Peter Brandon emphasizes the mission of Jesus as the Son of Man, who came to seek and save the lost, illustrated through the story of Zacchaeus. He explains the separation between humanity and God due to sin, and how Jesus bridged that gap through His sacrifice on the cross. Brandon uses the analogy of miners trapped underground to depict the spiritual darkness and desperation of those who are lost without Christ. He urges listeners to recognize their need for salvation and to accept Jesus as their Savior, highlighting that true salvation comes from faith in Him alone. The sermon concludes with a call to respond to Christ's invitation for salvation, emphasizing the joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

Now shall we turn to the word of God, it's the reading from Luke 19 and we'll start reading from verse one. And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho and behold there was a man named Zacchaeus which was 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. And he rang before 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. And he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it they all murmured saying that he was gone to be guessed with a man that is 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 force accusation I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, this day is salvation come to this house for as much as he also is a son of Abraham. For the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Now the Lord will bless to us the reading of his word. Now what I'm going to do just for the first two minutes is to call one of the girls up and they have to be a model and I'm going to explain very clearly what I'm going to tell them in a story that took place a few years ago in Germany. Now would that girl there you come up that's lovely nice red ribbon you've got is that your favorite color? Now can you see her there or is she can you see her good now when God made man and woman man and God were friends but when sin came in man rebelled against God and the link of friendship was broken and therefore man was separated from God. And there was this big sin barrier between man and God. As the children were born into the world so basically they were born away from God because they inherited that sinful nature. God gave to the world the ten commandments and we've all broken those commandments and therefore we are not only separated from God but we are guilty before God and this is the whole world. If God left that world it would be eternally separated from God but God loved that world so into this world came the Lord Jesus in order to bring that world back to God and the only way in which he could do it was to go to the cross and the sins of that world and all the sin that's in that nature to be laid upon the Lord Jesus and the judgment that should come on that world came upon him and he bore it completely. When he finished bearing sin before God he said it is finished and then he was taken from the cross and buried and the third day God raised him from the dead and took him back to glory as the great saviour. When Jesus went back to heaven he sent the Holy Spirit the invisible member of the trinity and he's here tonight and the whole purpose of the Holy Spirit who's here tonight is to show us that we are separated from God to show us the danger and then to reveal to us the Lord Jesus who died on the cross and who is able now to bring us back to God and there comes a moment in your experience when you turn to God walk toward me that's lovely in repentance and you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus and he makes you right with God and that's what the scripture means the son of man has come to speak and to save that which is lost. Now when we hear the story tonight we shall see that there are some people who realize that they're away from God but want to be like that because they still want to live their own life. Now he can't save them but there are others that turn around and trust him and we trust that everyone will turn and trust him tonight good what's your name good well you should have a special prize and I'm sure that lady will give you one About 40 years ago or just under a group of miners left their home and little did they realize what was going to happen. They lived in the heart of Germany they got to the pit head and they changed their clothing and they were hurried down to the bowels of the earth in order to dig for iron ore. As they were digging for iron ore suddenly they heard a violent explosion that shook the whole of the mine and some of those miners looked down and they could see bubbles of water appearing under their feet and then they noticed the whole of the electrical system was disrupted and all the lights went out and they were in darkness apart from the lights that were on their helmets. The pit foreman realizing that tragedy had really struck turned to the men that were with him and said follow me and whilst they were following this pit foreman those little bubbles of water turned into a stream from a stream into a river of death and within 10 minutes they were chest deep in water. Think of the predicament as they were wading through the water they came to an elevated rock upon which they climbed and then they watched 40 men and they saw those precarious or dangerous waters rising higher and higher and then miraculously at the ledge of the rock they stopped the men realized that they were lost they realized they were separated from their loved ones they realized there was no hope of getting back to the light unless they were saved they were there for about 24 hours and then another tragedy struck helmet after helmet as far as their lights were concerned went out and here were 40 men away from the light away from their loved ones totally lost and lost in the dark now that is a graphic picture of the human race man was made to have communion with God and that's why he's not satisfied today he's out of communion when he sinned he turned his back upon God and went away and all his children are away from God and the distance between us and God is just like that great distance between the darkness and the light sin is a mighty barrier between man and God this is how the bible puts it your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear in the