In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the personal call of Jesus to individuals. He uses the story of Zacchaeus, a tax collector, as an example of someone who was called by Jesus and responded joyfully. The preacher encourages the congregation to rejoice when someone comes to faith in Jesus, regardless of their past sins or reputation. He also challenges the idea that one must clean up their life before coming to Jesus, emphasizing that salvation is a gift that transforms lives. The preacher concludes by urging the listeners to respond to Jesus' call and to trust in Him for salvation.

I want to talk to you about when Jesus calls you. Luke chapter 19. Does everybody have a sermon outline titled, When Jesus Calls You? Alright, anybody need one? Alright, let's all stand together in honor of God's Word. Luke chapter 19, beginning with verse 1. And Jesus... Excuse me. And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. This is an interesting thing to notice here, that this is the last time Jesus passed through Jericho. He never went through Jericho again after this story is told. My point is this. I don't know how many more chances you're going to have of getting saved. But you'll never have this chance again. Jesus is passing through. And I call this the perfect story. Here's Jesus looking for a man, and here's a man looking for Jesus. That's always a good thing. 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. Remember that. This was a rich man. And he sought to see Jesus, who he was, and could not for the press because he was little of stature. He was a little feller, amen? And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree for 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. And the Bible says, excuse me, and he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, He's gone to be a guest with a man that's a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said unto 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 unto him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house. For as much as he also is the son of Abraham, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. I don't know why you came tonight, but I know why Jesus came. You might have come just because somebody asked you to or somebody talked you into it, but I know why Jesus came. I hope that sometime during this service, you come like Zacchaeus did. You come to see about Jesus, who He is, something in your life, maybe like Zacchaeus, you have everything that money can buy, but you don't have what heaven can give. Tonight, I pray that you trust Him as your Savior. Let's pray. Father, thank You for the inerrant, infallible, inspired Word of God. Lord, I pray right now in Jesus' name that You'd fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Give me the utterance, the boldness, the power, the filling, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God. Lord, I pray that we would not come here just to be challenged. I pray that we came here tonight to be changed. Lord, this is not some little Bible study about a little short fellow up a tree. Lord, this is an inerrant, infallible, inspired Word of God that's speaking to us. And God, I pray that we'd respond to it in such a way that would bring honor and glory to the name of Jesus. Lord, I want to thank You so much for speaking to us from Your Word. And Lord, I pray we'd not just be hearers of Your Word, but we would be doers. Lord, we love You, we praise You, and we thank You for being in this place this morning, and we thank You for being here tonight. Thank You for every person that's here. Lord, I pray that people would trust You as their Savior here tonight. Let's pray to Jesus together tonight. You pray along with me. Dear Lord Jesus, please speak to my heart today. Please help me to do what You say. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. First of all, what you see in this story, when Jesus calls you, He calls you personally. Now, let me say this. I said a little bit about it in the prayer, but let me make this real clear about something. How many of you have heard this little story about Zacchaeus before? And if you've been to vacation Bible school, you sang that little song, Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he, and climbed up in the sycamore tree and all that stuff. I never heard that in vacation Bible school when I was a kid because I never went. I never went to vacation Bible school. I never went to church. I shared this morning, I count every time I went to church before I was 35 years old on one hand. So when I was 35 years old, the first time I heard the story about Zacchaeus. But I want to tell you this. This story about this man up this tree this day in this town is much more than just some little nursery rhyme thing that happened to happen in the Bible. This is a word for you here tonight. It has eternal implications, and if you look real close, you'll see what I'm talking about. Here is a man that had everything in the world that money could buy. He was a rich man, the Bible says. And yet there was something about Jesus. Amen. There was something about the Lord that he had to find out about. And he went to see about Jesus. And I pray that if you're here tonight, maybe you have all the money in the world, maybe you don't have two nickels rubbed together. But you know there's something in your life that's missing. Something in your life that you don't have. And you come here tonight and you're curious about this preaching about Jesus. And I pray that the same thing will happen in your life here tonight that happened in Zacchaeus' life in this story 2,000 years ago. First of all, you see, it's a personal call. When Jesus calls you, he calls you personally. Amen? Look at verse 5 and point number 1 here. It's a personal call. The Bible says that when Jesus came to the place, the place, he came right to the place where