PM Luke 19:41-44

[0:00] We'll begin our worship by hearing Psalm 100 in the Scottish Psalter, which is on page 362.

[0:13] Psalm 100. All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice, him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell, come ye before him and rejoice.

[0:27] So what we've got here is an invitation by the Jewish people to the Gentile peoples that they should join together in worshipping their covenant God.

[0:40] So sing along with this in your hearts, but remember that we're not really meant to sing out loud. Psalm 100. All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice, in serving her this praise forth tell, come ye before him and rejoice.

[1:26] Know that the Lord is God in thee.

[1:38] We are His God in the last day.

[1:56] And for His sheep he got us take. Oh, enter then His gates with grace, approach with joy His courts unto, praise the Lamb and bless His name always.

[2:34] Praise the Lamb and bless His name always. Far with His king with soul to do.

[2:45] For while the Lord of God is true, His mercy is forever sure, His truth hath all times firmly stood, and shall promise to return to.

[3:23] Now we're going to ask God's blessing on our worship, so let's join together in prayer. We come to you, Lord, in response to the invitation of your word, conscious of what you are to your people, and of all the blessings that you have showered upon us.

[3:48] We can well see that we all like sheep have gone astray, and yet we can look to you as our shepherd, and we can acknowledge that you have guided us, and cared for us, and refreshed us throughout our lives, throughout our Christian lives.

[4:06] And we thank you for all this, and for the grace that lies behind it. We seek to come to you with a song of joy in our hearts, realizing that once we were immersed in sin, and feeling the misery of it as well, alienated from you, strangers from the covenant of grace, and without hope in the world.

[4:32] And now, through your grace towards us in Christ, we can rejoice in you, because of the blessings that have come to us, through the work of our Lord, and through the operation of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

[4:46] And we pray that all of us may be able to reflect on that sort of thing, as we come to you now, so that we not come in any outward or formal way, out of habit, or anything like that, but out of a real desire to honor you, and to know you better.

[5:05] And so we pray that we may be able to engage in a fitting way, in your praise this evening, and that we may be able to listen attentively to your word.

[5:16] We ask that you would open our understanding, that we may grasp what is being said, and see what significance it has for ourselves today. And in this way, we pray that we might grow in our experience of your grace.

[5:32] We ask for those that are not with us on this occasion. Some folks are away that would normally be here. Others, perhaps, for one reason or another, are not able to be present.

[5:44] But we pray for everybody connected with this congregation in any way, who come from time to time, and ask that you would be with them all, and that you would cause them to look to you increasingly, and to rest upon you for all that they need, and so to find that your blessings surround them day by day.

[6:04] So we commit ourselves into your care and keeping, and we ask that you would make your presence felt to us in our time of worship. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

[6:16] We are going to read in the Old Testament, in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 28. And we are going to read from verse 45.

[6:29] Deuteronomy, chapter 28, and verse 45. Now this is a chapter that is quite clearly two different keynotes, we might say.

[6:45] It's entitled here, Blessings for Obedience and Curses for Disobedience. And of course we've got to get these in proper perspective, proper balance. And although we're going to read a bit about the curses, don't forget that along with these there are the blessings that we don't have time to read this evening.

[7:06] So let's read then in Deuteronomy, chapter 28, and from verse 45. All these curses shall come upon you, and pursue you, and overtake you, till you are destroyed.

[7:20] Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. They shall be a sign and a wonder against you, and your offspring forever.

[7:33] Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things. Therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and lacking everything.

[7:51] And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck, until he has destroyed you. The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, sweeping down like the eagle.

[8:04] A nation whose language you do not understand. A hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. It shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed.

[8:17] It also shall not leave you grain, wine or oil, the increase of your herds, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land.

[8:34] And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you. And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress, with which your enemies shall distress you.

[8:52] The man who is the most tender and refined among you, will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he out embraces, and to the last of the children whom he has left, so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children who he is eating, because he has nothing else left in the siege and in the distress, with which your enemies shall distress you in all your towns.

[9:14] The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces, to her son and to her daughter, her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet, and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything, she will eat them secretly in the siege and in the distress, with which your enemies shall distress you in your towns.

[9:41] If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring in you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.

[9:57] And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Every sickness also, and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you until you are destroyed.

[10:13] For as you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you, and you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

[10:34] And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. And among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul.

[10:55] Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall see, if only it were evening, and in evening you shall see, if only it were morning.

[11:08] Because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see. And the Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again.

[11:20] And there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies, as male and female slaves. But there will be no buyer. May God bless to us this reading.

[11:31] Our next psalm is Psalm 46, singing verses 1 to 6. And that is in the Sing Psalms version on page 59. God is our refuge and our strength, our ever-present aid.

[11:46] And therefore, though the earth gives way, we will not be afraid. Psalm 46a. God is our refuge and our strength, our ever-present aid.

[12:11] And therefore, though the earth is safe, we will not be afraid. We will not be afraid.

[12:22] We will not be afraid. The mountains fall into the sea, the waters of my Lord, we will not be afraid.

