those who do all of the external things pertaining to tradition and rituals in the synagogue, this was not the message they were willing to accept.  As a result of their suppression, they sought to throw God, the Promised Messiah, Savior of the world, over a cliff.  This is how blind they were of their spiritual deficiency.  In Capernaum, which was just north a few cities of Nazareth along the northern border of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus did some things there which were recorded in John’s gospel.  In John 4:46-54, Jesus performs the second miracle of His Galilean ministry in Capernaum from Cana. A royal official came requesting that Jesus heal his sick son whom was in Capernaum.  Jesus told him to return home to his son and that he would be healed.  The official believed and went home to find his son recovering.  The fame for Jesus’ miracles spread throughout all of Galilee (Luke 4:14).  The people of Nazareth demanded He do the miraculous things they’ve heard of all through Galilee in His own hometown (4:23).  In His example of prophets not accepted in their hometown, Jesus uses the prophets Elijah and Elisha.  During the reign of King Ahab of Israel (Northern), Elijah predicts a drought (1 Kings 17).  The dew and rain were necessities for the crops so God withheld them as punishment for serving other gods (Deut. 28:23-24).  During this drought, God overlooked the Israelite widows and choose to bless one from among the Gentiles named Zarepath (1 Kings 17:8-24).  Elijah was to go there to get the food of her last portions. It was maybe close to her last meal since after they would eat, she speaks of herself and son going to die afterwards (v. 12).  However, her encounter with Elijah along with her faith preserved her through the drought and saved the life of her son.  Naaman, a military commander of Syria, had leprosy. On one of his raids on Israel, he kidnapped a young Israelite girl (2 Kings 5:1-2).  The girl ended up telling him of Elisha. Naaman reported to Israel by letter of the king of Syria and eventually made it to Elisha who gave him instructions to cure his leprosy (2 Kings 5:1-14).  So Jesus is speaking of grace shown to a Gentile widow and a commander who kidnapped a little Jewish girl as opposed to that grace being shown to God’s chosen nation.  The idea of God calling out these self-righteous people on their spiritual unworthiness and His impartiality of grace made His own people furious to the point of seeking to throw him not simply out of the temple, but off of the cliff!  Instead of God’s truth being humbling, they suppressed it in anger and sought to get rid of their Promised Messiah.

Hope for the Lost (Luke 4:16-21) by: Francis Jackson

            Often times there are those who characterize their faith by social status, financial well-being, knowledge of the Scriptures, or by some other kind of superficial, arrogant approach.  Even worse, these kinds of people look at those not in these categories as less spiritual.  We should be thankful that God is not like man because his take is completely different.  When Jesus came to His hometown in Nazareth, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath to read in the presence of others as was their custom (Acts 17:2).  Christ read from Isaiah 61:1-2a which outlines our hope for salvation.  This is the category of people God came for.  Christ came to proclaim the gospel to the poor. The Greek word used for poor is probably the term ptocheuo “to be poor” or ptocheia “poverty.” This word speaks of someone who is reduced to begging, being forced to depend on someone else for basic needs.  These are the people whom the gospel of salvation is for.  The New Testament theme for captivity is one who submits to any power other than the God of the Christian faith. The term was often used in Old Testament as one taken as prisoner.  The Greek work for blind is typhlos which is used literally as well as metaphorically.  Jesus used this term as a metaphor describing Pharisees as blind guides (Matt. 15:10-14).  Jesus also used blindness literally in healing the man born blind in order to communicate something spiritually to the Pharisees (John 9).  Oppress means to bruise, crush, overpower, put down, or burden (Ex. 3:9; Prov.14:31).  According to Luke, Jesus is saying, “Look, if you are not spiritually poor to the point of absolute dependence or begging, then the good news of the gospel is not for you. If you don’t see yourselves as spiritually imprisoned by sin, spiritually blind as the Pharisees were, and burdened and overpowered by sin, then I didn’t come for you.”  Unfortunately for those who don’t fall in line with this criterion, they remain lost because salvation is only in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 14:6).  He is the only One who can save us, and these are the ones He came for. He is the hope for the lost. 

Identity of the Lost (Isa.6:1-5) by: Francis Jackson

       One of the biggest issues of man since the fall has been pride.  This trend continues today in the area of salvation due to mankind overlooking or ignoring their spiritual position.  Before we can ever start moving on the right path, we must first realize that we are on the wrong one.  The starting point for the redeemed begins when we identify ourselves as lost.  Isaiah came to this realization in his calling for service.  The first 4 verses of this passage describe the overwhelming holiness of God.  The seraphim in verse 2 are angelic creatures with six wings each.  The two wings over their face were because even though they were in the heavenly realms, they still were unworthy of gazing directly at God’s glory.  The two on their feet emphasized their lowliness and the last two they flew with since His throne is high and lifted up.  Verse 3 emphasizes the praise and worship which is due only to God.  His holiness is also seen here from the perspective of His judgment and wrath which is described by the house being filled with smoke (Ex. 19:16-20).  With Isaiah being the witness of the holiness of the Most High God, that alone rules him out as being spiritually lost.  However, the grounds of being lost are due to him being unclean.  To have unclean lips is to have an unclean heart because from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34).  Isaiah speaks of himself being lost at the core.  Not only does he speak for himself, but also those around him (v.5).  This amplifies the truth that no one within themselves can stand clean before God. There are others in bible times who’ve realized their sinful state after experiencing God’s presence (Job-42:6; Peter- Lk. 5:8).  God is holy.  Once we truly experience God as He is, we too will be able to identify our lost condition and be headed on the right path towards righteousness.

Stayed tuned for the rest of the series: Hope For the Lost (Lk. 4:16-21)
and then Suppression of the Lost (Lk. 4:22-30)
and finally Deliverance of the Lost (Lk. 19:1-10)