Forgiveness

This recording is from Willow Creek Church in Wintersprings, Florida, where Dr. Pete Owlinson is our senior pastor. Today's servant is part one in a seven-part series, taking a look at the story of Zacchaeus from Luke chapter 19 verses 1 through 10. This series is titled Seven Acts of Grace, and today's message is on forgiveness. Now here's Pete with today's message. Well, it's the beginning of the new year, and we begin a new series here in Willow Creek Church. We're starting a series if you have your Bible's turn to Luke chapter 19 as we start a really a seven-week series looking at a guy who many of you know about. You know his name, you've heard of him. His name is Zacchaeus, and we're going to talk about him. And his, well what he thought was a chance encounter with Jesus Christ. It wasn't a chance encounter, but it appeared to be to him, and it transformed him. It transformed him in so many ways that we're going to be looking at his life for the next seven weeks and today we're going to start out the new year right by looking at him as a man who experienced forgiveness in a powerful way. So we're going to talk about Zacchaeus, and we're going to talk about forgiveness. But by the way, do you know that forgiveness is not that easy as subject for many people? That there are some people who struggle with the issue of forgiveness big time. And you might be in one of these three categories. There are some people who could give forgiveness, but who can't experience it themselves. Cato was a Roman philosopher who lived 200 years before Jesus, and he said, I can pardon my enemies, but I cannot receive part. He was one of those guys that could deliver forgiveness, but couldn't receive it. And you know there are Christians like that. They've been a Christian a long time, and they've come to Jesus, but they don't feel forgiven. They struggle with that all the time. And then there are some people who are cynical about forgiveness, and maybe you're in that category. Their philosophy is like this. It's far easier to forgive an enemy after you've gotten even with him. And some people are like that. As another guy said, I like to forgive my enemies, but after I've hanged them first. You're a little more cynical. You think forgiveness really can't happen. And then there are others who really have an all-terristic belief about forgiveness that there's a real sense in which those people who do forgive other people are a cut above. I tend to agree. One put it this way. He said, never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury. I think that's true. I think that those human beings who can forgive are a cut above. But what the question is today is we start the series. Where are you on the subject of forgiveness? Are you the kind of person that can give it but not receive it and experience it? Are you a person that is cynical about forgiveness? Or are you a person who's idealistic about forgiveness? You'd like to be one of those forgivers, but it's very difficult for you. That's important. We're going to talk about a guy by the name of Zacchaeus because that was the first act of grace that he experienced when he met Jesus Christ. In the first service, if you're anything like the first service, I've got to tell you that many of you already know the story of Zacchaeus in Luke chapter 19. I asked in the first service, how many of you grew up in the church and remember a song that you learned in Sunday school? Raise your hand and show me if you know that song, it was the same in the first service. It was over half of the people in the room and I promised I wouldn't sing it because I promised I wouldn't sing it but I did anyway. Well, I sang it with them. Do you remember the song? Some of you, you know, I know you're laughing, you're laughing. How does it start out? Zacchaeus was a... and he... wait, wait, wait, wait. You guys were doing the hand motions. I mean in the first service they were doing the hand motions. Come on. He... come on. Come on. And when? Boy, this is going downhill fast. See, there's these people over here. These guys don't even remember this. And when they looked up at the tree, Jesus said, Zacchaeus, what? You come down for I'm going to your house today, I'm going to your house today dinner today. Okay, wow, pretty good. Give yourself a round of applause for that. Okay? Having said that, sung it and remembered it, I want to say this, that song demeans the whole story. But I knew we had to get it out of the table because we all know it. But I tell you, as you study the life of Zacchaeus, we're going to find that he was a very interesting person and there's a lot to learn from his life. So don't think about that song as I read it to you from God's Holy Word. Are you ready? This is not only great history, but this is profound truth. And Luke, the physician who became a Christian, who became a Christian historian, gives us in a very compact way, a story of a man who was radically transformed by Jesus Christ. Let's take a look. Here it is. This is God's Holy Word. Luke 19 1 through 10. