Okay, this morning we're looking
at the last part of Luke 19, beginning at verse 41, down through
verse 48 of Luke 19. Let's read verse 41 again. This
will serve as our title with a message. And when He was come,
the Lord Jesus Christ, He set His face like a flint to go toward
Jerusalem, and there He knows what's going to happen. He knows
just three or four days after this time recorded here that
he's going to lay down his life for his people as the substitute. And when he was come near, he
beheld the city. He looks over this vast city. And he weeps. He weeps. He's broken hearted over what
he sees. Now this is an amazing statement. The Lord Jesus Christ weeping
over this city. Have you ever considered and
thought about that? and what all is involved. And
when it says that He is weeping over this city, now the city
we know here is Jerusalem. Jerusalem. But what a history
this city had. What a story this city had. The
city of God. Jerusalem. Now we've seen in
our study a similar statement that the Lord makes about this
city. If you'll turn back to Luke chapter
13, Luke 13-34, when he considered this city before, Luke 13-34,
oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you killed the prophets. and you
stone them that I have sent to you, how often would I have gathered
thy children together as a hen doth gather her brood under her
wing, but you would not. O Jerusalem, behold your house
is left unto you desolate, Verily I say unto you, you shall not
see me until the time come when you shall say, Blessed is he
that cometh, that cometh in the name of the Lord." Israel, the
people, that nation, and Jerusalem, that city, had so many benefits
sent their way. Now think about this. So many
prophets. They had the prophets of God.
were sent to them, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, that
all the prophets of God told them of the coming of the Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ. This city and this people had
courageous leaders like Moses, like Joshua, like Ezra, like
Nehemiah, This city and this people had many, many kings that
reigned over them, and they even had some good kings too. Most
of them weren't good kings, but a few of them we've seen in our
study in 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings. They had many good kings
that reigned over Israel, reigned in Jerusalem, beginning with
David, the man after God's own heart. When David fell asleep,
God raised up his son Solomon. Solomon. Nobody as wise as Solomon. And then we studied and read
about Hezekiah, remember? And then, not only Hezekiah and
Solomon and David, but Amaziah and then Josiah. These were the
kings, good kings, who led the people to worship the true and
living God. But their history, that is the
Jewish people, Israel of old, their history as a people generally
was one of rebellion. There were exceptions to that
in these men I've just mentioned. But their history, generally
speaking, was one of rebellion against God, idolatry before
God, and a constant disregard for the glory of God. This shows
us again and again their history as proof positive of man's total
inability and sinful depravity to please God in the flesh. Left to ourselves, we become
growth enamored, idolater quickly. We'll worship anything but the
true and living God. And that's what these people,
that's their past. That's why God destroyed the ten northern
tribes. They no longer exist. They were
completely destroyed. One reason, idolatry. And that's
why Judah in the south and Benjamin, that's why they were carried
away into 70 years of captivity. Idolatry. Forsaking God. Judgment came upon them. The
Apostle Paul asked this question then. In Romans 3, what then? Are we, that is the Jews, are
we better off than the Gentiles? No, and no one. For we have before
proved both Jews and Gentiles. The Jewish people, what about
all the Malakites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites,
the Electoralites, and all the otherites? All them Gentile people,
they're in the same boat as the Jewish people by nature. birth,
practice, sinners, all have sinned as it is written. None righteous,
no, not one. There's none that understands.
There's none that seeks after God. They're all gone out of
the way. They're all gone out of the way.
They're all gone out of the way. They have together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Those are the four nones. Have
you met the four nuns? Right there they are. And that's
a description of us. The four nuns are none righteous,
none understand, none seek after God, and none do good. Now, most people can't identify
with that, but that is what God says we are. Here's the thing I want us to
consider. First of all, with that introduction,
look at verse 41 again. And when he was come near the
Lord Jesus Christ, he beheld this city and he's weeping. He's broken hearted as he views
this city. Here we see the Lord in His true
and real humanity as a God-man mediator. The Word was made flesh. He was tempted in all points
like as we are yet without sin. We have a great high priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We see His real true humanity. God was manifest in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He was a real man. He hungered. He thirsted. He knew heartache,
he knew pain, he sits on the well going toward Jericho or
Samaria, going through Samaria, he's sitting on the well needing
a drink of water and he wearies in body. Why? He's a real man. He's a real
man, the God-man mediator. We read a moment ago in Hebrews
5, who in the day of his flesh, when he'd offered up prayers
and supplications, was strong, crying in tears unto him, that
was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared
reverence God. As the Lord comes to this city
for the last time in his earthly ministry, In a few days they
are going to take him outside the city and nail him to a cross
there on Golgotha, on Calvary's Hill. When he beholds this city,
knowing what is going to take place, and their rejection of
him in a few days, the same crowd that said, Hosanna, Hosanna,
glory to God in the highest, is the same crowd who three days
later cries away with him, crucify him, we have no king but Caesar. knowing the sacrifice that he
will make for his elect, laying down his life for the sheep,
knowing the destruction of this city by the Roman army that would
come in just a few years later, in the year of 70 AD, the Lord
of Glory weeps." Tears. are running down his cheek. He's broken hearted. You see
his real humanity. And he can identify with us.
