If you will, turn with me to
Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. We'll look at
verses 41 through 44. And I want to make some comments
about our Lord as He came into Jerusalem. Unlike us, He could look on the
hearts of men, and He knew what was coming for
them. He knew the judgment of God toward
them, and so on. And as He rode in on the wild
ass's coat, He looked at Jerusalem and began to weep. Let's read
these verses together. Luke chapter 19, beginning with
verse 41. And 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 eye. For the
day shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench
about thee, compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. And they 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, our Lord knew what was coming,
and what was coming did come. In 70 AD, Titus besieged the
city of Jerusalem, and over a million Jews died at his hand in Jerusalem. just almost beyond our ability
to even imagine the scope of what took place in 70 A.D. among the Jews. But our Lord
knew this was coming and He knew why. Now it's my strong desire and
my prayer to God that when I preach this glorious person of Christ,
which is the message of this book, that I present Him to my
hearers as God presented Him to us all in His Word. Too many that I've known over
the years have presented Christ in a contrary fashion to the
way God presents Him to us in His Word. I've heard men talk
about seeing Him and hearing Him and dreams and visions. If
you live long enough, you'll hear the same thing. You work
with people, you visit with people, you go to funerals and so on,
and you hear people talk and they talk about these things. They talk about seeing Him and
hearing Him and dreams and visions, but I can't put any stock in
those things because the Word of God warns us against such
things. In Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse
28, he said, the prophet that hath a dream. Here's a prophet. He said, I have a dream. Who's
the most famous of them? Martin Luther King. I have a
dream. Well, he's not the first one.
Many, many, many, many preachers. stand up and talk about a dream,
talk about a vision, talk about a voice they heard. The Lord,
and I'll talk about that in our next service, they talk about
the Lord led me to do this, the Lord told me to do this, and
so on. But he says in Jeremiah 23, 28,
the prophet that hath a dream, let him tell his dream. Leave
him alone. And he that hath my word, let
him speak my word faithfully. Now watch this. What is the chaff
to the wheat? Huh? Be careful about men who
come to you. The Lord told me. The Lord told
me. I want to present him without
compromise as the creator The sustainer, the Lord of creation
and providence, the Lord of salvation. He is in every sense of the word,
almighty, eternal, infinite God. I'm talking about Jesus Christ.
This is God come into the flesh. That's what His Word tells us.
That's how God presents His Son to us. The God-man mediator. was fearless
as a man. He was fearless before his enemies.
He stood in the midst as a man subject to death. He was a tiny
baby laid in a manger, had to be wrapped up to protect him
from the cold. He was vulnerable, yet he never
feared. He never feared. That is, he didn't fear his enemies.
He didn't fear death. stood in their midst as a man
subject to death. He even stood in the presence
of Satan himself without fear. And as the Lord of heaven and
earth, none can stay His hand. If He puts forth His hand to
save, He is mighty to save. Nobody can stay His hand. If He puts forth His hand in
judgment, No man can stay his aim. No man can say unto him, what
doest thou? Paul said in Romans 9, Nay, but
O man, who art thou that replies against God? His dominion is an everlasting
dominion. His kingdom is from generation
to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in
the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. But, and this is where the difficulty
is, he is a faithful, loving, compassionate high priest. Like all the priests before him,
He is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, and he's able
to have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the
way. The scripture said, in all things it behooved him to be
made like unto his brethren, that he might be made a merciful
and faithful high priest. It says this, in that he himself
hath suffered Being tempted, he's able to suffer them who
are tempted. Jesus Christ is a one-of-a-kind. There's no one on this earth
to compare him to. Men compare him to themselves. Don't do that. There's nothing
to compare him with. He's a one-of-a-kind. He's ever
with God and man and one glorious person. There's a man in glory
right now, seated at the right hand of God, a man. A priest who can be touched,
the scripture said, with the feelings of iron firmities. And
oh, let my heart know this and go to him often and pour out
my heart to him. He cares. He loves his people. He's there for his people. His
ears, he said, is open to their cries. And we have a king, a
great and glorious king, the king of kings and lord of lords,
the blessed and only potentate. All kings are under his hand.
