Luke 19, 41. Luke 19, 41. When
he was come near, he beheld the city
and wept over it. Saying, if thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong
unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. For
the days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast
a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in
on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and
thy children within thee. And they shall not leave in thee
one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of
thy visitation." Now it says, when he was come
near, beheld the city. We know that he's going to Jerusalem.
He told his disciples they must go to Jerusalem where he would
be mistreated and killed there and rise again on the third day.
And the city where he entered in upon that colt we saw last
week that he rode in upon that colt. And all the people cried,
Hosanna. He begins to see, comes to a
place apparently where he was able to overlook the city and
see all the people going about their business. And he weeps
for them. We know it's the people that
he's weeping for. It says he saw the city. The city is not buildings, it's
people. And we know that because of what he said. He said, if
you had known, if you had known. This is the tragedy. It's what people don't know.
They should have known. They had no excuse for not knowing. They're not victims, really. They've been told. They'd seen God walking in their
very midst, and yet they did not know him. Remember earlier in our study
in chapter 13, this is a different occasion. In verse 34, our Lord
wept over Jerusalem, the same city, the same people. And he
said in verse 34 of Luke 13, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which
killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee,
how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen
doth gather her brood. under her wings, and you would
not. Behold, your house is left unto
you desolate, and verily I say unto you, you shall not see me
until the time come when you shall say, blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord. And that's our text. That's what
they cried when he entered Jerusalem this time, in chapter 19. This is to what he refers and
he wept over them then in chapter 13, and he weeps over them now
When he returned To the city religion uses this verse and
others to say You know the Lord is trying to save people, but
they won't let him. That's not what he said He didn't
say I tried and you wouldn't let me I He said, I would and
you would not. There's a big difference. A big
difference. And this is a perfect example
of how religion twists and perverts the scriptures to their own destruction.
And that's what our Lord wept over. These people had heard
the word of God. And God Almighty came and walked
among them and told them who he was, and they wouldn't hear
it. In religion today, just like
then, have a God that can't save. He wants to, he tries, he does
his best, but he can't save anybody. But he didn't say, I've tried
and you won't let me. Do you see the difference between
what he did say and what he didn't say? I would and you would not. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. Look at John chapter 6. Let's
turn there together and This is what our Lord. He said exactly
the same thing in John 6 35 And Jesus said unto them I am
the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger I And
he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Will you come to
him? If you would, you'd have what
you need. But I said unto you that ye have
also seen me and believe not. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. That's the only way a man can
come to Christ, is if the Father gives him to his son. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one would seeth the Son, and believeth
on him." Remember what our Lord said in our text? It's what they
didn't know That's what they didn't know that was the tragedy
of it To believe on him that you may have everlasting life,
and I'll raise him up at the last day Don't misquote what
the Lord said he didn't say I tried to save you and you wouldn't
let me save you That's not what he said and I'll tell you something
else that didn't happen you can never turn it around on him He
said, I would and you would not. You can't turn it around and
say, I would, but he would not. You can't do that. Not true.
Not true. I would have come, but he wouldn't
have me. No sinner can ever say that. He said, all in no wise. No wise,
no way will I cast you out. Now this is the truth of God.
If you're saved, it's not because of your will. You would not,
but he will. The reason sinners are saved
is because he will, not because you will. It's God's will that
saves. Is that clear in the gospel to
you? The Apostle Paul, speaking of salvation in the context of
Romans 9.16, said this in Romans 9.16, so then it is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy. The difference, he's talking
there about Jacob and Esau. And the difference between them
is not that one was willing and one wasn't. It's not of him that
willeth. It wasn't that one did something
and the other one didn't. It's not of him that straveth
or runneth. He said before either one was ever born or had done
anything good or bad, it was up to God. And it still is. It still is. Before they had done anything
or willed anything, salvation is of the Lord. He said, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. It's God's will, not man's. James 1.18, of his own will,
begat he us, he birthed us with the word of truth that we should
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Paul said in Ephesians
1 11 that we are predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will Salvation happens when he says
I will Tragedy is what man says We will
not We will not have this man To reign over us. And nothing
could be any clearer. His sheep do willingly follow
him. He said, they hear my voice and
they follow me. He doesn't drag them, they follow. But we're willing in the day
of his power. We're willing because he was willing. We come to him
because he came to us. We love him because he first
loved us. So also what's clear in this passage, as well as many,
many others, is if you are lost, you can't blame God. You cannot
blame God. You can't blame his will. The
problem is your will. He said to the Pharisees in John
540, you will not come to me. You know the scriptures. You
could quote them. You've been told who I am. You've been taught. I've taught
you. The Word of God teaches you.
