JESUS WEEPING

[0:00] Father, incline our hearts, incline our minds, incline our wills, incline our bodies to your word.

[0:11] And through your word, Father, incline us to you. Incline our hearts and minds and wills and bodies. Incline our hearts and minds and wills and bodies.

[0:23] Incline us, Father, to you through your word. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us to lead us and guide us into all truth, to lead us and guide us to Jesus, to lead us and guide us to you.

[0:34] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please be seated. Hopefully I'll remember because I just realized I didn't write it down.

[0:47] But later on in the service, we're going to stand. Those who can stand, we'll invite you all to stand. We're going to have a minute of silence for the 21 Christians who were slaughtered last Sunday by ISIS in Libya.

[1:00] There's been some internet chat inviting as many churches as possible to do that today, to take a minute of silence to remember them. And we're going to do that.

[1:12] And it sort of just seems like, you know, there's been a series of readings that talk a little bit about destruction and judgment. I don't know if the video is available to watch on the internet.

[1:25] I couldn't watch it even if it was available. You don't even have to tell me if it's available. I don't think I could watch it. Just seeing a few still photographs is enough. And you just wonder what were the men doing such a horrible thing thinking about as they dressed the victims, as they bound the victims, as they led the victims.

[1:50] What were they thinking as they walked away? What was going on in their heart? What did their faces look like? What emotions were they showing? Some of you will just, if you were paying attention as I read the gospel, you'll see that Jesus here today once again has a talk about judgment.

[2:10] And we see how Jesus responds to impending judgment. Radically, radically, radically different. And I'm going to suggest when we get to it that it's radically different than the three basic cultural models that our culture has before us when it considers judgment.

[2:30] So it would be a great help to me if you would get your Bibles and open them up to Luke chapter 19. And we're going to begin reading at verse 28. And we have to sort of get to that time of Jesus and his talk about judgment and how he responds to it and just sort of what's going on in the whole thing.

[2:49] And so it's Luke chapter 19, verse 28. If you just turn your Bibles there, we'll start reading. And just a bit of a correction. Last week I said that verse 27, if you go back and listen to the sermon, and we immediately have Jesus in Jerusalem, I should have said that immediately he comes to the suburbs of Jerusalem.

[3:05] And it's all part of this. Luke gives sort of a long introduction to build tension to the reader in terms of before Jesus actually sets foot in the city of Jerusalem. And that's what we're going to catch up with right now.

[3:18] Verse 28. And when Jesus had said these things, he went on ahead. And going up to Jerusalem, sorry, he went on ahead.

[3:29] Going up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem sort of up high. If you've ever been there, you have to go up to go to Jerusalem. And when he drew near to Bethpage and Bethany, about a mile and a half or so outside of Jerusalem, at the mount, which is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples saying, go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat.

[3:56] Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it? You shall say, the Lord has need of it. And just sort of pause here for a second.

[4:08] One of the things which is happening in this story is that, because remember, it's going to culminate. The gospel is going to culminate or reach its, in a sense, its climax with the death of Jesus upon the cross and then the surprise of the resurrection three days later.

[4:26] And so what's happening here is that Luke is, who's a historian, remember Luke is a pagan who became a Christian. And if you go back and look at the beginning of the book of Luke, you'll see that he's writing it for another pagan.

[4:41] Whether that pagan is a skeptic or a seeker, we don't know, but Luke is a pagan doctor who's become an historian, who's sought out eyewitnesses, and is telling the story of Jesus.

[4:56] Now, for us to hear as well, with other pagans and skeptics and seekers. And so what Luke is doing is he's recording here something very, very remarkable, that he's not only recording the foreknowledge of Jesus, but he's showing that at this point in time, Jesus is the master of his fate, so to speak.

[5:17] I mean, he's doing everything, as we'll see in the weeks to come. He's doing everything out of love for us and obedience to the Father. But it's not that events are overwhelming Jesus, but Jesus is in control of events, and in fact even moves things in certain ways, so that he is always in control of events.

[5:38] And that's what's happening here. And even, we're going to talk about it more probably in a couple of weeks, when we get to Luke chapter 21. But Jesus here is doing something that fulfills a prophecy in the book of Zechariah, and a whole host of Old Testament allusions.

