Among the ancient pagans, there
are numerous weeping gods. The dismembered moon goddess
of the ancient Mexicans is portrayed as having tears of gold flowing
from her eyes. In Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon,
he relates his fabrication of a time when Enoch saw God weeping
tears. Tears that fell as rain upon
the high mountains. I suppose Mr. Smith has smoked
one too many peace pipes with the Western Indians. Of course,
we have no regard for pagan idols or the religious myths built
around them. And we recognize that our God, infinite, eternal,
incomprehensible God who is spirit, the pure spirit, has no parts
or passions like we do. He's not a man. But our God assumed
humanity, took on himself human flesh.
And in that man, Jesus Christ, all that God is, resides. Now turn with me tonight to three
texts of scripture. We'll look at them one at a time,
beginning in John chapter 11. And in these three texts, we
see God incarnate, weeping tears more precious than gold. Instructive,
instructive pictures they are. Here is the incarnate God, our
Savior, weeping, weeping. The first text is found in John
11, 35. You know the context. The Lord Jesus received a note
from Martha and Mary that he whom thou lovest, their brother
Lazarus, was sick. And the Lord Jesus made no response. He stayed and waited for Lazarus
to die. And then he came to Bethany.
He came to Bethany for the specific purpose of raising Lazarus from
the dead. He knew what he was about to
do. By this, he would demonstrate both his eternal power as God,
his power as the God-man over death and hell and the grave,
declaring himself not only to be the one who performs resurrection,
but to be the resurrection and the life. And now he comes to
Bethany. Martha met him, and she was more
than a little upset. We shouldn't get too upset with
Martha for that. We're often just like her. And
then the Lord Jesus asked them to take him out to where Lazarus
was, where he was buried, and Mary came to where the master
was. Let's pick up the reading in verse 32. And when Mary was come where
Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto
him, Lord, If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. I know if you had been here,
this wouldn't have happened. This wouldn't have happened.
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping
which came with her, now watch this, he groaned in the Spirit
and was troubled. Here is the holy Son of God. He who never knew sin, groaning
inside and hurting, troubled. Read on. And he said, where have
you laid it? And they said to him, Lord, come
and see. Now look at verse 35, the shortest
verse in all the scriptures, the smallest word in the scriptures. in one verse, and yet in many
ways the fullest. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, behold how
he loved him. Behold how he loved him. They perceived that our Lord's
weeping had something to do with his love for the one who was
now dead. And some of them said, could
not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused
that even this man should not have died? Jesus, therefore,
groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. Now, what can this
mean? Why do you suppose God the Holy
Spirit has caused these words to be written upon the pages
of inspiration. What do they teach us? Let me
give you several things. First, they tell us plainly that
our Lord Jesus Christ, our blessed God and Savior, truly is a real
man, touched with the feeling of our infirmity. That man who
sits upon the throne of universal dominion, into whose hands our
God has committed the reigns of the universe, that man who
governs all things without exception, that man who brings to pass all
who comes to pass, that man who is our God really is a man. And he hasn't changed at all,
Bobby. He is Jesus Christ the same yesterday
and today and forever. He hasn't changed at all. What
He was here at Lazarus' tomb in Bethany, He is today in glory,
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Oh, God teach us
this. We who are His, the apple of
his eye, never feel anything, experience anything, endure anything. We never have a pain, a hurt,
or a sorrow with which he does not bear a sympathizing part. He is touched with whatever touches
you. that ought to make it easy for
us to go to him and seek his mercy, to unburden our hearts,
to cast our care upon him if we just believed him. My grandchildren, my daughter,
my son-in-law, my wife, you, I hope, are fully aware that
whatever it is that affects you affects me. So you're not hesitant
to tell me things that trouble you, things that hurt you. How
much more that ought to be the case with our Savior? Our high
priest is one who becomes us, one such as we need, touched
with the feeling of our infirmities. His love for Lazarus was great. The Jews said, behold, How he
loved him. How he loved him. Now there are
lots of ways to look at what's going on here. But the Jews,
I'm certain in their perception, at least in this regard, were
right. The Lord Jesus is here, remembering his time with his
friend Lazarus. Realizing what Lazarus has gone
through in his sickness. and knowing now that Lazarus
is dead, separated from his family and
friends for a while. And when the Jews saw him weeping
at his tomb, they said, oh, he sure must have loved that man.