But you're not coming to me. You will not. You will not. Come to me that you might have
life. Is that what he said in our text? You would not. You
would not. You would have life. The Son
of God would give you life. But you will not. That's the
problem. I would have gathered you as
a hen gathers her chicks but you would not. Now false preachers all around
the country and the world I guess are preaching that your will
is the solution. You know you just need to exercise
your free will. But the scriptures teach that
your will is the problem. We've seen that over and over,
haven't we, in the scripture. You would not. You will not come
to me that you might have love. We will not have this man to
reign over us. Because you would not, he said,
your house is left unto you desolate. That's why you're in the place
you're in. That's why you're not saved. You can't blame his
will now. If he's gonna save somebody,
it's gonna be by his will. But if you're lost, it's not
because of his will, it's because of your will. Now you can't deny
it from the word of God. Why will a man starve when there's
food for the taking? Why would a man die of thirst
when the Lord says, come, all that's thirsty, come and drink
of the water of life freely. Freely, without money, without
price, come. Now why were you starved? It's
your own will. It's your own will. You have
no one to blame but yourself and man in his godless rebellion
refuses the counsel of God and then blames it on God. Not a good position to take.
We hate his law, we hate his grace, we hate him. We tried
to kill him from his birth. Until the very hour that he came
in our text and ultimately we did kill him. He allowed us to
take him with wicked hands and we killed the prince of life. And our Lord said in chapter
13 where we read there, not only would you not come to me, but
those who came to tell you about me, you killed them too. They killed the prophets and
they killed the prophet. That's what we think of Christ
by nature. The carnal mind is not, it doesn't
say the carnal mind is disinterested, although that's true. It's worse
than that though. The carnal mind is enmity. It is hatred
of God and his son. That's where we are by nature
now. Not only did they not come to
him, he said, I would have gathered you. They not only didn't come,
they murdered him and everybody that talked about him. The marvelous
grace of God is that he chose a people out of this entire God-hating
mess of rebels and turned them into
his sons. And here he expresses, though,
the tragedy of our natural rebellion and hatred. James said, you have
not because you ask not. Christ said, ask and you shall
receive. Did he not? Seek and you'll find. So why don't men just ask? Because
they don't know. That's what he said in our text.
If you had known, if you had known, he said to that woman
at the well, if you had known who it was you were talking to,
you would have asked me for living water. And you remember what
else he said? I would have given it to you. I would, and you would not. I believe she ultimately did
ask, but he was teaching her there that beautiful truth now.
Salvation by his will. Condemnation is your will. Oh, so clear and so tragic and
so simple, isn't it? People don't have any excuse
for not knowing. They are willfully ignorant of Christ. We reject
Him out of hand. We don't want to know Him. We
don't know anything about Him. We don't want to know. We don't
care. A natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. And by nature, that
which is born of the flesh is flesh. We can't discern spiritual
things. Notice what he said, the things
which belong to thy peace. If you'd just known the things
which belong to thy peace. Now the Lord is going to refer
to a physical war that's going to take place. They're going
to be besieged, the city of Jerusalem, by the Romans in 70 AD. It happened
not too long after our Lord left this earth. They're whapped out,
the city of Jerusalem, just exactly as he described. But that's just
a picture. That's just a picture. What sinners need is peace with
God, not with the Romans. But he uses that as an illustration. We need peace with God and Christ
is that peace. The scripture says he made peace
by the blood of his cross. That's how there can be atonement,
at-one-ment between God and the sinner. The natural carnal mind,
us, as we're born in this world, we're enmity, hatred, rebellion
against God. But there's atonement by the
blood, the blood of atonement, atonement, because all of our
sins are washed away and God is satisfied with me. I'm washed in the blood of God's
Son and so I stand perfect in the sight of God. And more than
that, I'm not just sinless. I'm holy. There's a difference. I'm not just, I had an illustration
of this in my personal experience recently. I told you not long
ago that there was four or five months there, I didn't smell
anything. I just couldn't smell anything. I didn't even know
that that ever happened to anybody. Y'all should have told me. I
understand it happens every once in a while to people. Now, since
I had the flu, now I can smell everything. I can smell everything
like I never have before. But I got to thinking about that.
If people say, well, I'm just, I'm gonna turn over a new leaf.
I'm gonna do good from now on. That's not gonna cut it. Not
smelling anything is not gonna make God happy. Just that there's nothing to
smell, that's not good. That's not satisfactory. What
God is pleased with is the sweet smelling savor of Christ. Just
you not sinning is not gonna satisfy. That's not gonna cut
it. He got to smell his son. The
sweet smelling savor of the intercession and the offering of Christ is
what pleases God. And so he's not only got to wipe
my sin out. That's wonderful. We don't wanna
minimize that. But I've got to be found in him.