He knows our frame. He knows that we are but dust. Now, let me give you another
example of that. The Lord weeping. If you'll find John chapter 11.
John chapter 11. You remember, The Lord Jesus had
this family in Bethany, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He loved
them, and they loved Him. And we know the story here, Lazarus
got sick and he died. Look at John chapter 11 verse
32, Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell
down at His feet, saying unto Him, Lord, if Thou had been here,
my brother had not died, or could not die if you had been here.
Remember the Lord on purpose delayed his coming, that this
might take place? When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned
in the Spirit and was troubled. And he said, Where have you laid
him? And they said unto him, Lord,
come and see. Look at verse 35, shortest verse
in the scripture. Verse 35, Jesus wept. Here we find him weeping over
the death of his friend Lazarus. And then said the Jews, behold
how he loved him. He loved him. And he wept. Now he's going to raise him from
the dead, and he's going to rejoice. But he's weeping with those that
do weep, and he's rejoicing with those that do rejoice. Now look
back to Luke 19. The Lord is weeping, not over
the remedy. He's weeping over the disease.
The wages of sin is death. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
as a God-man mediator, is no hard-hearted man. He is a man
filled with compassion, tenderness, long-suffering, and gentleness. He is a tender-hearted Savior. Not willing that any should perish,
that is, his people, but all should come to repentance. He
was weeping with those that did weep, and he's rejoicing with
those that do rejoice. We see on many occasions that
the Lord Jesus Christ healed those that had need of healing.
He was a man of compassion, long-suffering. We read in Matthew 11, Coming
to me, O ye that labour heavy laden, the Lord said, I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am
meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your soul.
I am what in heart? Meek and lowly in heart, and
you shall find rest for your soul. That ought to encourage
every one of us. The Apostle Paul was also a man of compassion
and long-suffering, was he not? For those who inhabited this
city, his own countrymen, remember he prayed for their salvation.
Don't turn, let me just read this to you. We had this recently
in our Bible study. Remember, the Apostle Paul was
also a man who was broken-hearted and weeping with those who were
weeping. He said, that I have great heaviness. and continual
sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ for my brethren, for my kinsmen,
according to the flesh." And then he prays over here in Romans
10, verse 1, "...brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to
God for Israel is that they might be saved." We see the longsuffering
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the longsuffering of the Apostle
Paul, as he weeps for his brethren, his kinmen, according to the
flesh. We too should pray for the salvation
of sinners, and be concerned about their salvation, that the
Lord will have mercy upon them. Pray for those who are lost.
Pray for this community. Pray for this city. Pray for
this nation, that the Lord will have mercy upon them. Now, don't
tell anybody, but let me tell you this about myself. You won't
tell anybody, will you? I'm personally convicted over
the fact that I'm not more concerned for lost sinners than I am. I mean, I'm concerned. but I'm
personally convicted in my heart that I'm not more concerned for
them. Like Moses. Moses, as he intercedes
for the people, he said, Lord, save them and blot me out of
the book. That's what Paul was praying there in Romans 9. Now,
aren't you, aren't you, I know I am, but aren't you convicted
that you're not more concerned for the salvation of those who
do not know the true and living God? Now here's the second thing
I want us to see. Notice verse 42, 43, and 44.
And the Lord, here's what He says, "...if thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this day," thy day, The things which belong
unto thy people. The things that belong to the
Jewish people. What did they have? They had
the prophets. They had the tabernacle. They
had the priesthood. They had the word of the Lord.
They had all these things given to them that belong to thy people. But now they are hid from your
eyes. A day of reprobation has come.