He sure must have loved that man. Just as you might presume
the same thing should you see me standing at a coffin of a
friend that I love dearly and realize Now our friendship is
separated for a while. Oh, he must have loved him. Will
you hear me? Behold how he loves us. Us with whose infirmities he
is touched. He loved us with an everlasting
love. of unvarying, unchanging, unchangeable,
immutable, indestructible love. Oh, how he loved us. He loved
us so that he gave himself for us. He loved us so fully that
he became what we were and was made to be sin for us. And he
loves us still. Now, no wonder John writes, we
love him. because he first loved us. Here's
something else, and I think the lesson is very important from
this passage. Though we sorrow not as others who have no hope,
God's people feel sorrow and pain just like everybody else. Some time ago, I was watching a friend die. going
through some difficulty. And a young fella, hadn't been
converted long and hadn't experienced much, said to me, I don't understand
what all the commotion's about. He's a believer everything's
going to be all right. I said, when you are about to lose somebody
you've lived with most of your life, you come back and tell
me the same thing. When you're about to lose somebody
you've walked with closely for years, you come back and tell
me the same thing. You don't have any idea what
you're talking about. God's people feel pain and sorrow just like
anybody else. Sorrow does not necessarily imply
any lack of submission to God's will or any lack of faith toward
God, any lack of unbelief or any rebellion. Not necessarily. It may imply that, but it doesn't
necessarily imply that. We sorrow not as others who have
no hope. That means our sorrow is mingled
with comfort. Our sorrow is eased with confidence. Our sorrow, while it is painful,
it is but a temporary sorrow and it will pass because we believe
God. We believe God. I've had to bury
some who are very dear to me, who didn't know my God. And I sorrow still. I can't tell
you how I sorrow. It pains me to think of them,
but not as those who have no hope. My God does right, and
He's on His throne, and He always does what's right. And one of
these days, everybody, including the damned, are going to understand
that. We sorrow, but not as those who have no hope. And when we
come to bury one who is a believer, the sorrow is all together for
ourselves. All together for ourselves. I
can't tell you how many times I've had a man or a woman, a
father or a mother, husband or wife say to me, Please understand,
Brother Don, I'm not weeping because of him or her. I'm weeping
because of me. I'm left alone. I'm going to
miss her. I hurt because of a void, emptiness
in my soul and in my heart. The Lord Jesus went with Mary
and Martha. because he loved Lazarus and
he loved them. And our weeping is not something
about which we ought to be ashamed or ought to make some kind of
an excuse. Believers feel pain. We feel sorrow. And it's not
an indication of unbelief. And when you see someone else
going through such difficulty, don't get on your haughty high
horse of self-righteousness and presume you're better. but rather
put your arm around and weep with them. If our Savior wept
with those who weep, if He is touched and moved by the pains
of those who are His own, how much more ought we to do the
same? Weep with those that weep and mourn with those that mourn
and rejoice with those that rejoice. All right? Turn with me now to
Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews 5. Verse 7, here the Holy Spirit
gives us a vivid description of our Savior in the days of
His flesh. Look at verse 7, who in the days of His flesh, that
is while He lived on this earth in a human body, when He had
offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears,
what a description, offered up prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him,
able to deliver him from death, and was heard in that he feared." Well, that means in that he reverenced.
Yeah, but I think the context says it translated exactly right. What? Could it be possible that
God Almighty so assumed our nature, that the
Son of God so became one of us, that He knew what it was to be
afraid? Well, that would imply sin, wouldn't
it? Don't think so. David said, what
time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. so that in the midst
of fear he believes God. Whatever the case, we read in
verse 8, though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the
things which he suffered. And I'll be honest with you,
there's not much that's more painful for man to endure than
real fear. Real fear. Real fear. Let's see if we can find what
this is talking about. Turn back to Mark chapter 14. I have no
doubt at all this passage has specific reference to our Savior's
agony of heart and soul in Gethsemane. In Mark 14 and verse 34. The Lord Jesus is in Gethsemane
and He says to His disciples, Peter, James, and John, He saith
unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death. My soul is exceeding sorrowful
unto death. Tarry ye here and watch. Verse
35. And he went forward a little
and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the
hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba Father, Father,
Father, my Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take
away this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will,
but what thou wilt. Three times he made the same
strong crying and supplication. until at last his heart ruptured
within him and his sweat, blood through the pores of his skin,
falling to the ground. In his time of great heaviness
and sorrow, in this time of great distress, the Lord Jesus is in
prayer. What an example he gives us.