this man was at. Now I'm going to tell you something. There was a lot of people in that town that day. Amen? That's the reason this guy was up the tree. He couldn't see over the crowd because he was so short. So the Bible says Jesus came right to the place where he was at. And it will be interesting for you to know, Brother Todd, it's an interesting thing in this story. This is the only man in Jericho that's recorded in the Bible that Jesus even spoke to that day. There were so many people there that this guy had to climb up a tree just to get a look at him. But the Bible never records anywhere in this whole story that Jesus spoke to anybody that day but him. You ever been sitting in the service with a bunch of other people and you felt like you were the only one there? Like Jesus was just speaking to you, Lane Barlow? Amen? I love you, my brother. Man, when he got saved over at Lismore, he got bone saved. Amen? God's just dealing with you. I'm going to be sharing my testimony tomorrow night. Oh, the first time I got under conviction of preaching the Word of God in 1982, I thought I was the only one in the service. And I'll share that story tomorrow night. But I was so mad at that preacher when he got through preaching, I stomped out the church. My buddy come out to the church. He said, What's wrong with you? I said, I think you know what's wrong with me. You've been out there talking to that preacher about me, haven't you? God's my witness. I preached at Angola Prison this last weekend for three days. One time, I preached in the rodeo arena twice where they had the prison rodeo, and hundreds and hundreds of men in that rodeo arena. We had 127 men saved in one service. One service, 127 men. Coming down just broken, weeping. And I preached to the guards, too. Preaching to the wardens, too. There's lots of wardens there. The head warden's bone saved, son. Amen? I'm talking about bone saved. That boy is. Preaching to them guards after the service. This lady guard come up to me. She said, Oh, Brother Jack, thank you so much for preaching to the guards. She said, My husband's right over there. She said, I've been praying for my husband. He's a guard here, too. He's lost. He said, As soon as you got through preaching, he come up to me. He said, Have you been talking to that preacher about me? God's my witness. She laughed just like you did. She said, No! That's the way I did. You feel like you're the only one in the service. There's some folks here that way this morning. Mm-hmm. You can hear more in five minutes than you're living up to. Amen? Some of you already heard enough. You know you lost. You know you need Jesus. God is coming right to the place. I've seen Him come to people in hospital rooms, in jail cells, in prisons, in churches, in their pickup, in their car, out on the side of the road. God will come right to the place where you're at. Listen, they say there's sycamore trees all over Jericho. Even to this day, it's like a landmark build about Jericho. In fact, that's the reason they say there's no bark on a sycamore tree. Zacchaeus slid all the bark off of it when he slid down out of the tree. But anyway, there wasn't but one sycamore tree that day that had an old boy up it. And Jesus came right to the place where he was at. Woo! He looked up and saw Him. And said unto Him, Zacchaeus. You notice He called him by name? You notice He didn't ask his name? God will never have to ask no questions. Amen? Only time you'll hear God asking a question in the Bible is for you to get a clue. Amen? Jesus don't need Doppler. Hello? Amen. He don't need to check in with the weather report. God knows you. He knows your name. And He wants to take your name and write it down in the Lamb's Book of Life. He knows your name. He knows how many hairs on your head. And I can show you from the book of John, John chapter 10, when Jesus comes back and raptures the church, He's going to call us all out by name. When He shouts, you know what He's going to shout? He's going to shout our name. Amen? You say, how can He do that, Brother Jack? That's a lot of names to count out there now. Shout all them names out. Well, that's one of the reasons we call Him God. Amen? And He can do stuff like that and still count every hair on your head. He said, call this man by name. He called him Zacchaeus. He didn't say, hey, y'all. He didn't say, hey, you. He said, Zacchaeus. Make haste and come down for today. I must abide at thy house. I've asked some people about their relationship with Jesus. That's no boy. Sir, you say, well, my wife goes to church quite a bit. I saw some people, well, I don't know if I should say that or not. Maybe I shouldn't. I just want to say this. I believe that parents ought to bring their children to church, not just drop them off. Thank God they brought you, young people. You've got mamas and daddies that brought you. Thank God for them. But I'm going to tell you something. Some people say, well, my kids go down there to church. My wife and my husband, or my husband and my wife, you know, my daddy. Oh, he's a charter member down there. They start giving you the family tree. Listen, I didn't ask you about your family tree. Listen, God don't have no grandchildren. He's just got children. I don't care if your daddy was Billy Graham. I don't care if your mother was Mother Teresa. That wouldn't have happened. Amen. But anyway, I've never said that before. I'll probably never say it again either. I'll probably never say it again either. That didn't work. That wasn't hitting on nothing right there. But Jesus will come right to the place where you're at. Amen? Amen. He comes to Paul. He comes to Paul on the road to Damascus. Just forget I said that. Just erase that tape. He comes to an Ethiopian eunuch in a chariot. He comes to a publican in a church. He comes to Peter in a lake. God will come right to the place where you're at. Right to where you're at. I've