Luke chapter 13, verse 31. The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, they came to Jesus, saying unto him, Get thee out and depart hence, for Herod will kill thee. And he said unto them, Go ye and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Nevertheless, I must walk today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. 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 ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate, and verily I say unto you, ye shall not see me until the time come when ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Amen. May the Lord bless these verses to us.

Last week, we read that Jesus passed through the small towns and villages of Galilee. Luke told us in verse 22, chapter 13, verse 22, and he went through the cities and villages, teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem. And today it seems that Jesus is still in Galilee. And so he's making his way towards Jerusalem. And he would be walking, of course, and going from village to village. It would take some time. But he is still in Galilee at the moment.

And this region was under the local rule of this man called Herod. and his name is Herod Antipas, or Herod the Tetrarch, and he's the son of the man that was called Herod the Great, who tried to kill Jesus as an infant, and the one who slew all of the infant children.

So he's the son of that man, and here it seems that he has got some of the characteristics of his evil father, because he's still trying to kill the Lord Jesus. Herod, this Herod, Herod the Tetrarch, gets called a king, but really he was just a small-time titular head, a puppet ruler. and he did have some standing both amongst the Jews and the Romans. It was this man who had John the Baptist killed, and we know that he was curious to meet Jesus, hoping that the Lord would perform a miracle for him. And it was this same man that Pilate sent Jesus to at the time when he realised that Jesus was a Galilean and hoped that Herod might take responsibility for him. same man that we're talking about. And whether Herod really was looking for Jesus at this time in order to arrest him or whether these Pharisees just made up a story in the hope of hastening Jesus out of their region is not certain. it's very unlikely that these Pharisees were in any way assisting Jesus or concerned about Jesus or hoping to make Jesus' life any easier. And his reply to them concerning their threat about Herod seems as if he knew their real motives. it may even be that Herod had sent them in order to rid the area of the Lord. But it's interesting, I think, just how these leaders, the leaders of established religion, the leaders of politics, the head of state, hated Jesus.

Jesus was just a common man in many ways. He was a carpenter. He had moved into his ministry and all of his ministry was good. All that he did was good. All that he said was God honouring and yet they hated him. One might have thought that they would all have been happy that such a teacher was amongst them for the sake of their people, for the well-being of their people, for the healing of the sick and the doing of good that the Lord Jesus was able to accomplish. But alas, Jesus had few friends amongst the ruling classes, and that has been a pattern replicated throughout history. I fear, as we are seeing more and more in our own day, that there is so much corruption in high places, that few who populate such circles wish to have any light shed upon their deeds, and certainly not to have the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shine upon them or their practices. The Lord was very blunt towards these men.

He sent them back to Herod, implying perhaps that he knew that that's where they had come from, He would neither be bullied nor cowed. He had work to do and not these Pharisees nor Herod would prevent the Saviour being about the business for which he had come into the world. He calls Herod a fox and that's not a compliment. It's likely a reference to Herod's cunning and guile and perhaps his general viciousness and wickedness.

The Lord knew the heart of this man Herod and also these Pharisees who had no love for the Lord or his people or his ministry. But the Lord's next words are interesting. He says, I cast out devils and I do cures today and tomorrow and the third day I shall be perfected.

The Lord would not be hindered or rushed in his ministry. He wasn't going to be hastening away, hurrying away because somebody had threatened Herod against him. He wouldn't be hindered or rushed. Day by day, step by step, he was accomplishing his work. The kingdom of Satan was being shaken. Poor men and women were being blessed and healed.

And our Lord knew every one for whom he had come, and he fully intended to keep every gracious appointment for the good of the souls of his friends. Christ's timings are perfect, then and now, for the big things in life and the little things. and we rejoice in the perfect providence of our wise and loving God. And here I think there's something to notice. We can notice the certainty, we can notice the confidence with which Christ speaks to these men and about his ministry. We mentioned on Sunday, the clear difference between the beseeching prayers of the prophets for assistance from God to do good and to perform miracles, contrasted with the power of Christ, who spoke with authority to command that demons dispossess their prey, that disease depart its sufferers, and even death give up its victims. Our Lord Jesus Christ is God with all authority, and He has power to do His will, all His pleasure. And this is why the doctrine of sovereign grace so much suits our Lord and Saviour and suits those who have learned of Him.