The government's on his shoulders. And this king loves his people. It's hard to imagine it. I mean,
we look at politicians today, does the thought of love ever
even come into your mind? It don't even enter your thoughts,
does it? This king, upon whose shoulders all government has
been placed, loves his people. In the book of Esther, there
was the king of the Persians, Ahasuerus was his name. And everything
he said was law. And there was in this law a law
of commandments that said anybody that came uninvited into his
throne room would be put to death, except he take his scepter and
stretch it out to them. And Esther, because of the situation,
You all know the story. She had to come uninvited into
his throne room. And everybody in that throne
room fastened their eyes on Esther when she came in. And then they
looked at the king to see what he was going to do. Because he'd
just banished the first queen. He stretched out that sip. Here is the king. He's ascending
to the throne of Zion. And as he looks upon the city,
he begins to weep over it. I just can't imagine a president
in our country weeping over this country. I've never seen it.
I've never seen it. But here's the king of glory,
and he's weeping over a city. Now there's three portions of
Scripture that capture our Lord weeping. The first is over in
John 11, as the Lord comes to raise Lazarus from the tomb. You remember the story, they
sent him word, Lazarus, he whom thou lovest, he died, he's sick. Please come, please help him.
And the Lord said, well, his sickness is not unto death. but
for the glory of God. His sickness, what was our Lord
telling them? He was telling them that a great
privilege had been laid upon Lazarus. That's what he's telling
them. He's going to die, but his death
is going to be for the glory of God. Great honor had been bestowed
upon him. sickness for the glory of God. And every chosen sinner
must be made to experience his death. He experiences his death
that he might know what it is to be raised to life everlasting. You can talk about being raised
all you want to, but you don't know anything about it until
he raises you. You can see it. You've been there.
Every one of us has been there. We've been there and we And we
think we know something about God, but we don't. You don't
know it until you experience it. Until it gives you eyes to
see, you can't see. And you don't even know what
you're not seeing until it gives you eyes to see. You don't know
what you're not hearing until it gives you ears to hear. His suffering and death to his
loved ones was needless and unnecessary in their minds. His death was
not necessary. And though they loved their Savior,
they attached a blame on him and questioned his love for them.
If thou hadst been here, our brother had not died. Now when
they first sent for him, They wanted to talk about his love
for Lazarus, but now they're not talking about his love for
Lazarus at all. They're just telling him, they're
casting blame on him. If you'd been here, our brother
had not died. Upon hearing Mary's accusation
and seeing her weeping, and all the people that were weeping
that came with her, It says, Our Lord groaned in His Spirit. Why did He groan? Because they
doubted His love. My soul. God, I don't even know
how to begin to describe the condescension of God from the
throne of glory into the body of a man. And He's on His way to Calvary. He's on his way to the cross.
He's on his way to manifest his love for his people through his
death. And they're questioning his love. Look at the things he suffered
in the ministry so that some might be saved. And now they're
questioning that love. And it said he groaned. He groaned
in his spirit. and was troubled and it says
Jesus wept. Our Lord loves his people and
here he weeps over their doubts and ignorance of his love. There's nothing that breaks the
heart of someone who loves like the one they love doubting that
love. Huh? Let that sink in a little
bit. Oh, how the Son of God loves
His people. The Scripture said He loved us
and gave Himself for us. He gave Himself to the lashes
of the whip and the spitting and the crown of thorns and the
suffering and all the things, the mocking and all those things. He gave Himself for us. For us. Lazarus died spiritually but
raised to life eternal through the hearing of faith. He died
physically to picture this resurrection and to show beyond all doubt
that Jesus of Nazareth is the resurrection and the life. And then over in Romans chapter
7, verse 7 through 11, he describes the spiritual death of the saint
as God reveals to him what he is by nature and by choice and
by practice. Like Paul, the deceived man or
woman sees the law only in an outward sense, and so he believes
he can be accepted by his obedience to it. And he said this law,
because of his sin, because of his sin nature, this law deceived
him. And he said, Sin was dead. He didn't see the sin. Now, here's
the man. I'm standing up here this morning
talking to you about your sin, and I'm not talking down to you
about your sin. I'm talking about our sin. Our
sin. And if you're yet blinded to
this, that sin is still dead in you.
That sin hasn't reared its ugly head up yet. You don't know what
this sin is. And this man's telling me I hate
God. Well, I don't hate God. They're deceived. And like Paul,
a deceived man or woman, he sees the law only in an outward sense.