had people tell me, Brother Jack, when I call myself getting saved, there's a bunch of kids come down the aisle, and I went down because they went down. God wasn't dealing with me. I had a man tell me a while back, he said, Brother Jack, I've got two brothers that are older than me. He said, I'm the youngest of three boys. He said, my oldest brother, two years before I got saved, we had a revival, same time every year, my oldest brother come down the aisle, got saved. The next year, the middle brother, he come down the aisle and got saved. Third year, you know whose turn it was. It was mine. He said, I was sitting on the inside aisle. He said, my daddy one night did like this. He said, son, don't you think it's time you walked down that aisle? He said, I got out and I walked down that aisle. He said, I wasn't walking down that aisle because God was drawing me. I walked down that aisle because Jesus, he said, I wasn't walking down that aisle for Jesus. I was walking down that aisle for my daddy. He said, tonight I'm giving my life to Jesus. I'm doing it, this is between me and the Lord. Because it's a personal call. That's the reason we call Him a personal Savior. Amen? Do you know Him personally? Number two, it's a pleading call. It's a pleading call. Look at verse five. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw Him and said unto Him, Zacchaeus, what's the next two words? Make haste. In Texas, that means hurry up. Amen? I think it means the same thing here. Make haste and come down, for today I must abide at your house. Do you see a pleading Savior pleading with a man? He said, Zacchaeus, make haste. I'm going to tell you what Jesus didn't say that day. He didn't come by there and say, Zacchaeus, that day. He said, Zac, come by here and preach to you a little bit today. I'll tell you what I want you to do. When you get it all figured out, when it all makes sense to you, when you understand everything in the Bible, then you come on down and you know you're getting ready to get saved. Is that what Jesus said? No, that ain't what He said. He just told him, make haste and come down. I'll tell you what else He didn't say. He didn't say, Zacchaeus, come by here and preach to you a little bit today. When you get the right feelings, I mean, when you get real, you know, hair, start standing up on the back of your neck, and you get goosebumps and all that, you know, and some people say, well, I just don't feel like. How many of you know you're not saved by feelings? You're saved by faith. And you know why you're not saved by feelings? Because feelings change. You don't feel the same way every day. But I'm going to tell you, faith don't change, because faith comes by hearing, according to Romans chapter 10, and hearing comes by the Word of God, and the Bible says the Word of God changeth not. I'm going to tell you what else He didn't say. Jesus didn't come by there and say to Zacchaeus, I'll tell you what I want you to do, Zacchaeus, come by here and preach to you a little bit today, talk to you a little bit, but what you need to do is you go home and you clean up your house first, and then you'll know you're ready to get saved. You get things straightened out in your life. How many times have I had them say? Today, even after we got through preaching it, I had a young man over at the house that got saved after dinner today. But one of the things he said when I started talking to him about his relationship with Jesus, he said, I've got some issues in my life, Brother Jack. I need to get straightened out first. Even though we talked about that this morning. Brother, I hear that all the time. I've got some anger. I've got some issues. I've got some things. Listen to me. Jesus just said, make haste. Hurry up, son. You see, let God do the house cleaning. He'll do a whole lot better job than you will. You'll miss something. He'll miss nothing. He'll go through you like sand through a sieve. You're not able to throw away something you need. You're not able to get legalistic. Amen? Just let Jesus come into your heart. Let Jesus come into your house. Let Him be the Lord. He just said, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at your house. Listen to me. Jesus didn't tell Nicodemus in John chapter 3, you ought to be born again. He said, you must be born again. Listen, I just want to clue you in a little bit of something here, sir, ma'am. It's not just a good idea to become a Christian. It's not just a good choice of many to trust Christ as your Savior. In order for you to go to heaven, you, according to Jesus, according to Jesus, you must be born again. It's not just a good idea. You must be born again. And here lies the problem. A lot of these old stiff-necked boys say, wait a minute now. You're pushing me in a corner, preacher. No, I ain't pushing you in a corner. It's worse than that. God's pushing you in a corner, buddy. God's telling you, He said, Jesus didn't say I'm a good way. He didn't say I'm the best way. He said, I'm the way. He's not a good way to heaven. He's not even the best way. He is the only way. So you know it's up to you what you're going to do with Jesus. It's entirely up to you. But it's a pleading call. People say, well, Brother Jack, you know, you're so intent on coming to Jesus, and Jesus is coming. Thank you. Amen. So is Jesus. Look what Isaiah chapter 55, verse 6 says, Seek ye the Lord when? When you get ready. When are you supposed to seek the Lord? What does the Bible say when you're supposed to seek the Lord? Look at it in your sermon outline. Isaiah 55, verse 6. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. What is the implication there? I'll tell you what it is. God ain't some heavenly bellhop that you decide one day you're going to get saved, and then you'll come down there and get saved. I'll tell you when you better seek the Lord. You better seek Him while He may be found. Call ye upon Him while He is near. Genesis chapter 6, verse 3. The Bible says, And the Lord said, This ain't preacher talk, friend. This is what God says. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man. I can't tell you, Pastor, how many preachers I've had tell me, Brother Jack, when you preached that message, I thought to myself about people that were in our church when I first came to that church. That I mean would sit back there and get a hold of the back of that pew or the back of that chair until their knuckles turned white when I preached on Sunday morning. I mean that was under the convicting power of the Holy Ghost. God was dealing with them. They knew they needed to be saved. Young people, adults, men, women, all. I've had preachers tell me this everywhere I go. Seems like there's always one or two or a few in every church. But then they'll tell me over a period of time. See, I've never pastored a church, so I haven't seen this happen. But I do know it does happen. They'll tell me over a period of time. It just gets a little bit easier to say no. A little bit easier just to walk out that door. A little bit easier because they got by with it so many times that surely I'll have another chance to give my life to Jesus. And little do they know that next week they died and went to hell. Friend, I'm going to tell you something when you better come to Jesus. You better come to Jesus while Jesus is coming to you. Right after I got saved, my pastor and I went to a revival in Longview, Texas. And my pastor was preaching. I was just going along with him. Before I even knew I was called to preach, I was sharing my testimony around a little bit and everything. But I just went with my pastor. A lady came on Sunday morning. She told my pastor, she said, Brother Jim, my husband is going to be here tonight. She said, My husband gets here. She said, When you give the invitation, my husband will probably be the first man down the aisle. And she even showed him where her husband would come. He had one of those wraparound big altars. And over on the side, she said, My husband will probably come and kneel right here if he comes where he usually does. And he'll kneel right here. And when you go and try to lead him to Jesus, he'll tell you that he can't be saved, that God has left him alone. My pastor had never seen anything like that. I'd heard about it. I've seen it happen twice since then. Similar instances. Not just like that, but people in situations like that. How many of you know you can't be saved without the Holy Spirit of God drawing you to Jesus? And how many of you just read, the Word of God says in Genesis 6, My spirit shall not always strive with man. You see, here's the way it says. Jesus said, Behold, I stand at the door and I knock. Revelation 3.20 If any man hear my voice and open the door, I'll come in to him. That's what Jesus said. I'm going to tell you something. If I come to your house, and I knock on your door, and I keep knocking, and I keep knocking, and I keep knocking, and I keep knocking, even if I know you're there, if I know you're there, if I know you're there, and I see that you lift the shade, peek out, and everything else, I stand there all day, all night, all day, all night, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. Eventually, I have no other alternative but to turn around and walk away. Even if I know you're there. Why? Because I assume you don't want to talk to me. I assume you don't want nothing to do with me, because you know I'm out there. Well, I've got some news for you. God assumes after a certain period of time, I will not tell you because I do not know. God assumes after a certain period of time, and that can vary from individuals to individuals. I'm talking about something, and I don't know when it happens, how it happens. Why God would be so long-suffering with some people, and yet He'll know that there's others. After He's given them a certain amount of time, they keep saying, no, no, no, knocking God, saying no to Jesus who said yes to the cross. God quits dealing with them. I can tell you this, that lady was exactly right, brother. My hand on the book, my hand in the air. God is my witness. Every night of that revival, that man come to that revival and knelt right there, and was just trembling like this, shaking, shaking, shaking. Brother Jim tried to go talk to him. He said, God's quit dealing with me. And the bottom line is, you know why he kept coming back to that same place? Because that's the last place he could remember God dealing with him. Now here's all I've got to tell you is this, if God's dealing with you tonight, you know what you need to do? You don't need to wait for the invitation. This is the invitation. You need to do what Jesus told Zacchaeus. You need to make haste. Hurry up and come down. You see, God might not even be dealing with you during the invitation like He's dealing with you right now. There might be somebody here tonight, maybe a visitor. You hadn't even planned on coming, but at the last minute, you came and you don't know why you're here. But somehow during the service, God's put on your heart to seek the Lord. Just like Zacchaeus was looking for the Lord. Zacchaeus was looking for the Lord, and the Lord was looking for Zacchaeus. And tonight, you need to make haste. You need to hurry up. You need to do it right now. Is there anybody that would have enough guts, have enough courage to stand to their feet right now and walk down this aisle and say, I need Jesus as my Savior right now? Anybody? Well, wait. A man? A woman? Anybody? Say, Brother Jack, it's been too long for me. Just stand to your feet. Anybody? Just stand up. You won't hurt a thing. I promise you. Listen, friend. The Bible says you do business with God when God is doing business with you. Anybody? Just stand to your feet right now. Over here. And here. And over here. Stand up. I never will forget my pastor preaching