[12:44] We will not be afraid. We will not be afraid. The mountains fall into the sea, our spirits and countless shore.

[13:02] We will not be afraid. We will not be afraid. Werhs and co hacked. We140, your sag PROFESSORs and cooraاشe in the sea, the singing of our life, the holy place in which the eye O PO P� Anybody, the easel is SPEAK to you, The Holy Place in which the Lord Messiah is our Lord.

[13:40] God is within His holy place. The city will not yield.

[13:59] For God will come and make all day to be your help and shield.

[14:18] The nations are in this array. The kingdoms disappear.

[14:36] God's peace and land is mighty. The whole earth melts with fear.

[14:58] Now we're reading the New Testament in Luke's Gospel, chapter 19. And we're going to read from verse 28. And what we've got here are some incidents in the closing week of Jesus' life on earth.

[15:16] Luke chapter 19, from verse 28. And when He had said these things, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

[15:29] When He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, and the Mountedus 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.

[15:48] Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it? You shall say this, The Lord has need of it.

[15:59] So those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owner said to them, Why are you untying the colt?

[16:11] And they said, The Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus. And throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as He rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.

[16:25] As He was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.

[16:40] Peace in heaven and glory on the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.

[16:54] And when He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, Would that you, even you, had known in this day the things that make for peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes.

[17:07] 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, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you because you did not know the time of your visitation.

[17:29] And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. And He was teaching daily in the temple.

[17:43] The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy Him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on His words.

[17:55] May God bless to us this reading too. Now let's join together in prayer once more. We thank you, Lord, for your word.

[18:06] We acknowledge that there are difficulties in it that we do not understand entirely, but we thank you that there are also very clear things in it that we cannot fail to understand except through spiritual blindness.

[18:22] We pray that you would take away any spirit of spiritual blindness from us, that we may be able to grasp what the scriptures mean, and that we may use them increasingly from day to day as a source of guidance and instruction and comfort in daily life.

[18:40] We pray that we may discover in the scriptures not only the promises of salvation, but the assurances of your love. May they convey to us the confidence that you are with us, and may we find indeed that there is a word in the scriptures suitable for every situation in life, and we pray that more and more therefore we may use the scriptures as a guide for our lives from day to day.

[19:08] Bless the scriptures as they are preached and expounded the world over today. We pray that all those that seek to honour you and to preach the true gospel might find indeed that your spirit is at work in them, using them for good.

[19:24] And where people are not able to meet together for worship, as we thankfully are, we pray that they may nonetheless be able to read your word and find that it is useful to them, a source of comfort and ongoing strength.

[19:40] So we pray, Lord, for the progress of the word of God to be felt the world over through its preaching. We think also of the word distributed in written form.

[19:54] We pray for all those that translate your word into other languages and ask that you would give them wisdom in so doing. May they be kept from intruding their own ideas into the word of God.

[20:07] May they be kept from saying anything that is obscure, and especially anything that may be wrong. May they be able to express themselves clearly in languages that are not their own first language.

[20:21] And we ask, Lord, that this process might go on until the scriptures are made available in written form throughout the nations of the world. We pray for those that distribute the word of God.

[20:35] We ask, Lord, that you would supply everything necessary for them. We pray that they may be able to use these resources wisely and give themselves to projects that are of first importance.

[20:48] And we pray for young churches that are receiving the word of God in written form for the first time. We thank you for the joy that it brings them to have the scriptures available.

[21:00] And pray that they may be kept from error in interpreting them as they are able to read the scriptures for the first time for themselves. And we pray that the day might soon come where your people everywhere may have the word of God readily available to them, accessible to them, in a form that they can afford to buy.

[21:21] And so we pray that the word of God in written form might prosper. We think in agencies that are at work to publish books about the Bible.

[21:32] And we ask, Lord, that you would prosper them as well. We think especially of agencies that are at work where people don't have many books available to them about the Bible or about spiritual matters.

[21:48] And we thank you that there are those that feel the call of providing literature, Christian literature, in their own language to their own people.

[21:59] We pray that you would give them wisdom in doing this task. And grant that they too may get their priorities right. And that whatever may be most suitable for building up the church and creating leaders might be published and might be widely used in young and developing churches.

[22:16] And we ask then that in this way too the cause of the gospel might be advanced. We pray for the work of Haggif in Israel bringing the word to the Jewish people.

[22:32] We thank you for the varied initiatives that they have engaged in recently and for the books that they've given to all Christian Israeli soldiers. And we pray that these might be useful for your people being built up in their faith and witnessing to others.

[22:50] And we ask that in such means as these you would be advancing your kingdom the world over. Now Lord we ask that as we turn to the scriptures we may be given an inquiring mind and a humble heart and a willing spirit so that the scriptures might indeed enlighten our minds and lead us forward today.

[23:12] We ask this resting upon the merits of our Saviour. Amen. Our next psalm is psalm number 81 singing verses 11 to 16.