[5:55] But Jesus is in control. That's what we have to see. So back to verse 32. Back to verse 32. And so those who were sent away, and found, so those who were sent went away, and found it just as he had told them.

[6:10] And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, why are you untying the colt? And the disciples said, the Lord has need of it. I don't know if they were nervous when they said that or what, eh?

[6:22] They might have been pretty nervous, eh? Yeah, just go into a city and take this colt. And if somebody complains, just tell them, I sent you. Bit of faith there, right?

[6:34] Verse 35. And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they sat Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.

[6:44] Just sort of pause. Now, I'm going to be careful, because maybe some of you are horse people, and you know things about horses that I don't. I'm a city boy, and so I don't know about horses. But I happen to know that one of the commentaries that I wrote, I happen to know the person who wrote it, and I know that he grew up on a horse farm, and he's still a farmer.

[7:02] And he commented that this in and of itself is a miracle that Jesus could ride a colt that had never been sat on. And maybe it's just because only a horse person would notice that this is sort of a miracle.

[7:15] And it shows, in a sense, it's all a part of what's going to culminate with Jesus saying that even the stones would cry out. Because you see, here's the thing that we have to always remember, is that Christians don't worship nature, but we as Christians should always remember that nature worships its creator.

[7:35] In fact, one of the things that might happen to us in heaven, in the new heaven and the new earth, is that right now the seas are clapping their hands, and the trees are singing, and the mountains are calling out God's praise, and we are almost completely and utterly deaf to it.

[7:48] And maybe one of the things that will be the wonder and the joy of the new heaven and the new earth is it will hear how it is the trees and streams and mountains and the stars themselves, praise God.

[8:00] And so this is in a very subtle way showing Jesus as the creator and the Lord of the earth as he enters into Jerusalem. So verse 35, and they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.

[8:17] And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and to praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen.

[8:35] Just sort of pause here for a second. This is one of the few events in Jesus' life that all four of the historical records that we have of the life and death of Jesus, we know them as, we call them gospels, but they were, of course, originally historical records.

[8:54] It might be that if you did some reading on the internet, you'd be able to see some, not obviously the original manuscripts, but old manuscripts. It helps you to appreciate that these are old historical records.

[9:06] And this is one of the few events in Jesus' life that all four of the gospel writers talk about it. And so it might be, when you look at all four of them together, and I'm going to talk about some simple ways that you sort of harmonize them, but the main thing is, if you read John's gospel, his account, you realize that one of the reasons there's such a large crowd of people is because while Jesus was in Bethany, he raised Lazarus from the dead after he'd been in the grave for four days.

[9:33] And this news spreads like wildfire, helps to create a crowd of people. And who knows, maybe it still is, that blind Bartimaeus and the other blind man who was healed, that they were calling everybody all about the fact that Jesus had just the day before healed them of sight.

[9:52] And maybe even the news that such a notorious sinner as Zacchaeus had become a follower of Jesus, and he's proving it by giving away his fortune.

[10:06] And so there is a crowd. There is a crowd. We're going to talk more about this in a second, about why there is a crowd. But in verse 38, what are they calling out? They quote Psalm 118, verse 25.

[10:18] But they modify it because they modify it because they see what's happening in front of them as, in a sense, what Psalm 118, verse 25 is all about.

[10:31] And they cry out, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, teacher, rebuke your disciples.

[10:44] And Jesus answered. And in the original language, the way that the verb tenses and everything and the way that the words are arranged, it's clear. In the original language, the Pharisees rebuked Jesus.

[10:58] Jesus doesn't back down. He rebukes the Pharisees. And his rebuke of the Pharisees to say, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.

[11:10] Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful line. Now, here's the thing about this is that if you go back and you read, if you go back, maybe as part of your preparation for Easter coming up and to read the Gospel of Luke up until now, you'll notice that this is actually profoundly out of character for Jesus.

[11:29] That generally in the Gospels, whenever there's large crowds that want to call Jesus the King, he goes away to pray. He dismisses the crowds. He tries to not have crowds.

[11:43] I mean, when crowds come to him, like in the wilderness, and he teaches them, he doesn't rebuke them. He has a compassionate heart, a tender heart. He feeds the 5,000. He feeds the 4,000.

[11:53] He deals with crowds, but he's regularly trying to silence all king language. But now we see that Jesus actually creates an event that draws a huge crowd where they call him king.