a message one Sunday morning. I wasn't even halfway through the message, and he hadn't even said anything about coming forward. An old boy three rows back on this right-hand side jumps up and jumps over two pews. Truck driver. He's bashful. Michael Keener. He wouldn't say boo. He didn't say anything coming over those two pews. He just got up, boom, boom, stepping on people, through people. The next thing you know, in a Baptist church, come down here and got saved. Brother Jim said to him after the service, he said, Brother Michael, I saw you. I said, you know, when you got saved, you didn't go out the end there. You come right over the middle. And the pews were about as long as a couple of these sections put together. He said, that's right, Brother Jim. I didn't know if people would let me out at the end of that aisle. He said, I figured I could make it two steps right over the middle. Never did anything like that before or since. You know what he did? He made haste and came down. It's a pleading call. It was in Opelousas, Louisiana, a couple of years ago. A young man was saved on Tuesday night. We baptized him on Wednesday night. Sunday morning, raised his hand, wouldn't come down. Monday night, raised his hand, wouldn't come down. Sunday morning, Sunday night and Monday night, three services, wouldn't come forward. After Monday night service, I said, Son, what's the deal? You need to talk about something or something? He was like 27 years old. Calvary Baptist Church in Opelousas, Louisiana. He said, No, Brother Jack, I know I need to be saved. I said, Is there any questions I can answer for you or anything? Do you want to talk this thing out? No, I know I need to be saved. I just prayed for him. I said, I will. That was after the service Monday night. A man told me after the service, he said, Brother Jack, his mama is of another denomination that don't believe you ought to even darken the doors of the Baptist Church. She told him, Mama's telling Mama's coattail there, if he ever went into the Baptist Church, she was going to wear him out. 27 years old. It just so happened that day, I was living in Dallas at the time, that God had her in Dallas and had me in Opelousas. Amen? Tuesday night, here he come down the aisle. Give his life to Jesus. Wednesday night we baptized him along with 15 other people. He come up out of the baptistry hollering, Goodbye religion, hello Jesus. When they brought him up, when he named his religion, you can name it whatever you want to. He was basically saying, Goodbye religion, hello Jesus. That was on Wednesday night. The following Wednesday night, I was at Sunset Baptist Church right down the road, in Sunset, Louisiana, right down there, State 49 there. And the deacon come to my bus and said, Brother Jack, remember that young man that come up out of the baptistry last Wednesday night hollering, Goodbye religion, hello Jesus? 27 year old man. I said, sure do. He said, he died of a heart attack today. I'm sure glad he made haste and came down. Number three. It's a public call. He said, Zacchaeus, make haste. And what? Come down. For today I must abide at thy house. Hello? Amen? Some people say, Well, I prayed that prayer but it's just between me and God. I guarantee you one thing, when it's between you and God, it will become a public confession. Look at what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, 32 and 33. Jesus said, Whosoever therefore shall confess me, Where? Before men. Him will I confess also before my Father, which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, Him will I deny also before my Father, which is in heaven. Let me tell you something about Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a Jewish tax collector working for the Roman government. The Jews hated the Romans because they were a bunch of rip-offs. The Romans hated the Jews just because they were Jews. And here's a Jew working for the Roman government. Zacchaeus had no friends at the bottom of that tree. He had on a Yankee shirt and Rebel pants. He was getting shot at from both sides. And Jesus said, Come on down. You see, Jesus wants to see if you really mean business. Let me tell you what Jesus didn't say if you were confessing before men during the revival. That's easy. I said, That's easy. It will be the pattern of your life. When you trust Christ as your Savior, you'll confess Him before men. Listen, Brother Todd, if confessing Jesus before men is fruit and evidence that a man's been saved, we have church members all across America that are lost as a ball in high weeds. And it is fruit you've been saved. I said, It is fruit you've been saved. I said, It is fruit you've been saved. I promise you one thing, if I was to drive by your house tomorrow and it was on fire and I saw your truck there and I made drastic measures to rescue you out, I bet you next time we run into each other at Walmart, you wouldn't be ashamed of me. We'd be as tight as white on rice, son. Oh, Brother Jack, we're partners. We're friends. We're big friends. Well, I've got news for you. When Jesus saves you, my friend, He rescues you from a lake of fire. Not just a fiery house, but a lake of fire. And you're going to have to tell somebody about it. I said, You're going to have to tell somebody about it. It's just you can't keep it from them. There was places in the Bible where Jesus would tell them after He'd save them, deal with them, heal them. He'd say, You go on, don't tell nobody. You know what they'd do? They'd go on, but they'd tell everybody. Hello? How can you help but it? Amen? You've got to. You've got to tell somebody. Some people just kind of put a kink in their jaw to save in the name of Jesus. Oh, they'll talk about God. God. I believe in God. They talk like they've got a steeple stuck in their throat. You know? God. Number four. It's a powerful call. Look at what verse six through eight says. He made haste and came down. Jesus