A day of hiding. Hardness of heart in verse 43
verse 43 for the day shall come upon thee that thine enemy shall
cast a trench about thee And here he's talking about the Roman
army They dug a trench all the way around that city. They compassed
it round. They surrounded it. They cut
it off They starved the people out Verse 44, And they shall
lay thee even with the ground thy children within thee. They
shall not leave thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest
not the time of thy vegetation. Judgment came. Judgment came
upon this people. Not only is the Lord in this
passage, we see His true and real humanity, but we also see
His Deity, don't we? We see his real humanity and
his long-suffering and kindness, but we also see his absolute
sovereignty, his absolute Godhead. He is God over all, blessed forever. We see the absolute lordship
and sovereignty of our God. He is truly God and he deals
with all men in a just and holy way. Verse 42, these Jewish people
had no good excuse not to believe the Gospel. You think of all
they had in the past. The Lord had been with them three
years in His public ministry, preaching to them over and over
and over again the Kingdom of God, preaching the Kingdom of
God, salvation in Christ. His many miracles performed among
them proved Him to be the awaited Messiah, the Christ of God. He
said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has sent me to
heal the brokenhearted, to set the captives free, and to loose
them prisoners and set them free. Matthew 4, chapter 4, verse 23,
the Lord went all about Galilee, teaching in their synagogue,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing all manner of sicknesses
and all manner of diseases among the people. The work that He
did testified, didn't they? That this is the Messiah, the
one Son of God. But now the very things that
were sent their way to be a means to bring them happiness and blessedness
now hid from their eyes. Judgment has taken place. Our
Lord prayed in Matthew 11, Father, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, You've hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes, even so, father,
it seems good in your sight. He will have mercy on whom he
will, and he will harden whom he will." They had the written
word of God, they had all the prophets of God, they had the
tabernacle, they had the temple, they had the priesthood, they
had all these means at their hand. and yet they disregarded
what God had blessed them with. They had the Word. The Lord said,
Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life, but they are they which testify of Me, and you will not
come to Me that you might have life. Now, let me show you an
example of what I'm talking about here. The Gospel turned to Acts
chapter 13. The Gospel was sent to the Jews
first. Remember He said, I'm not sent
but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The other sheep
I have which are not of this fold, them I also must bring.
Turn to Acts chapter 13. And here we see an example of
what we're talking about in Scripture in Acts 13 verse 44. And the next Sabbath day came
almost the whole city to hear the Word of God. Now this is
the Apostle Paul preaching. But when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy and spake against those things which
were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Those means
of the written and preached word were put in their hands, but
they contradicted and they blasphemed, and then Paul and Barnabas whacked
bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you. But seeing you put it from you
and you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles." You see what he's saying here? It's all your
fault. We preached the Word to you, we've given you the Word,
and you rejected the Word of the Lord. For so hath the Lord
commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light unto the
Gentiles, that they shouldest be for salvation to the ends
of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord, and as
many as were ordained to eternal life, they believed. What did
the Jews do? They rejected the way of life,
the way of truth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's the
third thing, in verse 43 and verse 44, judgment is pronounced upon them.
He says here, Verse 43, "...For the days shall come upon thee,
that your enemies are going to surround you, and they are going
to stamp you out, and they are going to kill every woman and
child and everyone in that city." Judgment is coming. Now looking
back at history, what is given here has already taken place.
What is given here has already taken place. Jerusalem in the
year 70 A.D. was completely surrounded by
the Romans, and they completely destroyed the city. Not one stone,
as it says there in verse 44, not one stone shall be left upon
another. It will be all cast down. Now
this is not the first time it happened. You remember back in
the days when Nebuchadnezzar came and the Babylonians came
and the Syrians came and destroyed the temple in that day. And here,
looking back, we know this is already taking place. You see
the Lord speaks and it's done. He commands and it stands fast.
The Lord weeps over this city. And this people, because He knows
all things, He has decreed all things that will come upon His
people, He weeps over their sin, over their rebellion and over
their ignorance. He weeps over the judgment that
is coming upon them for rejecting the gospel of the kingdom of
God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. They despised, as it
says there, the day of visitation. They despised and rejected the
coming Messiah. Remember we studied in Luke 19.14
where they said, We will not have this man to reign over us.
