Introduction

Last week we talked about "The Seeking Savior" and we defined His seeking as a seeking that finds. He seeks and saves. He seeks until He saves. There is a relentless quality about His seeking. In that we take comfort because we are embraced by a determined, intentional, and powerful love that transcends time flowing like a mighty ocean from the throne of God.

So we had many good things to think about last week. But we also left many things unsaid. As we pointed out there is much more in Luke 19 than what first meets the eye. As a result, this context has gotten under my skin and I hope under yours too. It has caused me to dig and re-dig on a number of things. So I want to cover some questions today on the passage, questions that help us tie together some loose ends. My title for this message is "Christ's Effectual Call." And the questions will be grouped around the following points: 1) The need of Christ's effectual call, 2) The means of His effectual call, and 3) the basis of His effectual call.

1A. The need of Christ's effectual call

There are two questions that relate to the issue of need. One has to do with the reference to the wealthy and the other pertains to the notion of being lost.

1) How are we to view the isolation of the wealthy and the impossibility of their salvation (cf. Lk. 18:25, hinted at in the Zacchaeus narrative, Lk. 19:2)? Does this suggest that it is easier for those who are not wealthy and that it is possible for them simply to make their way into the kingdom of God?

First, we cannot properly infer to the possibility of entry by people that that are not wealthy. This is the case because the indictment of man pertains to all. Jesus made this clear repeatedly. The corrupt tree cannot produce good fruit (Matt. 7:18). Faith as something that pleases God is a good fruit. So faith is something that man in his fallen condition cannot produce. The Lord made it clear that no one can come to Him in the surrender of faith unless he or she is powerfully drawn (Jn. 6:44). So it is not just to the wealthy but to all people in the fall that the impossibility of entering the kingdom applies.

Second, we still must do justice to the isolation of the wealthy. There is a pointed warning to the wealthy who have much in the way of the things of this earth and are thereby prone to overconfidence and self-sufficiency. What need does a rich man have of others? He needs others in the general sense that he needs someone to provide his shelter and fix his car. But he needs no one in particular because he has the means to cast one worker away at a whim for replacement by another, whatever the cost. A false sense of independence and self-sufficiency tends to go with the wealthy that are covetous and idolatrous. They depend on and cling to their wealth and thus refuse to depend on God. So there is a serious warning to all that have been blessed with an abundance of the things of this world. They are extremely poor spiritually (cf. who the real blind beggar is). They are needy. The need is great and desperate. They need to be called effectually, powerfully, and graciously by the Son of Man (the powerful Lord of glory, cf. Dan. 7:13-14, the son of man was given authority, glory, and sovereign power).

Third, but the reference to the wealthy must be taken as representative of man's state in bondage to sin. Thus the isolation of the wealthy has the context of the commandments, especially the tenth commandment (cf. the rich young ruler supposedly kept all the commandments but was enslaved in the sin of covetousness, Lk. 18:18-23). It is hard for one who is bound to the sin of covetousness to enter the kingdom; it is in fact impossible like a camel going through the eye of a needle (Lk. 18:24-25). Without forgetting the pointed warning to the wealthy here, we must take this as representative of all that are in bondage to sin per any commandment. It is impossible for those who are slaves to the sin of rebellion against God appointed human authorities (father, mother, elder, employer, police etc.) to enter the kingdom of God. It is impossible for those who are slaves to anger (cf. the sixth commandment) to enter the kingdom of God. It is impossible for those that are slaves to sin in their use of time (cf. the six and one) to enter into the kingdom of God (they are enslaved to a temporal outlook that is detached from the authority of God).

The impossibility regarding the wealthy like Zacchaeus does not teach that some fallen sinners have the ability to believe though fallen and enslaved in sin. As a matter of fact, being representative, the case of the wealthy teaches us about all who are lost. The effectual call of the Lord Jesus is absolutely necessary if anyone is going to be saved. Without that call all are lost.

2) What does it mean to be lost?

If lost a) you cannot find your way home and if aware of your plight there is a feeling of dread and disorientation as you go around in circles. b) From the perspective of home, it means to be missing, out of sight, and out of reach. Those at home who have lost someone do not know where that person is. c) But here there is a sobering additional aspect. Lost means to be no longer welcome at home. It means to be cast out. Sinners in the fall have been cast out of Eden and are lost in the wilderness of the world (that's the big picture presented in Gen. 3-4). It is due to sin, rebellion, and attempted autonomy (claiming independence from God and seeking to live by one's own authority instead of by obedience to the authority of God). Going our own way we have come under judgment. Being cast out, we are subject to death both now and hereafter. Physical death is but the beginning of eternal punishment.

