9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:9–10, NKJV)
Zacchaeus was not saved because he was a fleshly descendant of Abraham. If that is what Jesus meant in verse 9, then every physical descendant of Abraham would be saved upon the basis of the flesh. That is patently false. Romans 9:6-8 says, “…those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God…”. Galatians 3:7 says, “Only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” Zacchaeus was especially a son of Abraham because of his faith. Salvation came to Zacchaeus because of his faith, not because of his flesh. When the crowd saw this tax collector, they saw a sinner (Luke 19:7). When Jesus saw Zacchaeus in the tree, He saw a lost man whose faith was “working together with his works” to produce a perfect or complete faith (James 2:22). Zacchaeus asked Jesus to see his faith, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold” (Luke 19:8). This is the kind of faith that brought salvation to Zacchaeus. This is the kind of faith Jesus sees and saves. What kind of faith does the Lord see in you? Is it obedient to the will of God? An obedient faith will bring you salvation (Matthew 7:21). That is the faith that makes you a son of Abraham (Romans 4:16; James 2:21-24).
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