Remember? He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not." What a sad story. But that's us, left to
ourselves. Nothing but judgment when you
despise the only remedy that God has provided for sin, what's
left? There remaineth no more sacrifice
for sin. If you forsake this sacrifice
and reject the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's nothing
left but judgment. Judgment's coming. He that believeth
on the Son hath life. He that believeth not in the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
Now here's the fourth thing. When the Lord came to this city,
look what it says, verse 45. When He came to this city, He
behold this city, He weeps over this city, He weeps over these
people. And when He went into the temple,
Now this is the temple of God. This is that temple, the remnants
of it, that God gave Solomon to build, that fantastic, big,
huge temple. And we've studied all that in
1 and 2 Kings, haven't we? How all that temple is typical
in type and picture of Christ and the gospel. And he went into
the temple, this is the temple of God, and began to cast out
them that sold therein and them that bought therein. saying unto
them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer, but you
have made it the den of thievery." You know, a bunch of robbers,
crooks, they did rob God of His glory, did they not? Now look
what he found, and look what he did. Now, he did this once
before, three years earlier. Turn to John chapter 2. Three
years earlier, when he came to Jerusalem to observe the Passover,
John chapter 2, he found these people doing the exact same thing,
and he had the exact same response. Look at John chapter 2, verse
13. And the Jews' Passover was at
hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And he found in the temple those
that sold oxen and sheep, animals for sacrifice to observe the
Passover, and these doves for the poor people, and the changers
of money. People came from different places
and brought different currency, and they changed the money into
the currency that was accepted there in the temple. And when
he had made a scourge of cords, a whip, He drove them all out
of the temple, the sheep, the oxen, poured out the changers
of money over through the tables, and said to them that sold the
doves, take these things hence, make not my father's house a
house of merchandise. And the disciples remembered
that it was written, and here's that same scripture, Psalm 69,
"...the zeal of thine hath eaten me up." Three years before, he
went up to Jerusalem. as a Jew to observe the Passover,
he goes into the temple and he sees this terrible scene. He
makes a whip, he drives the animals out, the livestock out, he sets
all the birds free, he overturns all the money, throws the money
everywhere, and drives them people out. He said, you're just a bunch
of merchandisers. You're not worshipping God. You
see the zeal of the Lord. and the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And here he comes back for the
last time, three years later now, and what does he see? The
same exact thing going on. The Lord finds again in his own
temple these people going about their religious duties with no
reverence for God, the true and living God, with no sincere worship
of a true and living God, no real true prayer being offered,
just going through the motions of religion without God, without
Christ, and hiding in a false refuge of thinking they're doing
the law of God. Sounds familiar? That's exactly
what's going on in our day, in most churches today. The preacher
you shouldn't criticize. It's time somebody started. In
John chapter 4, the father seeketh such to worship him in spirit
and in truth. Listen to what he says. My house
shall be called the house of prayer, but you've made it a
den of thievery. You're a bunch of thieves. They
were selling sacrificial animals to be observed, to be sacrificed
at the Passover. The poor people, they bought
doves to be offered for a sacrificial sacrifice under God. They were
exchanging money. said in John chapter 2, take
these things hence, make not my father's house the house of
merchandise. The temple priest and the people
tried to enrich themselves in the name of God, exchanging money
for profit and selling animals for profit. The third thing,
notice the Lord's righteous actions. against those that would dishonor
God. It says in Matthew 21, He began
to cast them out that sold and bought in the temple, overthrew
the tables of money changers, and the seats of them that sold
to dust. Can you imagine this scene? Those that would honor and worship
God cannot give approval and applaud that which dishonors
Him. They were dishonoring God. We
read in 1 Samuel 2 verse 30, "...for them that honor me I
will honor, and those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."
You see, we're to honor the true and living God. Now there is
much that goes on today in the name of God that's so dishonoring
unto the true and living God, and to be silent about it is
to give approval to it. The Lord showed His disapproval
of the wickedness of what was going on, and He condemned it,
right? We should too. When we see things
going on that are contrary to the Word of the Lord, we should
condemn it as well. You remember from our study of
the book of Nehemiah, when they rebuilt the temple, Remember
what he said? There's much rubbish here. Remember what they had to do?
They had to clear out the rubbish in order to lay the foundation,
and that's exactly what has to be done today. We've got to clean
out the rubbish of false religion that would enable us to lay the
foundation of Salvation in Christ alone by His grace. Now, let
me point out three things, gross sinful errors I see going on
today, and I've seen this for a good number of years. I'll
give you three things. First, righteousness before God
is demanded by the holy law of God, but has been reduced to
no more than mere human morality. They think to be a moral man
is honoring the law of God. Righteousness before God that
is demanded by the holy law of God has been reduced to mere
human righteousness and human goodness. Now, I'm not against
morality. We ought to be upright, moral
people. But your best morality is not
honoring the law of God and will never produce a justifying righteousness
before God. You remember those in Romans
10, Paul said they were always going about to establish a righteousness
of their own, and have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God which is in Christ, for He's the end of the law. He's
the end of the law. A broken record. He's the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
If righteousness is by the than Christ is dead in vain. You see,
I must have a justifying righteousness provided for me in Christ. And that's not my faithfulness.