Here is an important fact: sons of the eternal covenant are in fact lost and unless they are found in time (in history and at the right time before it is too late) they will perish in their sin.

A transition from being under wrath to being under grace must take place within the historical experience of God's elect. That "must" drives Christ; hence He must look until He sees, He must seek until He finds. Zacchaeus must be brought to repentance by the Savior's effectual call. Though an elect son, He needs to be called if he is going to be saved.

Marvelously, the seeking savior orchestrates the time and place of finding. When He reached the place where Zacchaeus was suspended in the tree, Jesus looked up at him. In the flow of the event, we get some light on the movement of the Lord through Jericho. To all eyes, it appears that Jesus is merely going to pass through town with His sights set on some other location. But now we learn differently. He passed through the city with the deliberate intention of stopping at this place on earth in Jericho at this moment in time. He traveled through with the intention of fixing His eyes on this man in the tree. There is nothing accidental here. Nothing is left to chance. Jesus passed through town to this precise spot at this precise time in order to find this lost son of the covenant. Looking up He called Zacchaeus. He called him to Himself. He called him from death to life, from blindness to seeing, from covetousness to charity and from ignorance to knowledge. Eyes opened Zacchaeus knew Christ and could now "see who He was" with the eyes of faith. Hence the immediate obedience (19:6, though a chief collector in command of others, he humbles himself), the confession of sin, and the turning from sin (19:8).

2A. The means of Christ's effectual call

Christ's call is bestowed through a direct command made effectual by a hidden inner working of the Spirit. Consider His call in a tax collector context similar to the saving of Zacchaeus recorded in Mark 2:13-17. Here is the call of Levi and the inquiring of the teachers of the law about Jesus' association with tax collectors and sinners that results in a reply from the Lord. Parallel with seeking and saving the lost is the call of sin sick sinners. Jesus was walking along when He saw Levi and He said to him, "Follow me" (Mk. 2:14). Jesus then had dinner at Levi's home with other "sinners" (v. 16). Hence the question, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners" (v. 16).

Seeking becomes finding when Jesus fixes His eyes on you. This takes place when He comes to the place where you are. Levi was seated in the tax collector's booth (Mk. 2:14) and Zacchaeus had climbed up into a sycamore tree (Lk. 19:4). The next step in finding is calling. The call of Levi (Mk. 2:14, 17) was efficacious. When Jesus said, "Follow me," Levi "got up, left everything and followed him" (Lk. 5:27-28). Likewise the call of Zacchaeus was efficacious. Divine election was being realized when Jesus said to the sinner above Him in the tree, "Come down now for I must stay at your house today and lodge there for the night." The efficacy is shown in the obedience. Jesus came to seek and to save this individual lost sinner who was in need of a doctor because he was sick.

Could either Levi or Zacchaeus have refused to obey this call of Christ? To ask the question is to answer it. No is the answer because Jesus is fulfilling what has been purposed from eternity. His command is obeyed because He gives life to whomsoever He is pleased to give it (Jn. 5:21). He makes the Father known to those to whom He chooses to reveal Him (Matt. 11:27). He has the authority to give eternal life to those given to Him by the Father (Jn. 17:2). Thus, His effectual call issues in obedience and repentance (Lk. 5:32; 19:6,8; recall that it is because the lost prodigal was found that he repented for Jesus seeks the lost "until He finds, Lk. 15:4).

Christ's effectual call is bestowed through a direct command that He drives through blocked ears, blind eyes, and hardened hearts awakening the soul. This is the diffusing ray that penetrates the darkness of our hearts (Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose went forth and followed thee).

3A. The basis of His effectual call

How could Zacchaeus receive salvation and forgiveness per his repentance according to the law when that very law required a guilt offering along with confession and restitution? He is forgiven without a guilt offering in view (cf. Lev. 6:1-7, where the restitution is twenty per cent; the fourfold penalty was assigned to those who stole sheep, Ex. 22:1).

Per Leviticus 6, forgiveness came when the restitution was paid on the day that the guilt offering was made for atonement and forgiveness. Zaccheaus apparently has the principle from Exodus 22 in mind as he acknowledges his theft and brings forth the fruit of repentance. Nothing is said about atonement in the Exodus context. Regarding his state as a sinner (stated with contempt for him and Jesus by the crowds), doubt only pertains to the extent not the reality of his wrongdoing ("from whomsoever I have wrongfully exacted anything," Luke, Marshall, 698). But Jesus proclaims the forgiveness of this sinner in the language of salvation from being lost.