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was. But being a short man, he could not because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sicker more fig tree to see him since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and he said to him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to matter. He's gone to be the guest of a center. But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, look Lord, here and now I give half my possessions to the poor. And if I've cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. Jesus said to him today. Salvation has come to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham for the son of man came to seek and to save what was lost. Let's say that last line together because it's absolutely crucial for the son of man came to seek and to save what was lost. The first thing I want to tell you about Zacchaeus and the first thing you need to know about him is that he was Jewish. I do say, well, duh. I mean, this is in Israel. Yeah, but in Israel in the first century, it was as cosmopolitan and international as it is today. There were people from all over the place in Israel. There were Romans. There were Greeks. There were Egyptians. Jericho was on a major, major trade route from Egypt up to Syria. You cut, turned left and go up to Jerusalem. It was a major center. And so there were people from everywhere. But nevertheless, Zacchaeus was Jewish and his name was intensely Jewish. You know what Zacchaeus means? Zacchaeus means from the Hebrew, the righteous one. Zacchaeus means the righteous one. Jewish parents often gave their kids names that combined a Hebrew name for God. And with that Hebrew name for God, they brought out a character of God and hope their children would be raised in that way. So Zacchaeus means the righteous one. Because God is righteous. Never forget that it is the Jews whom God used to convey to humanity the reality that God is one and God is righteous. Never forget that. We owe the Jews the reality that they were the vehicle of God to convey to us the true character of the living God is holy and righteous. And his son, the Messiah, the righteous branch who would come and redeem us. Zacchaeus, the righteous one didn't live up to the standards of his parents, but there it is. And we'll see more about that in a minute. Second thing I want you to know about Zacchaeus is that he was not only Jewish, he was wealthy, and he was successful. Boy, we get that quick, don't we? He had reached the pinnacle of his field, which was tax collecting. And by the way, the phrase that he's called the chief tax collector is only found one time in the New Testament, only one time. And it's found right here in Luke. Luke's the only one that even contains this story about Zacchaeus. And only here is he called the chief tax collector because you see there were three zones within Israel where taxes were collected before I tell you what they are because that will get you to heaven. You won't. Cesaria was one of them. Jericho was the other, and the third one was Capernum. Before I tell you that, what I want you to grasp is that Zacchaeus had fought all of his adult life to get to the very top of the pile. And he got in there. Three tax districts. By the way, where do your taxes go when you send them in? They go right to Washington? I don't think so. Mine go to Atlanta. I don't know what they do with them up there. I hope they don't give them to the professional sports teams up there because I'm a Californian and I root for out west. But at any rate, our taxes go, I think they go to Atlanta because that's a tax district, at least for my category of taxation. There were three such Roman tax districts in Israel in the first century. And Zacchaeus was at the very top of this one district, a major district, the chief, the top, the pinnacle. He'd reached success. And he'd done it by hard, hard work. Now what that means is that being the chief, he had others that worked for him. And he was very wealthy. Now let me tell you how they got their money. This is so cool. When the Romans took over the territories that they conquered, this is what they did when they instituted tribute. They figured out how much that particular district ought to be able to generate for Rome. And so they said to whoever bought the franchise, in this case, Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus bought the franchise of collecting taxes. They said Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus, you owe us this much money. And everything else on top of that is what? Talk to me. Profit. This is what you got to pay Rome. And everything on top of that is profit. And so these guys were really slick. These guys that taxed were really slick. What could be taxed in Jericho? Just about everything. They had date trees and an international date business. They had balsam trees. You know what balsam trees are? I really don't either. I asked the first service and they didn't know. I think he goes into cosmetics and fragrances and all that