The first one to whom we should turn in every time of trouble
is our Heavenly Father, the first one to whom we should
turn. He may or may not relieve us, but it's good for our souls
to unburden themselves at the throne of grace. Our God should
be the first to hear the words of our complaints. We tend to
hide our complaints from Him, or try to. murmur against him to other people
and to one another. We tend to murmur and complain
rather than carrying our heart's needs to the God of glory, our
Savior. That ought never to be the case.
Only at the throne of grace will we find grace sufficient to meet
our soul's needs in time of trouble. That's the reason our Lord Jesus,
that great high priest who sits upon the throne and is touched
with the feeling of our infirmities, urges us by the apostle, let
us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. Come freely,
confidently, unrestrained, believing him that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Is any among you afflicted,
James asks? Let him pray. Let him pray. Afflicted? Oh, I need to go see
the doctor. No, I need to go see the Savior.
I need some Valium. No, I need grace. Is any among
you afflicted? Let him pray. Let him pray. Cast your care on him. But what
was the cause of our Savior's great heaviness and sorrow? What
was it that crushed our Master's heart? What so greatly disturbed
him? I'm certain it was not a fear
of physical pain. I'm certain it wasn't that. I'm
certain it was not the fear of death. He came into this world
to die. It was not even the fear of dying
upon the cross as our substitute. That which crushed our Savior's
heart was the anticipation of being made sin for us. Heavy burden that crushed his
soul was the enormous load of sin and guilt, the sin and guilt
of God's elect which was about to be made his. J.C. Ryle put it this way, it was
a sense of the unutterable weight of our sins and transgressions
which were then specially laid upon him. He who knew no sin. is here anticipating being made
sin. He who is the only man ever to
walk on God's earth who knows what sin is before God. We don't
have a clue. We just don't have a clue. Sin
is so much a part of us we don't even know what it is. Here is
the man, the only man, who knows what sin is, and he's about to
be made sin. He who is the holy, harmless,
undefiled Lamb of God is about to be made a curse for us. The
Holy Son of God is about to be forsaken by His Father. Our Lord
Jesus, the Son of God, we're told began to be sore amazed.
to be in great consternation and astonishment at the sight
of all the sins of all his people coming upon him and being made
his, at the black storm of divine wrath gathering thick over him. that the sword of justice brandished
before him and against him, and that the curses of God's righteous
and holy law, which like thunderbolts of vengeance from heaven itself,
were directed against him. No wonder, we read, he began
to be very heavy. That which crushed our Savior's
heart is the very thing for which He had come into the world. But
now it seizes on Him. He must be made sin. Why must He? Why was it not possible for God
Almighty to forgive our sins some other way? Why was it not
possible for God to just be gracious and merciful and sweep our sins
under the rug and forget about them. The reason is because God
is not only merciful, He's just. He's not only gracious, He's
true. And God will not compromise His character. He cannot compromise
His character. He cannot behave in a way contrary
to His own nature. Let me tell you one more time,
the message of this book is that Christ was made to be sin, as
the sinner's substitute, that God might justify us in a way
in accordance with strict and holy justice, with no compromise. By mercy and by truth, the wise
man said, iniquity is purged. Turn to Romans chapter 3, Romans
the third chapter. verse 24 Paul says we're justified freely
by his grace freely without a cause in us but justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood now
watch this to declare God is love. No, that's not it. We see the love of God drawn
out in living characters in the sacrifice of his darling son
and rejoice to know God is love. We delight to know here in his
love that God gave his son for us, that Christ died for us. God so loved us that he gave
his only begotten son. We delight to know that. But
the purpose why he must die is to declare God's righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. And he says it again, to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness for this purpose, that God might
be, that is, that he might manifestly be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. since God made His Holy Son to
be sin for us and punished Him to the full satisfaction of justice
as our substitute. God Almighty in holy justice
cannot condemn one sinner who believes on His Son. God Almighty
in holy justice cannot charge one sinner for whom Christ was
made to be sin with sin. God Almighty can never be separated
from us in his love and we can never be separated from his love