And so he believes he can be accepted by it if he keeps a
day. If I keep a certain day, if I
pay a certain amount, I pay my tithes. And if I obey certain
things and avoid certain things, But here's where the Spirit of
God brought Paul over in Romans 7. He said, Now I know, we know,
that the law is spiritual. It judges the heart. It judges
the motives. It judges the affections. It's
not enough to do something, but you have to have the right motive.
And that motive over the whole law, The one motive over the
whole law is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul,
mind, and strength, and my neighbors, myself. Love is the keeping of
the law. It's the fulfilling of the law.
And you break every commandment in it if you don't obey that
commandment in love. You see where he's coming from? The law is spiritual. It judges
the motives, the affections. It's a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. There is a death that must be
died. Paul said, I was alive without
the law once, without an understanding of it. But when the commandment
came, came in full knowledge, came in clear understanding,
sin revived and I died. Someone told old Roth he could
catch more flies with honey than he could with vinegar. And old
Roth said, I'm not trying to catch flies, I'm trying to kill
sinners. Every saved man was quickened who was dead. Isn't that what
it says? They were dead. And this dying
is necessary. A man will never be desperate
for mercy until he's brought to see himself for what he is.
And those around the dying saints often misconstrue what's going
on. Here's a man and they're trying
to tell him, no, you'll be all right, you'll be all right. Just
believe, that's what they started telling me when the Lord was
convincing me. You're fine, you're fine, just
believe. Believe what? Well, just believe. Huh? That's a blind man trying to
lead a blind man, that's what that is. Oh, listen to this, old Joseph
Hart, preacher of the gospel, years gone by. He said, what
comfort, well, let me start at the beginning. To understand
these things are right, this ground distinction should be
known. Though all are sinners in God's
sight, there are but few so in their own. To such as these our Lord was
sent, there are only sinners who repent. What comfort can
a Savior bring to those who never felt their woe? He has a great
position. He said, I'm not sent to the
whole. I'm sent to the sick, to those
who never felt their woe. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost hath made him so. Everything our Lord was doing
was necessary for the saving of our soul when it flowed from
the wellspring of his love. And he wept as those he loved
doubted and questioned his love. And then the second portion of
Scripture that speaks of his tears is over in Hebrews chapter
5, verses 7 and 8. It says, who in the days of his
flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplication, was
strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him
from death, and was heard in that he feared. What caused his
tears? It wasn't the torture of his
enemies. He came into this world to die for our sins. He knew
from everlasting what he would come into this
world to do. It wasn't the pain of the nails or the spear. It
wasn't the cruel mocking and laughing of his accusers. What then caused the God-man
to cry who feared no man? What brought about the tears
of this man who's God? It was the anticipation of bearing
our sins before our holy God. It was for one who had no sin,
did no sin, thought no sin to be made sin for us. To become as one hated and despised
of his father, the very object of his wrath. And no one can
enter into this sacred place. I'm telling you. It's not by
chance that under the law only the high priest could go in there
and make atonement. for the people. He had to go
in there alone and not without blood. And you can talk about
what the high priest did, but you're not the high priest. And
you're not beyond that veil. This man went into heaven itself
with his own blood and obtained eternal redemption for us. under the types and figures of
the law. There's just one man allowed in that holy of holies
where God received the atonement. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says it as
well as it can be said. We can talk about who said what
and the commentators and all these things, but here's what
it said. For He, that is God, hath made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5.21. When God awakens the sinner to
his sin, he cannot but justify God in his own condemnation. But here's a man who knew no
sin. He knew no holy hatred or vengeance
from God, but fully knew what it was. The heavy burden which crushed
his soul was the enormous load of our sin and guilt as the sinner's
substitute. And he was about to bear these
things up before God. For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and foreseeing condemned sin
in the flesh. Righteous tears over sin. Huh? And then thirdly, here in
our text, verse 41, it says, And when he was come near, he
beheld the city, and wept over it. Now I see in the weeping
of the Son of God two things for us to take to heart. First
of all, that this is the very heart of a loving Savior being
manifested for sinners. When He calls, I'm preaching
the gospel to you this morning. That's a call. It's a call. When God calls sinners, is it
an earnest call? Huh? That's what He's manifesting
right here. It's an earnest call. It's an
earnest call. We see in Him a tenderness, a
compassion, a readiness to save. He's more ready to save than
men are to be saved. God's more ready to save than
men are to be saved. Think about the prodigal. He made up his mind he was going
back to the Father, but he's just going to tell the Father,
I know, I've thrown my sonship out the wind. And if you just
give me a place out there with the servants, just any little
old place, just a little straw stuff mattress out there
in the barn, just any place. But what'd the father do? The
father's more ready to save than the son was to be saved. He'd
already been thinking about the son. He'd already been contemplating
his son coming home. He already put a calf in and
had it stall fed and getting fattened up ready for the celebration.