kind of stuff. International trade in balsam, all that stuff was taxed, but everything was taxed. If you were a farmer and you came through with grain, one tenth of that went to Rome. If you had an ox cart and you had two wheels, both wheels were taxed. The animal was taxed. Oh, by the way, there was a tax just for you being alive, ladies, you're not going to like this. From 12 to 65, you were taxed just because you existed. Guys, we didn't get taxed until we were 14. I don't know. There's a gender thing going on there, and I'm not going to deal with that. But just for existence, you were taxed. One tenth of everything that you earned was taxed. They taxed everything. And Zacchaeus found a way to tax even more than that. Now, let me tell you this, this is this is this is a cool. You can't get into this business anymore. It's too bad because you could make a lot of money. But if you were stopped at a tax booth and you couldn't pay your taxes because it was more than you figured on. What Zacchaeus and his guys would say is such a deal for you today because I can float you alone to pay the taxes to me. Now, the interest rate on this loan to pay your taxes to me is this and you will own me the interest as well. If you were an honest tax collector, you could have a middle class income. If you were an unethical tax collector, you would become wealthy. What was Zacchaeus? Okay, Jewish, rich, I love this. But there's an interesting thing here when we think about wealth and it raises the question, particularly for some of you who are in your 20s and 30s, you're thinking life is so expensive. How am I going to pay my way? How am I going to, you look at all the things you want and you say, I will never be able, I'll never forget. When I was in seminary, a guy in the church, I was going to took me inside one day and he said, you'll never be able to own a house because you're going to be a pastor. Not only will you never be able to own a house, you'll probably never be able to pay off your car. Thank you very much for the hope that you just gave me. And a lot of people in their 20s are saying, I'm going to ever be able to make it. Well, I'll be able to pay the bills and answer is yes. How do I know that? Because I know how God works and what the Bible says is this. The way to getting by, to pay in your way, to having some modicum of success in your life is first and foremost work. The Bible says work. That's how God mediates his blessings, work, work hard, work diligently. The Bible also says don't try to get rich quick because that never works. The Bible also says when it comes to finances, put God first on your finances. Don't leave him out of the equation. I know a tenth to God that sounds outrageous. When I become successful, I will tithe. God says don't do it. Give me the first fruits. Proverbs says work diligently hard. There are not many brilliant people out there. The people who get ahead are those who work diligently or diligently. So the answer is the question is will you ever make it through? Yes, you'll get there. Just plug away. Keep going. You'll look back in 20 years and you'll go, whoa, I've got a whole lot more than I thought because that's God's way. You'll also learn something else along the way. People like Zacchaeus, you'll run into them. Those who work hard at doing bad stuff, also what? Also get ahead. But it doesn't last forever. And what you will find is that those who build their life on an unethical, immoral base find that it is just like Jesus said their life is built on sand and it'll wash away. Who's this guy? I don't even know his name. I don't want to know his name. Who's done the $50 billion pyramid scheme? He just got caught. Man, he's an old guy like me. How long he's been doing that? Because that foundation simply doesn't. He doesn't last at all. He was Jewish. He was a success. But he wanted to see Jesus. And this is what I believe in my heart as I try to unpack this story. I believe Zacchaeus life was about ready to come unglued. The wheels, I think, were about ready to come off his life. Because why else would he want to see Jesus? Why else would this guy who had it all who had arrived had probably one of the biggest houses in the whole community? Why did he want to see Jesus? Maybe he was just curious. Maybe he was bored. You know, if you're bored, you're boring. Maybe he was a boring guy. And he wanted some entertainment. But I think it was because really he won. He was restless. I believe that he had come to the end of his own lifestyle, built on the wrong foundation. And he said, I can't do this anymore. I can't continue to steal from people like this. I can't live with myself. He said, I believe he looked in the mirror and they had mirrors back then. I believe he looked in the mirror one day and he said, you know, I'm cut off from God. And I don't like that. And I'm cut off from people. And I don't like that either. And you know what? I'm cut off from myself. I don't like myself much. I think that's what Zacchaeus was. Let me give you a truth. So often what we