if Jesus Christ, the Son of God laid down his life for us. Now,
since Christ died for us, being made sin for us, for every believer, for you, oh may God make you
so who right now For the first time in your lives, believe on
the Son of God. Oh, bless God, brother Don, I
believe Him. Hear this now. There is therefore
now, right now, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. to those
who no longer try to make themselves accepted with God, but now look
to Christ alone as all their righteousness, all their redemption,
all their acceptance, all their salvation. I hope you see this. If you're in Christ, there is
now no possibility of you ever being condemned. No possibility
of sin ever being laid against you. No possibility of you ever
being separated from the love of God. Now, turn with me, if
you will, to the third text. Luke chapter 19. Luke 19, beginning at verse 41. When he was come near, come near
to Jerusalem, he beheld the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known,
even you, even you, you, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you, Abraham's
physical descendants, 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 day shall come upon thee,
that thine enemy 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." Again, I say, behold the man. Oh, here is real manhood. Never was there a man who walked
upon the earth more courageous than this man. And never was
there a man who walked upon the earth more tender. Never was
there a man of stronger character. Never was there a man more gracious. Never was there a man of more
committed devotion. Never was there a man so merciful. Never was there a man more entirely
consecrated to God and His glory. And never a man so compassionate.
This is the epitome of manhood. And behold, your God. Earlier this morning, I looked
through the scriptures again. Five times in this book, five
times, all five times in the book of Psalms, we read, He is
gracious and full of compassion. He's gracious and full of compassion. Look at three or four of them.
Turn back to Psalm 78. I think it was Brother Rex who read this
here just a few days ago. Talking about God's dealings
with the nation of Israel as a nation. And symbolically, of
course, talking about His dealings with you and I in this wilderness. He brought deliverance after
deliverance to them. Protected them again and again.
Sent judgment after judgment upon them. Caused them to cry
out to Him. And delivered them again and
again. How come? Look at verse 38. He, being full of compassion. What a word. co-passion. He's full of it. He's full of
it. He being full of compassion forgave
their iniquities and destroyed them not. Yea, many a time he
turned his anger away and did not stir up his wrath for he
remembered they were but flesh A wind that passeth away and
cometh not again. He remembers our frame. He knows
we're dust. And he's full of compassion.
Look at Psalm 86, verse 15. But thou, Lord, O Lord, art a
God full of compassion. What does that mean? Gracious,
long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. Look at Psalm
111, verse 4. He hath made His wonderful works
to be remembered. And this is what you remember
if you rightly observe His wonderful works. The Lord is gracious,
full of compassion. One more text. Look at Psalm
145. Psalm 145. Verse 8. The Lord is gracious
and full of compassion. He's slow to anger and of great
mercy. That means the Lord is good to
all and His tender mercies are over all His works. Now, back
here in Luke 19, we see the great tenderness and compassion of
our Lord Jesus Christ towards sinners. I have, for the last
several weeks, read numerous commentaries and sermons on this
passage of Scripture. And I only read the writings
of good men. I don't bother with the trash.
But sadly, sadly, men who believe the gospel of God's free grace
often want to explain away scriptures that don't seem to fit the mold. And they want to find some way
to make them say what they don't say. And most of what I read
on these verses of scripture were sad, James, because they
tried so hard to fit theological correctness, fitting in with
the scheme of sovereign grace and predestination and election
and unchangeable God, that it took all the sweetness out of
it. Don't do that with God's Word. Don't do that. When you
read it, and it appears that it's saying something that just
doesn't fit, presume it means just what it says. Here is a
picture of our Savior's great tenderness, compassion, and mercy
toward sinners. When He came to Jerusalem for
the last time, we read here, He beheld the city and wept over
it. I wish I could emulate his tenderness. Bob,
he knew what those folks were. He knew their character, proud,
self-righteous, rebelling, arrogant men and women. He knew their
mean-spirited character disposition. He knew they were at that time
plotting to murder him. He knew that in just a few days
their hands would drip red with His blood and they would laugh
while they washed them. He knew it. And yet, He beheld
the city and wept. Why did the Son of God weep over
this ruined city? We're told in these four verses.