And he's looking. He's looking for his son. And
he sees him a great way off and what did he do? Now this is picturing
God our Father. What did he do? He ran to his
son. How can you imagine the owner
of a plantation, the owner of this great farm and his boy is
gone and I mean If he says, go here, you went there. If he says,
jump, you say, how high? He's lower. And they've never
seen him run, but here's the Lord of glory. Here's the father,
and he's looking at his son, and he's running to meet him.
Throws his arms around him. You think that calls a genuine And the son spits out his little
rehearsed thing that he had. The father said, go get a rope,
the best rope. Put it on him. Clean him up. And here's the seal, the family
seal. Put it on his finger. Oh, you
can't imagine, can you? Oh, I tell you, it's genuine. And then secondly, because of
their impending judgment, Why did our Lord weep over the city?
He knew their character, their intent, and cruelty. Well, He
gives us three things in His own words. I don't have to try
to put words in His mouth. He gives us these words beginning
in verse 42 of our text. He speaks of their ignorance
of the gospel. He said, if thou hadst known,
at least in this thy day, The things which belong to thy peace,
but they're hid from thine eyes. He wept over Jerusalem because
of their ignorance of what was taking place. This was the Son of God. Everything
he said, everything he did, prophesied beforehand. He was a walking
fulfillment of Scripture, and they knew him not. Can I weep over sinners knowing
their ignorance and blindness of the gospel? I can and I do. Secondly, verse 43, why did he
weep? What caused the Lord of Glory
to weep over this city? He wept over Jerusalem knowing
the judgment that would surely follow their actions. He knew
what was coming upon them just as he knew what was coming on
him. He said, your enemies will entrench
all around you. They're going to hem you in on
all sides, and there's not going to be an escape. How shall we
escape, the Scripture said, if we neglect so great salvation?
Huh? How are we going to escape? Neglect
the gospel of Christ, and there's nothing left but a certain fearful
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation. Christ said to the
woman, those women that was following Him, and they were weeping. And
here He is. He's got the cross. And He's
broken down under its weight. And they get another man to help
carry this cross. And the women are weeping behind
Him. And Christ said to the women that followed Him, don't weep
for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. He knew what
was coming. He wept over Jerusalem because
he knew the consequences of their unbelief. And then thirdly, verse
44, he wept over Jerusalem because he knew their impending judgment
was the result of their despising the time of their visitation. I've rather not quoted enough
scripture to you to write a catalog on the necessity of gospel preaching. But I want you to understand
that when you neglect What's going on here? You're doing the same thing.
Huh? You're doing the same thing. It didn't say they despised the
coming of Christ, they despised the time of their visitation.
It was foretold. This was necessary. God must
come into the flesh. He must do all these things.
Everything that the prophet said. He told John. John said, well,
I'm not fit to baptize you. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy
to bend down and unloose your sandals. He said, suffer to be so, because
all Scripture has to be fulfilled. All has to be fulfilled. These things were necessary and
it was foretold and when he came they despised the time of their
visitation. The destruction of Jerusalem
was brought about because they rejected the Son of God so clearly
prophesied and manifested before him. And so it shall be upon
all them that believe not. It said he that believeth not
shall be damned. Huh? That's serious business,
isn't it? We say sometimes I'm just so
tired. Well, don't do things that make you tired. Prepare
yourself. Huh? I wish I could stress to you
the importance of what's going on right here this morning. You
may never get to hear this gospel again. You could leave this building
today get hit with a log truck. You're going out and face God.
You can get sick this afternoon and go down to the doctor. Believe
me, I said this on a Sunday evening at the old church. I said, one
of these days you're going to go into the doctor's office and
the doctor's going to come back shaking his head. That week I
went into the doctor's office with my wife and he come out
shaking his head and said she has cancer. Huh? All natural. All right.