[12:14] Jesus creates this event on purpose. That's what he do. It's very, very, very out of character. With Jesus and the rest of the Gospels.

[12:26] Well, why is that? Andrew, if you could put up the first point, I think it's for this reason. Jesus lived and died in human history, and he takes steps to make a crowd so that tens of thousands will be witnessed to his public death upon the cross and his empty tomb.

[12:45] Jesus lived and died in human history, and he takes steps to make a crowd so that tens of thousands will be witnessed to his public death upon the cross and his empty tomb.

[13:01] He's not killed off in a corner, and nobody, you know, there's a time in John's Gospel where it's clear that Jesus entered the city secretly. In fact, if you read John's Gospel, Jesus' brothers and sisters who don't believe in Jesus, they say, come on, Jesus, if you really want to make a, you know, you're really the Messiah, you want to build a movement?

[13:20] Like, you don't go away, you don't go around not trying to attract people. Like, people who want to build a movement, Messiah. You know, you can just imagine those of you who have brothers, how they can mock you.

[13:33] I'm sure none of you here ever mocked other siblings. We're talking about other people being bad and mean to you, okay? Some of you might have something to repent of during the confession later on, but you can just, and so Jesus enters Jerusalem at least one time completely and utterly anonymously for several days when he's in there before something happens.

[13:55] So Jesus actually goes out of his way the raising of Lazarus, the healing of Bartimaeus, the calling of Zacchaeus, the going to get the donkey, the call of him to be the king, and rather than trying to quiet it, I don't know, maybe he was going around doing like this, I don't know.

[14:17] You know, the way defenses do it in the NFL when they want the crowd noise to get up loud for the offense so they can't hear the calls. Maybe Jesus was doing that, we don't know. But he creates the event. And he creates the event so that by the time, in just a couple of days, when he dies upon the cross, and then after, not everybody will witness the resurrection, but everybody will be witness to the empty tomb.

[14:43] And so they will be caught with the compelling testimony of up to 500 plus people that Jesus has risen, and they'll see no other possible explanation, and many hearts will be pierced, and thousands will come to faith in Jesus within days of the coming of Pentecost, in Pentecost, and then shortly after, and Jesus creates a crowd where tens of thousands will know that he's in Jerusalem, that he's died, that the grave is empty.

[15:15] That's what he does. Now, sometimes I think to myself, what would I do if I was the pastor of a megachurch?

[15:28] Here's one of these times when I really, really wish I was the pastor of a megachurch and had a megachurch art department and budget, because if so, what I would do now to make a transition to the next point is I would say, Andrew, just roll the screen, and there'd be a big picture here of Iron Man in the first Iron Man movie.

[15:53] And some of you guys and gals who watched that movie, you know there's that scene early on when he goes to this village and he touches his arm and a missile turns up, goes wild, and as soon as he fires it, he turns and starts walking away, and then there's the huge explosions in the background, and it gets this, I mean, I think just about every American action film now, it's not an action film, if it doesn't have the hero walking away from an explosion in the background.

[16:28] And that's what I would show you right now, and because we were a megachurch, I'd be there beside Iron Man, and it would be Iron Man and me walking away as there's this horrendous fire and destruction that nobody will survive, and where everything is raised to the ground behind us, and Iron Man and I would walk away, and that would be the transition to the next point, because Jesus, as he enters, just before he enters Jerusalem, he does something which is very un-Iron Man-like.

[16:58] Iron Man has quips, he makes jokes, but what does Jesus do when he realizes that in a sense the missiles from God are going to come upon the human race?

[17:13] But that's what we see in these very next verses in verse 41 to 44. And when Jesus drew near and saw the city, he wept over it.

[17:27] He wept over it. This is very, very, very, very, very important moment in the gospel. If you want to know what's going on with the crucifixion, what's going on, Jesus says he comes to seek and save the lost.

[17:42] If you want to have a sense of the heart of Jesus, the worldview of Jesus, the mind of Jesus, the purpose of Jesus, this is a very important verse. And when Jesus drew near and saw the city, he wept over it.

[17:56] Now, he's not weeping because of the fact that there's all these bad guys who don't like him. He's not weeping over the fact in a sense that there's nothing he can do about it.

[18:08] Here's what he says. Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace? That's not political peace. It's the fact that as rebels, we are at enmity with God.