In verse 42, He wept for His countrymen. because they were
totally ignorant of the gospel. Religious as all get out. Church-going
folks, Bible-thumping folks. Kind of like the conservative
trend we're seeing in the United States today. Religious as they
could be, but totally ignorant of the gospel. Okay. If thou
hadst known Even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which
belong unto thy peace. How often have you tried to minister
to someone you love particularly, and your heart is moved for them,
and you just can't make them see. And you look him in the
eye and your heart breaks and tears run down your cheek. And
you say, oh, if you just knew. If you just knew. There he is. There he is. He looks over his countrymen,
just as you and I might look over this nation, this city,
our families. Oh, if you knew. If you just
knew. God has visited you, revealed
the gospel of His grace in His Word, sent His Word time and
time and time again to you, prophet after prophet, preacher after
preacher, picture after picture, and you despised it all! Because
you would not hear His Word. But now, they're hid from thy
eyes. He knew they were totally ignorant
of the gospel, willfully ignorant, and would not recover. They're hid. God has blinded your eyes. Oh, my soul, when God sends darkness,
there's no light. When God sends delusion, there's
no understanding. When God sends blindness, there's
no seeing. All right, here's the second
thing, verse 43. He went for these folks because he knew the
judgment that was coming upon them. For the day 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. He's talking about the coming
of the Roman armies in 70 AD, coming in and just leveling that
city, just leveling that city. And thy children within thee,
and they shall not leave thee one stone upon another, because
thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. God's going to send judgment.
He sends blindness and hardness of heart to the nation of Israel.
He sends judgment upon a people who courted His wrath by despising
His goodness and His mercy all their days. And at last, their
wrath is full, and God is going to destroy the city. Not only
physically destroy it by the Roman armies, but destroy the
city spiritually so that they are left in darkness like the
angels that left their first estate and God sends a delusion
to them and they continue on as religious as ever under the
sentence of God's wrath. No wonder he wept. No wonder
he wept. Turn to Proverbs 1 one more time,
if you will. Here's the third reason for his
weeping. Our Savior wept over this city
because He knew that the judgment they suffered was the result
of their own willful unbelief. Because they knew not the time
of their visitation, He said in verse 44. They despised the
time of their visitation. For 2,000 years, God sent them
His Word, His Law, His Prophets. For 2,000 years, they alone had
the Word of God. Now, hear what He says to you
to whom He sends His Word, who are today visited by God. Imagine, countless multitudes
around this world, never visited with his word, never visited
with his revelation, never visited with his gospel, but God Almighty
has all these years planted his word right here, visited you
this hour with his word. He says in Proverbs 123, turn
you at my reproof. Turn, turn, oh turn, turn. Behold, I will pour out My Spirit
unto you. I will make known My words unto
you. Turn, I'll pour out My Spirit unto you. I'll reveal it all
to you. Now watch this. Because I have called and you
refused. Whoever is sincere, let's see. I stretched out My hand. I stretched out My hand and no
man regarded. But you said it not all my counsel
and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh,
when your fear cometh as a desolation and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then
shall they call on me, but I won't answer. They shall seek me early,
but shall not find me. And here's the reason for that
they hated knowledge. and did not choose the fear of
the Lord. They would none of my counsel. They despised all
my reproof. Therefore, shall they eat the
fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices."
Well, I don't know what that's saying. If you go to hell, you're
eating the fruit of your own way, and God's filling you forever
with your own devices. For the turning away of the simple
shall slay them. The prosperity of fools shall
destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me
shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from the fear of evil. The wise man says in Proverbs
29, listen to this, he that being often reproved and hardeneth
his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. Our Lord wept at Lazarus' tomb
to teach us His tenderness and sympathy with His troubled, tried,
and hurting people. He wept in Gethsemane as He anticipated
being made sin for us. And He stood over that city and wept for men. who would not hear His Word,
who would not believe Him. Oh, now, we then as ambassadors
for Christ beseech you, we pray you in God's stead, be you reconciled
to God. Oh, receive not the grace of
God in vain. Believe on the Son of God this
day. And believing Him, go home confident
of no possibility of condemnation. No possibility of sin being laid
to your charge. No possibility of being separated
from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. All right, let's turn to hymn
number one as we prepare to receive the Lord's table. Hymn number
one in your Psalms of Grace book. See the table spread before you.