do is we hide the real issues, pains, sins, lust, failings in our own life. We hide those, we press them down. We're trying to hide from them. That's why he went up into the tree. He wanted to see Jesus but he wanted to cover up his own stuff. He didn't want to be revealed. He didn't want to be found out. He wanted to hide. And that's what oftentimes we do too. We press down the stuff, our lusts, our immoralities, our business dealings that are kind of shady. We press those things down. Our adulteries are unfaithful as we press those things down. And we hope they never catch us, but they will. They will. They do. There's a story that happened just before Jesus met Zacchaeus. I love this. Just before he gets into Jericho, Jesus is coming in and Jesus is a famous rabbi. Famous. Everybody knows about him. This is, guys, this is mere weeks before he goes to the cross. He's been ministering for three solid years. His name is known nationally. And Jesus is coming into Jericho. And the crowds are getting restless. The people are gathering together. They're coming around. They're coming around. And there's this blind guy sitting on the side of the road. And his name is, anybody know? No, because there's not a cute little Sunday school song about blind Bartimaeus. Blind Bartimaeus was a loser. He was. There's no song about him. So we don't know him. But he was there on the side of the road. And he said, what's, you know, people who can't see develop a strong sense of hearing usually. He said, what's going on? Who's coming? And somebody said, Jesus, the rabbi is coming. It's so Bartimaeus stands up. And he can't see. And he's kind of tripping around. He's kind of walking through the crowd. He's going, he yells out Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. He's just calling out and all the guys are saying, shut up. We shut up. Texas scripture says shut up is not in the original text. But they sternly reviewed him. Shut up sounds a little bit better to me today. We shut up. We sit down. And he wouldn't. I love this because he had nothing to lose. He couldn't see. His life was a visible failure out there. He had nothing to lose. He stood up and he was saying, have mercy on me. Jesus have mercy on me. Jesus stops what he's doing. He says, bring the yellow over here. And the yellow is brought over. And he says, what do you want? He goes, I want to see. I see. And Jesus says, I see your faith. You're healed. Now, I that the better model of dealing with our own needs is Bartimaeus versus Zacchaeus. You got needs. You don't press them down and hide them until your life explodes. You want to act like Bartimaeus and say, you can't hide. You can't fake it. You can't play games. Just come to Jesus. I have mercy on me. I need you. I need you. Well, the good news is that Jesus doesn't care about people who are hiding because he went after Zacchaeus too. I'm glad. I'm glad he goes after people who try to hide. Aren't you? Came after me. Came after you. It's great. So let's talk about Zacchaeus and Jesus because Jesus comes up to him. And here's the text again. I love this. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and he said to him, we don't know just for you to be accurate in terms of your Sunday school song. We don't know if he did this. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and he said to him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. So he came down at once and I'm welcome to him gladly. And all the people saw this and began to mutter. He's gone to be the guest of a center. Zacchaeus, come down immediately as a command. It's not a suggestion. Hey, Zacchaeus, do you have a little time we could spend together? Let's spend some time with you getting to know you. See how you're doing. It's a command. Jesus is a gracious and fruiter who comes up to Zacchaeus. And in this little phrase when it says, I must stay at your house. That's a technical phrase from the original language where Jesus is revealing that Zacchaeus was a part of his divine mission. I must. It is necessary for me to spend time with you. You are one of the reasons Zacchaeus, I was born at Christmas time. I came for you. I say this so often when it comes to communion and we're going to celebrate it. I don't want you to forget it that when Jesus died on the cross, he did not die for a nameless mass of humanity. He died for his people by name by face for you. And Zacchaeus is an illustration that he was a part of his play. By the way, part of the mass wasn't an afterthought either. Jesus knew what he was going to do there. Whether you're an upper natter or a down an outer. Jesus will go after you. And the people didn't like it at verse seven. All the people saw this and began to mutter. He's gone to be the guest of a sinner. It was said of Winston Churchill by one of his advisors. He said, Churchill was not a sinner, but he liked the company of sinners. Jesus did too. I do too. That's why I like you guys so much. And that's why you put up with me. We were sinners saved by grace. Jesus looked for Jesus the