That's not my morality. Our righteousness is Christ.
The only righteousness that honors God, that He will accept, is
that which is provided by God for us in Christ. Now think about this. He's called
Jehovah-Jireh, right? What does that mean? The Lord
will provide. God will only accept that which
He provides. Christ is our righteousness.
We are accepted in the beloved. The second thing I see going
on today, and this has been going on for a long time in this country,
instead of gathering to worship God in spirit and in truth, most
churches gathering at times Most churches gathering are times
of fleshly entertainment instead of worship, is it not? Fleshly
entertainment instead of worship. It's all about entertainment.
Disguised as worship, they say, oh, we had such a good meeting,
there was so much shouting going on, there was so much singing
going on, we just didn't have any time for preaching. Isn't
that sad? It's times of entertainment instead
of times of preaching the gospel. There should be nothing that
takes place when we gather together in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ around the gospel of Christ, but worship, prayer, and preaching
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not interested in
entertaining you. The ministry here is not about
fleshly entertainment. If you want entertainment, go
over in town and watch a movie. This is about worship. Worship. Worship around the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Around the preaching of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said to go into all the world
and preach the gospel. Not entertain folks. Preach the
gospel. Here's the third thing I see.
There's a lot of preaching. Stay with me. Here's the third
thing I see. There's a lot of preaching from
men and women. Going on this morning in most
places, in most church buildings, a lot of preaching. But not much
preaching of the gospel by men who are called, gifted, and put
in the ministry. All those men who are called,
gifted, and put in the ministry, they all have the same message. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
is by grace. Salvation is accomplished in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is in Him. Paul said,
"...though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. For
necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel." What is involved in preaching the gospel? To tell
the truth about God. To tell the truth about sin.
to tell the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ, His person and
His work, His redeeming work, and to tell the truth about how
God saved sinners. What is it to preach the gospel?
Well, God loves you, Christ died for you, God's trying to save
you, God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody, and God's
trying to save you. All three of those are a lie. You heard me right. God doesn't
love everybody. God loves Christ and those who
are in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't die for everybody. He
died for His sheep. And God Almighty doesn't try
to do anything. He came to save His people. When
Rob Barnard came to Ashland, they held a tent meeting in 1950,
in the spring of 1950. And when he came to town, he
stood up in the pulpit and he said what I just said. He said,
you've been told all your life that God loves everybody. He
said, ain't so. You've been told all your life
that the Lord Jesus Christ died for all the sins of all men.
He said, ain't so. This is how we started that meeting.
He said, you've heard all your life that God's trying to save
you, but you won't let him. Ain't so. Boy, that got their attention. I mean,
they had a riot, but they also had a revival. You know, from
that meeting in 1950, The Lord is still blessing the fruits
from that meeting. Here more than almost 70 years
ago. That's amazing, is it not? Now,
in closing, let me give you this. There were two things that happened. Verse 47, 48. He taught daily
in the temple, but the chief priest and scribe and the chief
of the people sought to destroy him. Why would they destroy him? Because he destroyed their refuge
of lies. "...and could not find what they
might do, for all the people were attentive to hear him."
Here's the negative response the Lord received from the established
religious crowd. They sought to destroy Away with
him, crucify him. They sought to destroy him. It
says in another scripture, they went out and held counsel how
they might go about to destroy him. You see, the carnal mind
is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. For the foolishest unto him,
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Some got bad, and you know what? Some got glad. Now, it's not
given here, but I want you to turn to Matthew 21. Some got
mad, and some got glad. Matthew 21, look at this. Matthew
21, verse 13, Matthew 21. It's written, my house shall
be called the house of prayer, but you've made it a den of thieves. Now, here's what's added, "...and
the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed
them." You see the different response? Some wanted to destroy
him, and some came to him as mercy beggars. The blind and
the lame came to be healed by him. The Lord never turned the
mercy beggar away. We studied in Luke 15.1, this
man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he's called the
friend of sinners. This man came to seek and to
save. The Savior came to seek and to
save the lost. The gospel is good news. It's
good news, but it's not good news to everybody. Did you know
that? It's good news to the guilty,
but it's not good news to everybody. I have the very best news to
tell if I could only find a sinner to tell me. You know, they're
hard to find. Sinners are hard to find. They're
hard to find. Let me close by giving you this
hymn by Joseph Hart. I'll just read part of it. 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? A sinner is a
sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
That Christ into the world came down, that sinners might by him
be saved. Sinners are high in his esteem,
and sinners highly value him.