I am so grateful to the Lord that I am not bound up in the error of man's free will doctrine, man's free will in salvation and the horrible teaching of general redemption. A teaching that corrupts so much professing Christianity today. We need a saviour who really saves. and a doctrine that truly explains the method by which our salvation is accomplished. We need a gospel that declares with certainty the grace and the power at work to secure its glorious end. The perfection that Christ speaks of here is that perfect work completed by our perfect Saviour, which made perfect a chosen people and fulfilled a perfect covenant to the eternal praise of our glorious God.

Tell me how Christ could claim to be perfected in His death if vast numbers for whom He died never experienced the salvation that he won for them and ended up in hell. It doesn't make any sense. Free will theology is an affront to our God and a denial of his attributes of sovereign love and sovereign grace. this perfection of which Christ speaks, is what the writer to the Hebrews was referring to when he wrote in Hebrews 2, verse 9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings, and by his suffering and death. By shedding his precious blood, our Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect one, perfectly fulfilled every divine requirement and every covenant obligation for the salvation of his church and people.

Nothing is wanting. It is perfect. Nothing is wasted. It is perfect. Nothing can be added and not one person for whom Christ died shall be lost. We are perfect in Him. We are blameless and holy before Him in love. This is the perfection we need. And bless the Lord, O my soul, it is freely bestowed in Jesus Christ.

And yet, the Lord says that he has more work to do. He has to push on because Jerusalem beckoned. Remember, he's in Galilee, he's making his way through these cities and villages, but he's on his way to Jerusalem because there he must lay down his life. Jerusalem beckoned.

He would not go there in order to satisfy these Pharisees with their threats, but because that is where his perfection would be accomplished at the appointed time. And here again we see the way in which the Old Testament prophets, both in word, deed, and even in their sufferings, pointed to the Saviour. Not that every single prophet, whoever died, was killed in Jerusalem. That's not the case.

John the Baptist, for example, was slain in Galilee. But Jerusalem was where the Sanhedrin sat. and where judicial cases were heard and sentences were passed and executions were carried out, which seems to be what the Lord is referring to here. And he's thinking about his journey to Jerusalem and he's thinking about his death in Jerusalem and he's thinking about the perfections that will be accomplished by that death. And this fact provokes the Lord's closing lament concerning Jerusalem. He says in verse 34, 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 ye would not. These words were spoken by the Lord on several occasions, here, now, in Galilee, on his way to Jerusalem, and also Matthew tells us when he preached in the city, in the temple. Jerusalem was the city of David. Jerusalem had been blessed with the construction of the temple in Solomon's day. Jerusalem was where God literally and really dwelled amongst his people. And the Lord repeats this city's name, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. He repeats the words to emphasise his affection for his church that dwelt there. as many did, even in his own day that waited for the consolation of Israel, and also for his sadness at the judgment that would soon befall it in its sin and rebellion.

Our Saviour takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. It's interesting that the words that the Lord uses here, expressing himself and his affection and his sadness in this very real way. These words have been taken and they have been misused. They've provided some ammunition to those who contend that man does have free will because Christ here says that he wanted to do one thing and these men would not permit or allow it and therefore they resisted the Saviour's will to save. But that's not what's being said. Our Lord does not say that he wished to gather these people, and they would not, but that he wished to gather the children of Jerusalem, which are the chosen elect, and he did gather them by the will of God, by the sacrifice of himself, and by the effectual call of the Holy Spirit.

He did gather everyone. Nevertheless, the wicked men of the city, the scribes and the Pharisees, the priests and the rulers, Pilate and Herod, did all in their power to stand against the work of grace and the work of the gospel, as wicked men always have done. This continues to be the case even today. And yet here is the promise of the Lord.

Not one of Jerusalem's children, not one loved by God and chosen in the eternal covenant will be passed over. Not one for whom Christ died will be lost. Not one quickened and called by the Holy Spirit will fail to be converted and brought to a knowledge of the truth. Picture of the hen shielding her chicks under her wings from a predator is a beautiful metaphor of God's protection and Christ's deliverance. And it was a prescient statement.

Jerusalem would be made desolate in the coming years at the hands of the Romans. Its city and its temple would be razed to the ground and yet the Lord would preserve his church. He would even scatter them throughout the earth during earlier times of persecution in order to shield them and protect them under his wings.

And I think there's a nice little application that I'm not going to enlarge upon or dwell upon too much, but just let us note it and think about it. It's a wonderful thought that our troubles of today are sent to us to protect and deliver us from greater troubles that are yet to be revealed.

And here's the Lord's final word on this matter. He's coming again. He's coming back and his people will see him when he comes. And they will declare in gratitude and praise, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us today. Amen. Amen.