told him to do what? Make haste and come down. What did He do? He made haste and came down. I like that. He didn't argue. He didn't say, Well, Lord, I'm going to get saved, but not today. He didn't say, Well, when I feel like it, when I get ready, when I get my house cleaned out. He did just what God said. I'm going to tell you what happens when you get saved, brother. You quit arguing with God. You do what God says to do. What do you do? This morning we said, You'll keep His commandments. You quit arguing with God. Amen? Looky here. He came down and received Him how? How? How? You know what you get when you get Jesus? You get, and you know what? Some of you could stand an overdose of it. Well, bless God. I'm saved. Well, honey, you need to tell your face about it. Amen? I'm a Christian. Man, don't tell nobody. You ought to keep your mouth shut. They might think that Christianity is what you've got. I'm going to tell you, when you get saved, you've got joy. And what's this? Joy ain't determined by your circumstances. How many times have you been to hospitals, brother, and you've seen people in the hospital wrecked with pain, brother? I mean, they're in a nursing home. They're in a hospital. They're dying. They're aching all over. And you come in, and they say, Oh, good to see you, Pastor. Thank God. Good. Amen? Thank God. Good. Been sitting here laying in his bed just praying for you. You go there to minister to them, and man, you walk away, you're about this high off the ground. They've just been a blessing to you. And then you come down there to church. There are some people in the church you don't dare ask them how they're doing, because it's going to take them ten minutes to tell you. I've got to catch my get along. You know, I had a guy tell me a while back, well, I wouldn't come last night because I had a sinus infection. I said, Man, you know what? I sure am glad Jesus didn't have a sinus infection when He died for you on an old ragged cross, you big wimp. Well, I had to come to church, and my sinus infection was kind of messing with me a little bit. Man, you're the biggest wimp I've ever seen in my life. Let me tell you something. When Jesus gives you salvation, He gives you joy, He gives you victory, and man, He died for you. You want to live for Him. Amen? He received Jesus how? He received Jesus how? And watch this, church. If people receive Jesus joyfully, we ought to receive them joyfully. I've been to churches, you walk down the aisle and get saved, you think you just robbed a bank. What did He do? I wonder if He meant it this time. I like that one. Oh, you Pharisee, you nut. I wonder what He did. Amen? Listen, you know that Bible tells me there's not but one thing that causes heaven to rejoice. You know what it is? When a little barefoot boy during a tent revival comes shuffling down the dirt, he says, Preacher, I want to give my life to Jesus. You know what heaven does? Son, they throw a big old party. Whoo! Bless God! Look at that little boy down there. He gives his life to Jesus. Yes, sir! Man, we ought to be rejoicing, praising God. Hallelujah! Put up your little old Pharisee, little bony finger poking at people. Oh, and lookie here. Here they are. Here they are. Listen, he receives Jesus joyfully. And look what happens in the next sentence. When they saw it, they all rejoiced. Praise God! A tax collector got saved! Bless God! God, His address changed from hell to heaven! Whoo! Oh, what glory to God! Is that what they said? You've got some of these folks in every church. They murmured. They're saying, He's gone to be a guest with the man that's a sinner. Well, I wonder what they thought they were. I'm so glad Jesus goes to be a guest with sinners. I said, I'm so glad Jesus goes to be a guest with sinners. Because one day, July 4, 1982, He came to my house, and He was a guest of this sinner. And He said, This old lost sinner's heart and soul and life come into my home, come into my heart, come into my habits. Listen, preacher, there are some people in the church who won't win anybody to Jesus, but they'll grieve and complain about who you do. Hello? You're not beautiful. There are some churches, boy, if you're not beautiful, blameless, and benevolent, they don't want you. You know what? I made up my mind a long time ago I'd rather be a part of the happy-clappy than the frozen chosen. Why? Listen to me, because Jesus gives you joy. Amen? Listen, the church I was saved at on the front of our bulletin, boxcar letters this size, we had to do the bulletin like this, right across the top, it said, Only sinners welcome here. Now, we had two kinds of sinners that come to our church, because there are two kinds of sinners that come to every church. You've got your saved sinners, and you've got your lost sinners. But the Bible says, He that says he's without sin is a liar, and the truth is not in you. Amen? One day, we were welcoming the visitors, and there was a lady that was sitting down. You know how we embarrass them sometimes. We all stand up and make them sit down so you know who they are and everything. We were going around, and I woke up and I was shaking hands with this lady, and I said, Man, we're so glad to have you this morning. She looked at me like a Catholic in a new gate. She had this bulletin like this. She said, I must be in the wrong place. I said, What do you mean? Because we had an Assembly of God church right across the street that we had great fellowship with. And sometimes people would park in the wrong parking lot and get in the wrong church. I thought she meant she was in the wrong church. I said, What do you mean? She said, It says here only sinners welcome here. I said, No ma'am, you're in the right place. I said, We're glad to have you. Make yourself at home. Amen? I'm going to tell you what she did. God is my witness. She got up, tucked her little skirt, and she was out the door. You know, you can't even