I used to have a friend named Debbie Johnson. She was a bright and beautiful mom to two young kids and a great wife to her husband, Dave, who was a pastor in Denver. In late 1993, Dave and Debbie got a call to serve a church in Minnesota so they packed up their belongings and made the long trek in mid-winter to their new ministry and new home. About six months after they arrived, Debbie was diagnosed with cancer and less than a year later she died. But she didn't have to die! They caught the cancer in time and with the proper treatment she could have been cured. But two months before she was diagnosed, she discovered that she was pregnant with their third child and in order for the child to live, she had to refuse the chemotherapy and radiation treatments. She struggled desperately over the next seven months and finally gave birth to that baby and then, not too long afterwards, she went to be with the Lord. But she died so that her child could live!

That's exactly what Jesus did for us! He died so that we might live! Not only has He come to Find us but He also came to Forgive us! And there's not a person alive who doesn't need the saving, sacrificial, for-giving love of Jesus in their life. The reason why is because our sin gets us all tangled up. It binds us and holds us and eventually drags us down to destruction.

In Victor Hugo's fascinating novel The Toilers of the Sea there's an evil character named Claubert who wants to rob a shipload of passengers who are far out at sea. So, he runs the ship aground on a sandbar and then, pretending to be a hero, convinces all the people to disembark into life rafts while he stays behind to try to save the ship. But after everyone has left the ship, he goes into the stateroom, breaks into the safe and steals all the money, gold, and jewels which had been stored there for safe-keeping. He puts everything into a large pack which fits over his shoulders and then jumps overboard, planning to swim to a nearby island where ships come by regularly, thinking that he'll eventually be rescued. But after he jumps into the ocean and hits the bottom, he pushes off towards the surface, only to be grabbed around the ankle by an icy tentacle. It's the tentacle of an octopus and as he shakes free from one, another grabs him around the shoulder and then another around the waist and before he realizes it, he's being dragged to the bottom where he drowns.

That's exactly what sin does to us. It grabs us and binds us and drags us down and if it's not dealt with, it can destroy us. And only Jesus can set us free from the powerful tentacles of sin! That's what He did for Zacchaeus.

III. Jesus came to free us (vv. 8-10)

After having Jesus over to lunch, Zacchaeus makes this incredible claim -- he's going to give one-half of his possessions to me poor and if he has defrauded anyone, he'll pay back 4 times as much (v. 8). This was an incredibly generous act which was not required by the Old Testament law. So, why does he do this? Jesus' response in verses 9-10 provides the answer: "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."