[18:23] In a sense, every human being has in some part of their heart a rage against God. And Jesus comes to make, not to make peace with God to us, because God doesn't have to make peace with us because he's good.

[18:38] But I have to make peace with him. You have to make peace with God. But now they are hidden from your eyes, for the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you.

[19:01] He's saying this weeping. Tears are coming down his face as he says this. In fact, in the original language, it's a sobbing. He's saying these words, sobbing.

[19:13] You can just imagine how the disciples would just be standing there. People shouting his praises and the disciples are right beside him.

[19:26] And Jesus is sobbing as he looks at the city of Jerusalem. And he ends it by saying, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you because you did not know the time of your visitation.

[19:42] And he's talking about himself. So here's the thing. And I have to confess, I've used some old-fashioned language because those of us who are familiar with the prayer book tradition knows that the very, very heart of morning and evening prayer as part of the explanation as to what you should be doing as you go into the service, that there is, in fact, a key sentence that God takes no delight in the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live.

[20:10] And it's a quote from two passages in the book of Ezekiel. And here's the thing that we have to understand. If you could put it up, Andrew. Jesus takes no delight in the death of a sinner. He longs for us to turn from our wickedness and live.

[20:24] And I can't help but use the word wickedness because I don't say morning and evening prayer all the time, but it's just part of my verbal and mental makeup that I just, you know, God taketh no delight in the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn, will turn from his wickedness and live.

[20:41] It's just part of it. So I put it up there. But it's a quote from Ezekiel in two different locations. And so the Bible helps us to understand what's going on here.

[20:53] The Bible interprets what's going on. We're going to talk about that more in a moment. But Jesus takes no delight in the death of a sinner. He longs for us to turn from our wickedness and live.

[21:06] You see, what this text shows is that people matter to God. People matter to God. And if you think about it, I said that there's sort of three primary sort of cultural images or icons or frameworks by which we understand impending judgment.

[21:26] Because if you think about it, in a sense, movies like Iron Man, they, in a sense, through the story, manipulate you so that when Iron Man presses the thing, I think he presses something on his wrist and fires these missiles.

[21:40] You know, he never seems to have to reload or anything like that or go to the bathroom. He just presses these things and then turns away. everybody behind him has died. And we as the audience aren't seeing, good grief, he just killed all those people.

[21:56] We're going, yes, he killed all those people. Gosh, I wish I could be like Iron Man. That's what's going on in us. That's one cultural model.

[22:08] George W. Bush, I don't make any political comment here, but it was widely quoted and widely understood when he went after the 9-11 and he said, we're going after these guys.

[22:19] He said, God, have mercy on their souls because we won't. It's Iron Man. And there's left and right wing versions of that, by the way, folks. It's not a political comment. It's a cultural type of moment that there's a way of understanding bad guys that it's all right to raise them to the ground and we do it either with jokes, with steely-eyed determination, with a look on our face that says, we have nothing to forgive or forget.

[22:46] We are masters of our destiny. Don't mess with me. We kick butt if you mess with us. I kick butt if you mess with me.

[23:01] Jesus weeps. Many of us, in reaction to that, are deeply drawn to the image of the Buddha and this whole image of the Buddha.

[23:11] you know, if you see the statues of the Buddha, of him just sitting there, sort of eyes inward, a look of type of peace on his face, completely and utterly, in a sense, detached.

[23:23] detached. And in a sense, we have this image that what we desire is to be still like water. That's what I want to be inside of me, still like water.

[23:37] The problem is people do horrendous things. Do we really want to be still like water in the face of evil? Do we want to be still like water in the face of injustice?

[23:51] Do we want to be still like water in the face of atrocities? Isn't there a place for right and wrong and for judgment? Should we look at ISIS killing 21 innocent Christians in cold blood with arrogant language and be still like water?

[24:10] Is that what it means to be fully human? The other type of cultural ideal which fascinates us is in fact a certain version of the Muslim ideal, the image of Muhammad as a warrior.

[24:31] Muhammad historically did not weep over the people that he killed. He did not weep over the people that he had assassinated. He did not weep while he gathered armies to attack people who opposed him.

[24:47] He was strong. And that is another version of the cultural models by which we understand how judgment can come and how we should respond.