gracious intruder. Don't you love Jesus personal touch? Zacchaeus, I'm coming over to your house tonight for dinner. I would love to do that to you today. After service. I'm going to pick one of you and I'm just saying, I'm coming over today for dinner and the look of terror that will spread on your face. The kids have left a mass. My kitchen, you'll see it. You know what you'll say to me? Guaranteed. Okay, because you won't deny that you don't want to give me a meal because I'm saying I'm come over to eat. You'll say, no, yeah, let's go out to eat. It'll be busy over at Chili's, but that's where we'll go. Okay. And Zacchaeus, I love this. He just he just he's so depressed that Jesus wants to come over, right? No, he's glad. He's excited. Why? Because people who hide really don't want to hide. People who are hiding from God really don't want to hide from God. Men, this is our problem in particular. How's it going? Great, but we're losing our job or our wife's mad at us or things are dysfunctional at home. A friend of mine told me this week, every family is dysfunctional. I find great, great comfort in that. It's true. Hey, we don't want to hide. And when when a friend says you look tired, when somebody says to me, Pete, there's stuff going on. I can read you. What's going on? Let's talk about it. I feel relieved. I don't have to hide anymore. When Jesus finally says, let's deal with the sin and the stuff in your life that you're trying to press down. We're happy. Like Zacchaeus was happy because hiding his hard work and it's depressing. And we really want to get free. But the people will criticize, they criticize Jesus for going to spend time with a sinner. Why? Why? Because a lot of people don't really like grace. Some people hate grace because they really want to earn their way to heaven. And the thought that you, that even a very bad person could be forgiven just frost their cake. See the movie Valkyrie came out over Christmas. It's a good movie. It's on the assassination plot to kill Hitler. It's very historically accurate. It's a great movie. A lot of adventure, cool stuff, bombs go off. I like that. It's great. Let me ask you this. If after that bomb went off, Hitler came to his senses and confessed his sins of killing Jews, starting war, murdering people on all of the evil things that he did. Would he, if he trusted in Jesus Christ, would he have been forgiven? Yes, he would have. But some of you didn't say, yes, immediately. And some of you aren't so sure. Some of you think that maybe he couldn't have been forgiven. But there is no sin that cannot be forgiven except the sin of unbelief about us. I love versus 8, 9 and 10. But I got to tell you this. Luke has compressed a lot of history there that we can't see. Between verse 7 and verse 8, there's a lot going on that we don't know about. I personally am convinced that verse 8, 9 and 10, when he stands up and he says, Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, look, Lord, here and now I get half my possessions of the poor. And if I've cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. I don't believe that happened when he was on the way right out of the tree thing. I don't believe that happened the next day. Luke compresses it, I think, so that what happened was that Jesus had many, many conversations with Zacchaeus over the period. The word, I must stay at your house, may well have included, according to the original Greek, the idea of an overnight stay. It's wrapped up in that word. I think he spent the night. I think they talked late into the night. They had one meal, two meal, three meals. And maybe when Zacchaeus actually stood up and said this, it was in a party that he thrown for his friends, like Matthew did with his buddies, and Zacchaeus goes public. We're going to talk about that in the next coming weeks because it's powerful. His restitution that he makes, his generosity that happens to him and that he gives away at all. It's powerful stuff, but the thing we want to focus on is forgiveness because look what Jesus says in verse 10 or verse nine. Today, salvation has come to this house because this man, too, is the son of Abraham, not ethnically, but spiritually. He was a believer. Paul says in Galatians that Abraham is your, your forefather. He's a believer. And then this sense, he became a believer. This man is a son of Abraham. For the son of man came to seek and to save what was lost. Guys, we got to say that together. Okay. Let's say together. For the son of man has come to say seeking to save what was lost. You ready? For the son of man has come to seek and to save what was lost. Powerful, powerful phrase because it tells us everything about Jesus that he is a divine, gracious intruder who seeks us out and saves us, saves us because Zacchaeus was a man whose life was built on an ethical, immoral, ungodly foundation. He was lost. You know, when I think of that word lost, I was raised Baptist. Boy, I heard that word every Sunday. If you're lost, you can get found. Some of the best sermons I've ever heard