old testament God wanted the world to understand this and when he erected a tabernacle under the direction of Moses it was divided into two there was the holy place where the priest could come and there was the holiest of all that the priest could not enter and only one man was allowed to enter and that was once a year and that was the high priest and that little division showed that there was this great sin barrier between man and God I wish people realized that if men and women realized that they were separated from God by the sin barrier thousands would be saved but satan blinds our minds to that fact these men were all in the dark they were like blind men they were feeling around in that dumb darkness and people are like that today speak to me do you know God well can we have you ever had a time of communion and friendship with God impossible do you know Jesus Christ well I believe he lives don't know him now what's wrong men are spiritually blind God's there Christ is there but sin has blinded us a man is in that state of darkness and this is the tragedy can I share it with you if a person dies separated from God and most people die like that then the separation is eternal and the darkness is forever that's why he calls hell outer darkness you have inner darkness now but you have the world to enjoy when you're out of the body out of the world the inner darkness becomes outer darkness and you say oh God I'm lost not that God wants you to be like that he wants you to be saved but if people still continue without Christ that's their sad and tragic end these men were brilliant men really when I read the story in some of our newspapers it brought a lump to my throat and softness to my heart they tried to scratch through rock to get to the other side of the mine with their hands and for about 24 hours they tried with their fingernails scratching through rock just imagine one or two of them had a kind of a nail that they had in their pocket and they were using a common nail to try and get through rock but eventually after 24 hours some of them lost all the skin and some the flesh on their hands they were fanatical they wanted to get through to the light and they thought if they could get through that wall that was separating them from the other side of the mine there might be a chance but they fell down exhausted and they knew they were beaten now hundreds and hundreds of human beings are trying to get to God by good works now don't misunderstand me it's lovely to see a man living a moral life it's good to see a mother rearing her children to fear God we're not criticizing that it's lovely to see people kind to their neighbors we're not criticizing that but we must say this there is no moral work or moral life that we can commit that can make us right with God the scripture says not of works lest any man should burst and then other people are struggling to get to God by religion now don't misunderstand us and understand us it's lovely to see people coming to a place of worship it's good seeing people sitting around the Lord's table and taking the communion it's lovely to hear people singing the praises of God and hearing the scriptures read we're not criticizing that but there is no religion that can make you right with God you might be christened you might be confirmed you might be baptized by a merchant you might be a church member now all those things at least some of them can be good but that will never make you right with God now I know this comes as a defeatist point of view but it's true there is nothing that we human beings can do to make ourselves right with God if we're going to be saved the Lord must do it all they had a gigantic funeral some of you probably remember this in your national papers and there were 250 coffins in that little village there in the heart of Germany in a Lutheran church and here were 40 men still alive and they thought they were dead and that to me was really ironical that here were 40 men alive and up top in a Lutheran church they were having a funeral for those men can I tell you something worse there are people walking the streets of Sydney who are spiritually dead and they don't know they've got a body they've got a mind they've got emotions they've got sight they've got hearing but they're dead to God dead to Christ and they are walking separate they float in boats they ride in motor cars they enjoy their holidays they have everything that pads the body but dead totally dead to God what a tragedy as these men were there two men were released on the other side of the mine the only two that were saved and they let out the news that they heard some people scratching on the wall and there could be some men still alive and then the excitement started they knew that if these men were alive there was only one place where they could be sheltering and that was on this elevated rock and they hired a brilliant German engineer who carried out some wonderful mathematical formulas and then accurately sunk a shaft and I want you to imagine this here were 40 men waiting to die in fact they had to pull one man back who wanted to drop in the water and all of a sudden they hear over their heads a rumbling then a drill pierces the ceiling and when it was withdrawn they saw a light they just wept with emotion light and as light came they knew there was a hope and dear friends if the spirit of God is working in your heart you have seen tonight for the first time you're separated from God you've seen that you can do nothing to get right with God you've seen that you're spiritually dead and you're saying my I'm in danger but thank God there's light God is going to show you right now there's a way back to God and that's what it means when Jesus says I am the light of the world he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness and therefore he came to be God's light in other words God's way back to God but light wouldn't help them and this must have been one there was a man that dropped a red telephone and when it got right the way down to this place where these men were sheltering one man picked it up and this is what he heard hold on hold on don't give up we're going to send down a savior hold on don't give up we're going to send down a savior and can you imagine the joy when he passed on the news hold on don't give up we're