[25:01] And Jesus weeps. Jesus weeps. That's the beginning of the understanding of how Jesus is different that Jesus takes no delight in the death of a sinner.

[25:15] He longs for us to turn from our wickedness and live. But there's another aspect to it as well. As I mentioned last week who in the story dies?

[25:29] Jesus. Andrew if you could put up the third point. God's final judgment raises and those who are listening to this online R-A-Z-E-S not raises like R-A-I-S but raises a type of judgment where everything is just completely destroyed.

[25:52] God's final judgment raises or destroys in compassion Jesus took my place. Iron Man does not take the place of those that are bad that he kills.

[26:10] Muhammad does not take the place of those who are bad that he kills. And Buddha does not take the place of those who are evil and deserve judgment.

[26:26] Jesus the innocent one in the face of the raising which we deserve comes to every one of us and every person on the planet including the people who killed the 21 Christians and says you deserve to be raised out of compassion for you I took your place.

[26:53] I took your place. Jesus looks over Jerusalem he sees the religious people he sees the spiritual people he sees the pagans he sees the people who are completely and utterly irreligious he sees the powerful he sees the weak in a sense he sees into the future and sees Peter and Paul there he sees Judas who betrayed him and he weeps.

[27:22] here's the takeaway for us and once again these points are always on the web page probably within about 24 hours if you want to write them down later on I need to personally receive the good news of Jesus Messiah crucified and live gripped by him and by what he has said and done that's the purpose of this story that's why Luke Luke was a pagan for decades who becomes a follower of Jesus by talking to the witnesses and by their testimony and Luke heart is Theophilus a pagan whether a skeptic or a seeker that he will come that you will come to personally receive the good news of Jesus Messiah crucified and live gripped by him and what he has said and what he has done and the gospels constantly present to us a choice the gospels are going to say are you going to be like

[28:28] Judas or like Peter both of whom failed their Lord will you be like Judas or like Peter the heart of Jesus who weeps says be like Peter earlier on just a little bit before this the rich young man and Zacchaeus and the question is will you be like the rich young man or Zacchaeus and the heart of Jesus says I've died in the hope that you will be like Zacchaeus not the rich young man earlier on the gospel the centurion and the Pharisee in the early the centurion who has his servant healed and is the very first one in the gospels to have their faith in Jesus and Jesus says I've never seen such faith like this before and the face of Pharisees who betray and are angry and belittle and attack Jesus and the heart of Jesus says I died for the centurion I died for the Pharisee my heart is that you will be like the centurion the pagan soldiers that that is that is my heart hear this good news receive it be gripped by me allow me to grip you and be gripped by me and my words and what

[29:40] I've done for you now some of you might say George that's a very very beautiful story and you've gone in a sense beyond the immediate words and tried to encompass the other things that take place and happen in the gospel but weeping George isn't weeping a sign of weakness George often when I weep it's because it might be because I have compassion but it's always compassion combined with powerlessness I weep because I wonder why did my child leave me I weep because I wonder why my husband or why my wife left me I weep in the face of illness that I can't deal with myself I weep because it seems and I can't do anything about it and that's weeping George weeping is a sign of weakness surely we want to be more like Buddha surely we want to be okay granted he should cut out the jokes and show some compassion but surely we want to be more like Iron man like weeping is a sign of weakness it's part of the brilliance of how

[30:42] Luke records the events of Jesus that will of Jesus let's look at it in verse 45 and Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold notice that again Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out drive out if you read the other gospel accounts he's kicking over tables he's getting people out of there he has the whole area the court of the Gentiles in a complete and utter uproar money is being kicked over the animals are being released he's in a zealous he's filled with zeal and people back down they're driven away he drives they're driven and he says to them it is written my house shall be a house of prayer he quotes from

[31:44] Isaiah but you have made it a den a place where robbers live quotes from the book of Jeremiah we see here in this story steel and strength and passion and zeal and he's not mad because people are making money and he's not mad because people are trying to be helpful what's going on is that the temple is to be a place where robbers and thieves come before God seeking mercy the temple is not to be a place where thieves and robbers rule the temple to make money wrapping themselves in holiness that's what it's become the place the only place in the temple where pagans can come and call out to God because all of the Old Testament keeps telling them that the Jewish people that they are to bear witness to the entire world of the living