be saved until you realize you're a sinner. Now let me tell you a little bit of something. When you get saved, God does something unusual in your life. You can't sin and like it. And you can't sin and get by with it. I didn't say you couldn't sin. You can sin, but you can't sin and like it. And you can't sin and get by with it. Mister, if you can sin and enjoy your sin, you ain't never been saved. Because my Bible says, and your Bible says, the Holy Spirit of God will convict you, son, will wear you slap out when you're out of the will of God. And if that don't work, God will take you to the woodshed and wear you out. In fact, the Bible says in Hebrews, if you're without chastisement, you're not even a legitimate son or child of God. Yes, sir, that's what the Bible says. I had an old boy tell me here a while back, I went to see him in jail. He said, Brother Jack, he's sitting on the other side of the window there. He said, Brother Jack, I'm kind of like old Paul in the Bible. Man, I said, I couldn't wait to hear this one. I said, Really? I said, Tell me about that. He said, Well, here I am in this prison. And the old Paul, he ended up in prison a lot. And he said over there in Romans chapter 7, The things I do, I don't want to do. The things I don't want to do, those are the things I do. He said, I'm kind of like Paul. I said, You knothead. I said, Let me clue you in on a little bit of something. I said, When Paul said the things he did he didn't want to do, and things he didn't want to do he did, he wasn't talking about he went out and got drunk and high on crack cocaine and got a DWI. Amen? When you get saved, your sins change, my brother. Paul was saying, I had an opportunity to miss witness to somebody. I blew it. I should have been prayed up this morning. I should have been anointed with God's Spirit. And I wasn't. I had an opportunity to preach here or do there. I'm going to tell you something. When you get saved, those blatant, listen to me, those blatant, obvious sins, those things that you know good and well that you wouldn't bring in this church house, they will stop. Well, I just don't see anything wrong with dragging a bear out once in a while. Well, you know what the Bible says about lost people? Lost people have been blinded by the God of this world. The old boy said, Well, I don't see anything wrong. Well, blind people don't see good, okay? Blind people don't see worth a flip. I don't see anything wrong with it. You'll see something wrong with it when you get saved. Your eyes, your spiritual eyes get open with it. You'll see plenty wrong with it. I go down to the boat, brother Jack, I don't see anything wrong. I go down there because I get a good buffet. Oh, you knothead. I was born at night, but it wasn't last night, okay? You know what I tell them? I tell them if you've got to eat from the devil's table, you're full of hell. Son, I done eaten some of the cooking over here. You can't get filled up on what's going on around here. You're in a bind anyhow, amen? I ain't going to pull my ragged old truck up on the parking lot of, listen, of some stinking hell hole of a casino. Listen, when you get saved, you'll see something wrong with going there. You'll see plenty wrong with going there. Shacked up. Living in sin. Living in adultery. I don't see anything wrong with it. Well, you're blind. You're blind. You're blinded by the God of this world. I don't care if every TV show in Hollywood says it's okay to shack up. God says it ain't okay to shack up. To sin against the Holy God. When you get born saved, you won't have to have the preacher or somebody down there at the church telling you, well, you need to quit living in sin. Son, I'm going to tell you one thing. The Holy Ghost will tell you. He'll get that straightened out. Hello! Well, I got this little old problem here. Son, I smoke anything you set on fire for. I got saved. Listen, when I got saved, Jesus stopped all that. I'm saving. Well, why don't you bring it in here? Why don't you bring your little can in here? Huh? Huh? I'll tell you why you don't. Because you know it ain't right. Hello! I'm going to make me some partners here. Amen? This is my worried look. All right? I'm going to make sure I make everybody mad before I leave. Amen? You can tell I don't preach for money. If I did, I wouldn't preach the way I do. I'm okay. You're okay. Go ahead and dip your snout, smoke your sorry cigarettes, drink your right good liquor, shack up and live like the devil, and see you in heaven. That old dog won't hunt, honey. No wonder we can't win our lost neighbors and our friends to Jesus, co-workers, people down at school. There's not enough of a change many times on the people that claim to be born again children of God. Hello? Amen or Amen? Well, I don't know how I got off on all that. I feel a lot better. In Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. Amen? Now remember, I told you this is a rich man. And a rich man said, Half of what I've got, I give to the Lord in His work. Amen? And how much has Jesus said about His money? Nada. Zilch. Nothing. And the first thing out of his mouth, he ain't even down to eye the tree good, and he's ready to start a benevolent ministry. Which is another thing that happens when you get saved. You get concerned about people less fortunate than you are. You want to help people out. You want to give to the Lord's work. And look what he goes on to say. He said, That ain't enough. This is a rich man. This ain't a poor man that's got ten bucks giving five. Hello? This is a rich man. He said, And if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, that's what he did for a living. Duh. He said, I restore unto him fourfold. He said, I'm going to get this comes out of the remaining half. Son, can you imagine the witness this old boy had in town? Can you hear those people in Jericho? Man, did you hear what happened to Zacchaeus? That joker's got