were by Baptist preachers who emphasized how lost I was. My Sunday school teachers in that Baptist church knew that I was lost. I can imagine afterwards they're having a teacher debrief. You know, Pete Owens, yeah, he's a lost little boy. And probably you'll never get found. I remember being kicked out of Sunday school and roaming around the church. Kids, if you do this and I catch you, I will kill you in Jesus name. I would, I would find the outlets in the church and put two straight pins in the outlets and then drop another one across and zap those outlets. I was a lost little kid. The deacons hated me. But what does it mean to be lost? Well, it meant for Zacchaeus, I believe, that he first of all understood at this point in his life that he was not connected to God at all. And he wanted to be. He, his actions, his sins had caused him to be separated from God. And so he was lost in the sense that he had no connection with the living God. He was lost in terms of his relationships. He knew a lot of people, but he wouldn't connect it to him. And I believe he was lost internally. I believe he was a wandering man who'd lost his purpose, who'd lost his ways. You see, here's the reality. If you are separated from God, you will be separated from people. And if you are separated from God and people at the same time, you will be separated from yourself. Your soul comes apart. Lost. He was lost. And Jesus said he needed to be saved. The ultimate end here is that our sin separates us so much from God that it sends us to hell. Which Jesus talked about a great deal to be saved is then to be redeemed, bought back, understand that when Jesus went to the cross, he died in our place for our sins so much so that we are forgiven. And therefore we can be saved, pulled back, rescued from hell. Rescued from alienation with God, rescued from alienation with other people, and rescued from alienation from our self. Forgiveness is the key base on the work of Christ. And I believe one of the hardest things that Jesus had to convince Zacchaeus about was that he could be forgiven. Catch this. There are two extremes when it comes to forgiveness. This whole subject of forgiveness. One extreme is I must be forgiven. I must be forgiven. And that comes in a humanistic Western world that has been built on, boy, since the 1600s of this whole idea that we really are something as people. And God forgives and I'm so wonderful. My sin isn't that bad. God's got to forgive me. That's one extreme. And there are many people in American culture that believe they got to be forgiven. Of course that's what God does. God forgives. And what does that lead to? It leads to a flippant view of God who isn't holy, who isn't righteous, and it leads to more sin. Hey, what's the big deal? I do whatever I want. He'll forgive. That's what God does. The time my family was down in South Florida and we were driving along. And you know, in Miami, they got all these one-way streets and I was lost and my sister-in-law realized that I wanted to do a U-turn, right where I shouldn't do a U-turn. And she just read me and she said, go ahead, do it. You can confess it on a two. But I was a young pastor and I was bound to determine to show her that I was spiritual. So I didn't do the U-turn on the road, but I did it in my mind. You know, I got to be forgiven because that's what God does. God, the other extreme is this. I can't be forgiven. Some people believe they should be forgiven. Some people believe they can't be forgiven. And I believe that was that case because that case. In order to become a Roman, a work for Rome, he probably had to throw a pinch of incense to the Roman genius, to the Roman Emperor and say, Caesar is Lord. I'm almost positive. He did that. But I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, he blasphemed the true God of Israel. He was a traitor to the Israelites. He was a traitor to God. And he thought, I can't be forgiven. And Jesus convinced him. He could. Upon what basis could he be forgiven? I believe Jesus said, you know where I'm going? I'm going up that road and I'm going to Jerusalem. And I'm going to die on a cross in your place. The basis of your forgiveness is what I will do on that cross. And your sin is not greater than my sacrifice will be. Yes, you can be forgiven. I was talking to a friend about this the other day and he said, well, if that's true, why do we worry so much about being forgiven? Why is it that so many of us as Christians? We're Christians. We've been forgiven. Why is it that we really wonder if we've been forgiven? Has God really forgiven? I came up with a list of reasons. Here's one of them. One of them is our memory hasn't been erased. Well, that was my friend's point. Our memory hasn't been erased. We still remember what we've done. And sometimes you look back and you say, God, I really been forgiven because you've forgotten what you did. Like Zacchaeus couldn't forget what he did. Number two, the evil one likes to come out saying, remember what you did? And remember what you did? The New Testament says that Satan is the accuser of the brothers and the sisters and Satan loves to bring your past into the living color of the present. Zach, you're not forgiven. Look what you did. And so we don't believe we've been forgiven. Number three, as we grow spiritually and get closer to Jesus, you know what happens? We begin to see things as he sees them. And we look back over our past and we say, what he forgave me of was awful. I can't believe I really did that stuff. How could he have forgiven me? We begin to see how Jesus looked at our sin and why he had to go to the cross.