He's not satisfied with sinless me. He's satisfied with his son. God is satisfied only with His
Son. And so I've got to be found in
Him, not having my own righteousness, that wouldn't cut it. God just
not smelling anything bad is not gonna be enough. The only
thing that pleases Him is the sweet-smelling savor. of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You remember when Paul said,
when we preach the gospel, it's a sweet smelling savor of Christ
unto God. It's a win whether you believe
or don't believe. Because God smells Christ. Boy, I tell you what though,
I want all of us to believe. Would to God that it were life
unto life to everybody here this morning. Would to God. But notice he said, the things
that belong to thy peace. The things that he preached,
the things of the kingdom of God. Listen to this now. This is the thing. What does
he mean, the things that belong unto thy peace? I'll tell you
what he meant by that. Luke 24, 27, beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures, the
things. concerning himself. That's the things which belong
to my peace. That's how I have peace with
God, the things of Christ. If you'd just known the things
that belong unto thy peace. You remember why the Lord said
they were coming to Jerusalem to begin with? Him to be hated and tortured
and killed. That's the things which belong
to their peace. He said, if you just knew who
I was and why I'm here, you'd come and I'd receive you. If you knew who I was, you'd
ask of me and I'd give it to you. I would, but you would not. There's nothing more tragic than
that. And notice he said, even you, even you, This place where many outward
advantages were enjoyed Even out throughout all history
Jerusalem Jerusalem Many outward advantages were bestowed and
he said at least at this that time you see that in the text
I Gotta get back over there to
Luke 19, but he said even thou In verse 42, if thou hadst known,
even you, at least in this thy day, if you would have just known,
even just this generation, even just these people now, in your
day, what is your day? The day when Christ is standing
right there in their midst. The day of their visitation.
That's what he calls it later. the time that the Lord walked
and spoke to them. They were visited by the very
Son of God. If you'd known even now, even
you, even now, right now, at least, surely, the ones that
He actually spoke to would know. No, it doesn't happen that way.
It doesn't happen that way. They were visited by the Son
of God. But you know what I thought about? He's saying even you and
especially now when he's speaking. I thought about this. Is this
the day of our visitation? God speaks here now. I'm pretty
sure about that. This is not just me. This is
the word of God. This is the day of our visitation.
That may not be true forever. Hadn't been true forever. Not
here. Not these people, not you, even
you. You see what he's saying? Right
now, you're hearing from God. Or are you? If you just, if you
could just hear. You see why he wept? If anybody's
ever gonna weep about anything, it should be that. Isn't that
it? You think about what Paul, he said, I could wish myself
a curse for Christ, for my brethren according to the flesh. He wept
over this. He said to Agrippa, oh I would
to God, that you were such as I am except these bonds. If you
could just hear what I'm preaching to you. If you could just hear. There's no better reason to weep. But now they are hid from your
eyes. We've already said now that this
is willful blindness. And there's no question about
that. Now listen, we know that the Lord has to reveal, and that's
part of the tragedy of our sin. The Lord, we're not ever just
gonna wake up one day and say, oh, I think I believe on Christ
now. We can't, we're too far gone, we're depraved in our nature.
We can't, that's why he said you can't come to me. This is,
it's over for you unless God does something for you. This
is not another chance. The gospel is not another chance
for you to do the right thing. We're past that. You ain't never
done the right thing and you're not ever gonna do the right thing.
If you're coming to Christ, God's gonna have to pick you up and
bring you to Christ. That's what he said. That's just clear from
the scripture. So this thing of making a decision
and you know, preaching, trying to get people to do something
for Jesus, it's a false gospel. God's going to have to reveal
his son to you and in you, or you're not going to see him.
And we know that. The Lord said in Matthew 11,
25, Jesus said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent and revealed them to babies. Even so, for it seemed
good in thy sight. And we're thankful for that too.
But the truth of the matter is the reason he has to reveal it
to us is because of our willful blindness. It's our willful blindness
now. We will not have this man. We will not. We wouldn't have
him. We would rather have Barabbas
in our midst than the Son of God. That's how far gone we are. And so it's blindness of the
human heart, willful, depraved, sinful blindness. But it's also,
of course, it's going to be true until God gives us to see. And so he does hide in that sense.