his office open down there, and everybody that comes that he's ripped off, he's giving them back four times what he owed them. Whoo! Don't you know he had a witness in Jericho? Now listen to me. Look right up here. You know what Zacchaeus' God was before he got saved? You know what it was? You know what his God was before he got saved? His money. His money, honey. You know what the very first thing God will deal with you about when you get saved is? Whatever your God is. Whatever your God is. Because the first commandment in the Ten Commandments is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And the first thing God will deal with you about when you get saved is whatever your God was. My God, when I got saved, wasn't money. Son, I couldn't hold on to it long enough to be my God. It went through my hand like sand through a seal. Mine was drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality, all that. Pornography. Those were my gods. Whatever your God is. Whatever your God is, that's what God will deal with you. Amen? Remember, look at 2 Corinthians 5.17. Therefore, if any man be where? In Christ. He ought to be a new creature. Oh, it does say he is. Amen? He is a new creature. Some of you are going, do you know Jesus? Well, I ought to go to church. I know I ought to start serving the Lord. I know I ought to start doing this, Brother Jack. No, it ain't a matter of what you ought to be. It's what you will be when you're in Christ. If you're in Christ, you are a new creature. If I take a bucket of water and douse Old Brother Todd, I wouldn't say you ought to be wet. I'd say you is wet. That's what he is. It's not what he ought to be. It's what he is. He is wet. When your bones say, Brother, it's not you ought to change. You will change. Hello? Amen? Somebody? Is anybody out there? One thing I love about preaching to prisoners, man, I'm going to tell you. In prisons, they will talk to you. Amen? You don't have to explain to them what sin is. I can tell you. He is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Amen? We talk about somebody dying. What do they do? They pass away. Old things die. See, dead people don't get drunk. Dead people don't go to the boat. Hello? Dead people don't live with bitterness and anger and resentment and all that junk. Old things die. Behold, some things become new. Well, I don't drink as much as I used to, Brother Jack. All things become new. Not just some things. All things. Number five. It's a purposeful call. Verse nine through ten. And Jesus said unto him, tomorrow. When? This day. This day is salvation come to this house. For as much as he also is the son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come. Why? To seek and to save that which was lost. The whole purpose of Jesus coming to Jericho that day was much more than to get a man into God's house. Jesus was trying to get God into a man's house. Psalm 127 verse one. Except the Lord build the what? House. They labor in vain to build it. Joshua 24, 15. Choose you this when? When? This day. Whom you will serve. The Bible never talks about getting right with God tomorrow. It's always this day. For me and my what? House. We will serve the Lord. Now listen. I don't know anything about you. But God does. It may be you were here this morning. You heard more this morning. You lived up to. You need to trust Christ your Savior. Whatever it is. I pray that tonight. This day. You'll trust Jesus your Savior. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the Word of God. And I pray right now in Jesus' name. For men and women. Boys and girls. All over this auditorium. This day. They need to trust you as their Savior. This day. They need to get right with God. This day. They need to invite you to go home with them. This day. They need to become new creations. This day. They need to make haste and come down. This day. You're calling them personally. By name. This day. You're wanting them to relinquish whatever God it is in their life. It's keeping them from coming to Jesus. This day. You're calling them. I pray in Jesus' name, Lord, that they come and trust you. Before it's ever lastly too late. Oh, Lord, this was the last day you went through Jericho. Zacchaeus never would have had another opportunity to meet you again. I sure am glad he got saved that day. I sure am glad you went home with him that day. Lord, we love you and we praise you. With heads bowed and eyes closed. Heads bowed and eyes closed, you're here today. You say, Brother Jack, I need to trust Christ as my Savior. See, it may be that you're one way at your house, but you're another way at God's house. Maybe you're one way when you're at your home, and you're another way when you're at God's home. Jesus is saying today, I must abide at your house. Your house. Your house. He's wanting to go home with you to your house to make your house a house of God. To be a house where God lives, where God dwells. This day. This day. With heads bowed and eyes closed, you say, Brother Jack, that's me. I need Jesus to go home with me. I need Him as my Savior, my Lord, my Master. If you want Him as your Savior, you can have Him. He's just a prayer away. You just pray this prayer quietly to Jesus. Just pray after me. Just pray to Jesus. You're not praying to me or for me. You just pray to Jesus and for Jesus, and He'll hear your prayer right now. Just pray this prayer quietly. Jesus can hear a whisper all the way to heaven. Just pray this prayer to Him. Dear Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. And without You, I'm lost and on my way to hell. But today, Lord Jesus, this day, I ask You to forgive me of all my sins. And come into my heart. Come into my home. Come into my habits. Be my Lord, my Savior, and my Master. You died for me on an old rugged cross. Now I'll live for You the rest of my life. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving my lost soul. In Jesus' name.