Jesus can forgive him without reference to sacrificial atonement because as mediator of the covenant He will be the atoning sacrifice by His death and resurrection. This is so because His coming to call to repentance (Mk. 2:17b) and His coming to seek and save lost sons of the eternal covenant (Lk. 19:9-10) is a coming to give His life as a ransom for many (Mk. 10:45). Thus, beyond Jericho is Jerusalem, His final week of ministry, and the cross. It is in the shadow of the cross that Jesus tells us of His determined purpose to save the lost sons of the eternal covenant. Particular redemption is another loose end that is tied together by the Zacchaeus narrative. The son of man must suffer in order to find His lost ones that He already knows from before the foundation of the world.

He came into this world to share in the humanity of His covenant children (Heb. 2:14). He took flesh and blood on behalf of those given to Him by the Father (Heb. 2:13). The ones He helps are Abraham's descendents (brothers, sisters, and children given to Him before He came into the world, Heb. 2:10, 12, 13). Therefore, the son of man came to seek and to find the Father's elect, the true children of Abraham by divine election and covenant. So, He forgives the lost sinner by making atonement as the merciful and faithful high priest (Heb. 2:17-18).

We encounter all of the doctrines of grace here in the warmth, intimacy, and necessity at work in the ministry of our seeking Savior. Zacchaeus is a sinner enslaved in sin, in the impossibility and inability of believing (that's total depravity!). But he was chosen by the Father and given to Christ in the eternal covenant of grace of which the Abrahamic covenant was a historical expression as one of the ways it is worked out (that's divine election that must be unconditional due to our total depravity!). By Christ's command Zacchaeus was brought from death to life, from blindness to seeing, and from slavery to sin to freedom (that's irresistible grace!). The ground of this seeking and finding is found in Christ Himself as the mediator of the new covenant in His blood. He endured the wrath of God in the place of His covenant children (that's limited/particular redemption!). That He saves them by this kind of sacrifice and with this kind of powerful call is the guarantee that He will see them through to glory. Thus, what supports (surrounds, under pins, engulfs) the commitment of Zacchaeus to a repentant life? He is supported by the eternal and powerful covenant love that is determined to see that the lost are brought home to glory through a repentant life (that's perseverance of the saints!).

Conclusion

1) Look back to when He called you

Think about how everything changed when you were introduced to Christ. That is, consider how everything changed when Christ introduced Himself to you. Whether as a child or an adult, when the time and place of meeting arrived, nothing could remain the same from that time forward.

I remember when I first met my wife. For some time I wanted to introduce myself seeing her day after day in the library when we were in college. But time after time when I mustered the strength to make my way to her table, she would be gone and another opportunity would slip away. Finally, time and place came together and I went to where she was sitting and I introduced myself to her and she introduced herself to me. And nothing has been the same since that moment!

In the seeking of Jesus no opportunities slip away. He sets the when and where of the first meeting. He makes it certain that nothing is ever the same from that time forward. What a wonder this is! "How marvelous"!

2) So look ahead to what is promised by His call

Christ was driven by a loving plan and set purpose. In perfect obedience to the Father and thus to the eternal covenant of grace, and in perfect love for the given ones He loves, seeks, finds, and keeps. That is why we can gladly sing the refrain, "He is mine" (Loving me, seeking me, finding me, keeping me, He is mine).

The faithfulness of the triune God that called you into fellowship will keep you strong to the end. Paul makes this point in the letter to the Corinthians when he connects the power, efficacy, and faithfulness of God's call with His keeping (1 Cor. 1:8-9). The call brings us "into fellowship" from our lost state in sin and alienation (v. 9). The faithfulness of God exercised in the power of His call spills over to His keeping. The same power that calls also faithfully keeps.I am weak but He is strong. I will make it to glory treading every step because of Christ's effectual call.

3) Look up with thanksgiving, praise and worship

We learn here again of our total dependence on the Lord. Our need is so great that without His effectual call we would surely perish in our sin. But instead of pronouncing judgment on us Jesus brings salvation by enduring our judgment in His death and conquering our judgment in His resurrection. With joy, comfort, and a deep sense of awe look up to the Lord Jesus with thanksgiving, praise, and worship.