[32:48] God and the place where the pagans can come is the place that's given over to the selling of animals and the changing of money at exorbitant rates with a din and a baying and a bellowing and a clinking and a joking and a cursing and an anger that would mean that the entire temple is not dominated by any sense of peace and quiet but by the sounds of people charging way more to rip you off you put up the second the next point Andrew here's a takeaway from this God abhors it's a big word it means just he detests he hates people who use him to take advantage of others while taking to themselves money and power

[33:49] God abhors people who use him to take advantage of others while taking to themselves money and power does a politician call people to pray that might be a very good thing if he does it to look holy and cover up personal evil God abhors it if you're a Christian business person and you use the fact that you're a Christian to overcharge other Christians God abhors it if you go to a Christian and say because you're a Christian you should charge me less money God abhors it there is a business person who advertises on Christian radio and I know for a fact that they overcharge by somewhere between 20 to 60 percent I can hardly in fact I often turn the radio off because it so bothers me that they would use the fact that they're Christians to advertise on

[34:50] Christian radio and fool people into thinking they're getting a bargain when they overcharge by 20 to 60 percent for the same service done complete secular person God abhors this if we're caught up with this we need to repent that's what Jesus is showing in this not only is he showing his strength he's showing something of his heart remember those of you were here last week when Zacchaeus becomes a Christian what when he becomes a follower of Jesus when he's gripped by the gospel what is it that how is it that three characteristics he moves to become honest he moves to become just and he moves to become generous it would be very good if we sought out a Christian whatever it is lawyer singer real estate agent because we think as a follower of

[35:57] Jesus they're going to be honest and they're going to be just so I can trust them but the gospel grips us not so we can rip off other Christians and wrap ourselves in holiness but the gospel moves us to generosity to honesty and to being just and there's one other thing here just before we wrap up the whole sermon back when I was still part of the Anglican Church of Canada people used to call me a fundamentalist in fact I don't want to insult you but they would probably call almost all of you here fundamentalists and one of the reasons that I was a fundamentalist is because I would ask the question what does the Bible say and sometimes in the point I would quote the Bible and that is for many people in Christendom a sign of flagrant fundamentalism but notice here again in the

[37:00] Bible when Jesus is driving out these people in verse 46 he says it is written what does that mean this is what the Bible says and because the Bible says it it's authoritative and we should do it and then he quotes Isaiah 56 and here's the thing Jesus knows and quotes and believes the Bible his followers should also desire to know and quote and believe the Bible and if people insult you by calling you a fundamentalist say I'm not opposed to learning I'm not opposed to asking questions but Jesus took my punishment and my sin upon him I've entrusted my life to him and I want to follow him and he quoted the Bible and he knew the Bible and he believed the Bible and that's what I'm trying to do it's not rocket science it's humility Jesus knows and quotes and believes the

[38:03] Bible his followers should also desire to know and quote and believe the Bible so what's the big picture just as I'm going to ask you've seen the weeping before the entry you've seen the cleansing you hear the cross you see that all this is doing is creating enemies of Jesus and Andrew if you could put the final point up weeping the living God respects my freedom to refuse him in costly love and powerful grace the living God provides Jesus death upon the cross as the power of salvation which we receive by penitent faith this story is a profound these sets of texts are a profound witness of the great respect that God has even for those who with their dying breath resist him refuse him rage against him and hate him he weeps and respects our freedom but he's not just still like water he sends his son upon the cross to be that power of

[39:12] God for salvation and his hope and his yearning is that we will receive Jesus and what he's done for us on the cross and follow him as our savior and Lord in weeping the living God respects my freedom to refuse him in costly love and powerful grace the living God provides Jesus his death upon the cross as the power of salvation which we receive by penitent faith please stand you know there's never a better day than at times like this if you've never given yourself to Jesus there's never a better time than today to recommit yourself to Jesus there's never a better time to ask that Jesus that you would be a disciple a follower of Jesus that you would be gripped by the gospel and that you would begin to live for his glory that you would turn away from using God to keep him at a distance or to have power over others that you would start to be so gripped by the gospel that Jesus would free your heart up and rescue your heart and heal your heart and heal your heart to move towards just gripped by the gospel to be gripped by the gospel to be gripped by the gospel to be gripped by the gospel who live for your glory in this we ask in Jesus name amen