But also, it's by the instrumentality of Satan. If our gospel be hid,
Paul said to the Corinthians, it's hid to them that are lost,
in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not. Lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. Now I know this, I know if God
wants you to see, Satan not gonna stop him. You're gonna see. You're
not gonna be blinded by Satan if God opens your eyes. But the
Lord does use Satan in this. It was in his parable of the
sower, wasn't it? If the seed that fell on stony
ground, what happened to it? Satan came and snatched it up
before it could take root. So remember this though, was
Satan instrumental in the fall of man in the beginning in the
Garden of Eden? Of course he was. He's the one that deceived
him. Can man blame it on Satan? And count himself blameless because
the devil made me do it? We're willful in it, aren't we?
We're willful. Willfully deceived. So that's
just the sad tragedy of this. And then our Lord refers to the
tragedy that will befall this city physically in 70 AD. As I said, the Romans would destroy
it. And he talks about that. He said, they're going to surround
you. They're going to lay this place level with the ground.
And all your children, everybody, everybody's going to die. And of course, as I said though,
that's a picture now. That's a temporal expression
of the judgment of God upon them. The real tragedy is that they
will die in their sins if they believe not on Him. That's the
tragedy now. Without Christ and without God
in this world, they would rather than come to Christ, and He would
have gathered them, they will reject and despise Him. And though
they had just cried Hosanna, they're going to cry crucify
him. And that's the tragedy of it.
There was a day of visitation. He came where they were. He did
miracles and he taught them. He walked amongst them. A day
of visitation and then there was another day that he said
would come. A day of devastation and destruction. As all throughout all the scripture
the physical there was an actual flood on this earth That covered the whole face of
the earth and Everybody died except those in the arm that
actually happened, but that's a picture in it that's a spiritual
lesson that only those in Christ can survive the judgment and
wrath of God and If you're in Christ, the wrath falls on Christ
and not you. But if you're outside of Christ,
you're a goner. That's the clear picture there,
isn't it? And this that happened is the same. He said, because
you would not. There's tragedy, but the real
tragedy is the unbelief. It's the rejection of Christ.
But you know what? Even after they crucified, The
Son of God. Turn with me to Luke chapter
22. We'll be in just a little while. It may take us a year
to get to chapter 22. I don't know. But look at verse
44. I want you to think about this
in closing this morning. Does our text present our Lord
as gracious and welcoming to all who come? I believe it does. Boy, he says
come if you're thirsty come and drink come and drink Well look
at this in Luke 22 even after they crucified him Verse 44. Let's see where am I at? I'm in I think I'm in the wrong chapter
here. Let me see if I can find where I'm supposed to be I I
think it's supposed to be chapter 24. Yeah, chapter 24, verse 44. And he said unto them, Luke 24, 44. And he said unto
them, these are the words which I spake unto you while I was
yet with you. that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me. He's referring back to our
text where he said we've got to go to Jerusalem and I've got
to be hated and despised and tortured and killed. That's what
Moses said would happen. That's what all the pictures
and types referred to in the Old Testament. He said, I told
you these things when I was with you. I told you. And this is
what happened. What I told you must happen.
Then, verse 35, verse 45, then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scripture. You remember what
it said back in our text last week or a week before, or it's
been a few weeks ago, I think, when he said, we're going to
Jerusalem and here's what's gonna happen. And it said they understood
none of these things. They do now. What happened? He did something. He opened their
understanding that they might understand. That's what you need
to happen. Our text says they would not because they didn't
know. They didn't know. How are you going to know? He
got to open your understanding. It's given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. To them it's not given. I pray
that it's given to you and to me. but they might understand
the scriptures. That's the only way you're gonna
understand them. And said unto them, thus it is written, and
thus it behooved Christ to suffer. Everything I told you was gonna
happen, that's what happened. And it was the right thing. It
behooved me. It was for his glory, wasn't
it? And to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. He's telling them, everything
I said was gonna happen has happened. Now you go tell everybody about
it and start at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these
things. And behold, I send the promise of my father upon you,
but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power
from on high. I'll give you the grace and the
strength and the power and the wisdom to preach me at Jerusalem. And he led them out as far as
to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And
it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them
and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned
to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple
praising and blessing God. Amen. You see, the city of Jerusalem
as a whole, it was a tragic, tragic thing that God would come
and speak to them and they rejected him. They killed him. But in
spite of that, he saved some of them. He had mercy on some
of them. He sent his preachers to preach
to them and told them to say, everything I told you, Preach,
preach me to them. And they did. And we know from
the book of Acts what the result was. Thousands believed on Christ
and were saved by the grace. Thousands of those who were willfully,
who hated him so bad that they demanded that a murderer and
a thief be released unto them. and that the Son of God be tortured
and killed. But many believed on Him because
of His grace and His mercy. How often would I have gathered
you and you would not. May he teach us the tragedy of
that but also the marvel of his grace that he would have mercy
on some anyway and draw us to himself and give us all we need. Let's pray.