And then maybe because we don't find it easy to forgive and find it hard to forgive others and don't see forgiveness really, we wonder if God could really do it, but he can. Another thought, I don't feel forgiven, but you know, I don't experience forgiveness from other people. Why is that? Remember that phrase that old quote. To air is human, to forgive is the vibe. Hey, listen, who's going to forgive me for my sins if I hurt them until they see that I am a radically repentant and different person? Do you think Zacchaeus felt forgiven by his friends right away? Absolutely not by the people in the community? Absolutely not. He's skinned a lot of money out of them. Hey, listen, don't expect human beings to forgive you just because God has forgiven you. Remember that in Christ God flicks a switch and you're forgiven. If you have faith in him, but that didn't mean the switch is flicked and somebody else's heart toward you, I'm not going to forgive you. Forgiveness is a grace. It's a gift. It's a gift. So what's the application? This is what I want. This is what I want for you guys. I was thinking about this this year. I want for those of you who are Christians to understand that you really have been forgiven. That you're sinned the sins of your past, whatever, if you have that overactive conscience that says, I'm really not forgiven. I'm really not enjoying my prayer. I want you to go into the new year knowing that you're forgiven based on the work of Jesus and that your sin, whatever it was in the past, is not greater than Jesus sacrifice. Jesus sacrifice is always greater than your sin. The second thing I want you to do as Christians go into the new year is I want you to realize that if you have, if you're harboring any unforgiveness in your heart toward somebody else, you're carrying around an awful weight. I want you to go. It will kill you. I mean, Zacchaeus probably danced into his house with Jesus. You ought to be dancing. I ought to be dancing. Let it go. Let it go for other people too because there's no reason to hold on to it. Remember our mission is the third thing guys. We are in this community to bring forgiveness to other people. That's good news. We know our mission. Bring people to faith in Christ means tell them they can be forgiven and that you have been forgiven and then spill some of your own sin to them. That'd be cool. Don't give them the four spiritual laws. Tell them where you messed up and how Jesus forgave you. If you don't know Christ, what I want you to do is stop hiding. We don't need to hide. We are people that have come out of the closet and said, we've sinned against God. The great thing is you could go into the new year. You could go into 2009 knowing that you're forgiven by stop hiding and realize the joy that Zacchaeus had was when Jesus said, let's deal with your sin. I'm going to go pay for it. Let's get it forgiven. Come to him. Confess it. Move on with me. Trust me. Put your faith in me. Do that today. Why not? What have you got to lose? What good is hiding doing for you? Our elders come forward. We're going to celebrate communion. It's the first of the year. I know some of you are looking at your clock. I know I was late in the first service too so it was good for them as good for you. But this is big stuff right here because right here we are sitting around a sacrament that reminds us completely that we have been forgiven of our sins. But that forgiveness was costly. The bread emphasizing the body of Jesus is unleavened bread because in the Jewish Passover that's what they used unleavened bread. Leaven was the symbol of sin. Jesus had no sin. He went to the cross and died for your sin. My sin. But he had no sin in himself. So it's unleavened bread and the cup is the fruit of the vine. It's not wine but it's grape juice which reminds us that Jesus shed his blood for us. When the missionaries first went to the Eskimos way up north, they found out that there was no word for forgiveness in their language and so they had to come up with one. They came up with a compound word that I couldn't possibly pronounce but it means this. That which cannot be talked about anymore. Forgiveness is that which cannot be talked about anymore and if you embrace Jesus, God doesn't talk about that anymore because he's too busy building you and to the person that he sees you to be. If you have never embraced Christ, you too could get to that point where God will never talk about it again. Take it to heart.