going to send down a savior and that's the old testament message when we had sinned when we had all broken the ten commandments and we were guilty before God when we were in danger of eternal banishment from the Lord God made a promise that he was going to send a savior and so that we wouldn't mistake him when he came he showed us all about his birth showed us the kind of life that he would live showed us the death that he would die revealed to us the burial flesh showed to us his resurrection and even ascension so that when the savior came he would be unmistakable and all that is to be found in the old testament but there was a tragedy while some of those men were dying it took them 36 hours to find a savior they wanted a man strong enough to save 40 men in weakness secondly they wanted a doctor that was prepared to go down and give his life for those 40 men and then lastly they wanted a man who was prepared to be totally selfish and go down irrespective of the cost and it was 36 hours before they could find a savior and then he came forward a young man who was 38 years of age quite a brilliant young surgeon an ex-rugby player fine physique a man with three children and he volunteered to go down and the whole world saw him when the moment came when he was going down on a chair that they called the chair of elevation the whole world saw the drama of this and first of all they saw his old mother come and kiss him and she just said god bless you son i'll be praying for you then they saw his father then they saw the wife and she hugged him kissed him and then the three children and that was the most touching scene of all and then they strapped him in and then the viewer who was telling the world this over the television said this he's going from the light to the darkness he's going from life down into the jaws of death and when he went the viewers eyes were filled with tears and he just said this he's gone he's gone the lord jesus in heaven says i'm going down and this is how he put it lo i come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will oh god and the lord jesus came into this world but he did something that the german savior couldn't do he went to a cross of wood and allowed wicked men to crucify him and then he waited and met all their hatred with love and then from the sixth of the ninth hour he allowed the almighty god to allay the great question of sin upon him so he became the great sin bearer and he said the language of darkness you listen my god my god why have you forsaken me would you mind if i point it he was forsaken for your sin for your sin for your sin for your sin for your sin because he loved you and died for you and when it was all over he said finished and god raised him from the dead and that is the world's only savior and may i say this dear friends he wills not the death of any he longs to save all mankind in fact there's not a man in australia that he can't save and there's not a man in australia that can't be saved because whilst the lord is there he's able to save fully and completely all that come unto god by him when the german savior got down unfortunately there was a panic the man that took the telephone call wanted to be fessed up and unfortunately he trod on two of his fellow men and hurt them and there was a panic the german savior realizing that there was going to be trouble got hold of him and put him down forcibly and hurt him and then he said this i'm not going to save one of you until you give me your faith and obedience and he waited and when he got their faith and obedience he went to one man that was so weak he couldn't even lift his hand and he quietly said this are you willing to let me save you literally said are you going to cooperate but what he meant was are you going to let me save you and all he could do was this nod his head that's all and he grabbed hold of that fellow he put him in the chair of elevation strapped him in and then he said in german what i'm going to say in english up and they watched and they saw a man being lifted from all the darkness into the light from the jaws of death right into life and when the news leaked out that one had been saved 40 000 people all around the mine skipped and danced with joy and they said one word hey shall i tell you something better than that a lady stayed behind at base water one night and i went into the room and i called my wife and she was weeping so we said what is it my dear she says i realize i'm a poor lost sinner and we couldn't help it we said praise god that was a sign that god was working then i said do you realize that christ died on the cross for your sins she said that she did for your sin yes for my sin then i said you're very near and to cut a long story short i read her this scripture whosoever shall call on the name of the lord shall be saved and she saw it like that and down on her knees she went and she cried to the lord to save her and come into her life now this didn't happen literally but i saw it spiritually she was lifted from all the darkness of sin and brought into the light of god's presence and millions of angels all rejoiced because one sinner was lifted from darkness into light wouldn't it be lovely if that happened right now at this moment in someone's heart i'm going to describe something that didn't happen because all those men were saved but could you imagine the german savior coming to that last man that he put down by force and saying hans are you willing to respond and let me save you no i've been down here for nearly a week i'm stopping you've done a good work with them but i don't want it can't you imagine the man reasoning with him arguing with him pleading with him but can you imagine this taking place he says you go back leave me here and he gets into the chair and he says this i wanted to save you but you wouldn't let me do you know i've seen children i've seen adults in this mission and the spirit of god has got right into their heart and can i do it by a dramatic class and convicted them like and they've left that building rejecting christ now can i say this with all the tenderness that god can give me and then close that's the one thing that brings you into judgment it's rejection of christ don't do it tonight receive him as your savior and then you will know the light and the joy of his presence