[23:26] That is in the Sing Psalms version Psalm 81 from verse 11. And that is on page 110. But my people would not listen would not do what I required so I gave them up to follow what their stubborn hearts desired.

[23:45] So this is God's verdict on his people in the wilderness journeys when they were coming out from Egypt to their own land. It speaks of the rebellion and it speaks of the blessings that he would have given them had they been responsive.

[24:00] Verses 11 to 16 Psalm 81. Psalm 81. But my people would not listen would not do what I required so I gave them up to follow what their stubborn hearts desired.

[24:29] If my people would not lead me is the hope of my command I would soon stop to bear and be stand against and turn my hand Those who hate the Lord's good power and their good mood never end But with my little sweet I feed you I from the rock I send Now I want us to look at Luke's Gospel chapter 19 the section beginning at verse 41 verses 41 to 44

[25:32] Luke chapter 19 at verse 41 entitled Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem Jerusalem We'll just read the first bit and then we'll expound the rest hopefully bit by bit as we go on And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it Now I think it is useful to get the geography of this situation right just in our imagination because really Jerusalem occupies an outstanding position Think of Israel and there's a ridge a backbone you might say of fairly high hills running pretty well the length of the country in the centre and part of the highest of these hills Jerusalem is set and then on the east side of Jerusalem there's a deep valley the Kidron Valley and then in the bottom there there are olive groves the garden of Gethsemane and then up the other side there's the Mount of Olives and Jesus has come from the east and he's approaching Jerusalem over the top of the Mount of Olives or perhaps around the shoulder of the mount and then there opens up before him this tremendous spectacle of Jerusalem there set on its hills with the valley below it setting making it look bigger it's quite an impressive spectacle and sometimes we see it indeed on television today when they're showing scenes of Israel and it must have really impressed people to see this wonderful sight of this beautiful city set there in the hills and when Jesus sees it he weeps now I want to look at this because that's not the stuff of Jesus' ministry not the normal stuff of Jesus' ministry

[27:29] Jesus is a healer Jesus is a teacher Jesus speaks about the things of God and we don't think of him weeping except as far as I know on two particular occasions this being one of them so it's a wee bit out of the ordinary and I just want to look at it and I want to ask why was he weeping and we're going to have two answers to that and then we're going to sum up by asking some questions about this that people might have some difficulties that they might need explaining and I hope in this way we'll understand this passage which has got its difficulties and at the same time we'll receive something of benefit for our own spiritual lives this evening so why did Jesus weep?

[28:16] he wept because of their present state and he wept because of their future prospects now in regard to their present state he said would that you even you had known on this day the things that make for peace but now they are hidden from your eyes he's weeping because of what we might call unfulfilled potential opportunities that were missed they had the opportunity of looking for the things that led to peace and they had missed these opportunities and now they were hidden from their eyes now just let's go into that a wee bit peace I don't suppose most of us noticed this but peace actually is one of the key words in the gospel of Luke Matthew in his gospel uses it four times

[29:17] Mark uses it one time and Luke uses it 14 times telling the same story it's an important feature of his message for example he describes the work of John the Baptist and he says that his ministry is this to guide our feet into the way of peace he tells about the angels that welcomed Jesus at his birth glory to God in the highest and on earth peace he speaks of Simeon who came into the temple and greeted the infant Jesus and afterwards he says that he might depart in peace at the triumphal entry into Jerusalem which we've read here they spoke of peace in heaven and when Jesus after the resurrection greets his disciples he says peace to you peace is high on its agenda and here he sums up all the disobedience of the people of Israel and he says they weren't aware of the things that would make for peace

[30:29] I think first of all it's peace with God that's in mind peace with God the key to everything and they hadn't given attention to those things that made for peace in the Old Testament there were rites and ceremonies sacrifices made to bring about peace between man and God atoning sacrifices bringing peace but we read in the Old Testament that many people simply went through these rites and ceremonies without thinking of what was going on it was an empty thing no meaning in it they were despising the things that led to peace and in Jesus time it was no difference there were that section of the community that did that and there were people that said praying to God Lord I thank you that I am not like other people are I do this I do that not like that person who sins against you people like that didn't think they needed peace and they despised the things that made for peace and that's the thing that he holds against them here that they did not use the opportunities of finding peace that were given to them

[31:50] John the Baptist spoke of or the angels spoke of peace on earth but the one about whom that was said the Jewish leaders despised and rejected they did not know the things that made for peace and that's a pretty damning indictment a very sad thing to happen people that are have the means of peace to hand people that are exhorted to peace with God but people that harden their hearts and despise the message and don't make don't give attention to the things that make for peace and there's something very sad about the way that Jesus puts it here what now is their situation but now they are hidden from your eyes the things that make for peace are hidden from them now how do we explain that it doesn't look to me at foresight as if this really is blaming is something for which they can be blamed if the things are hidden how can they be blamed for not paying attention to them but we must understand the sort of thing that Jesus has got in mind some of you may remember that they were speaking about

[33:09] Jesus parables why do you teach people in parables interesting stories but what did they really mean why did you teach in that way and Jesus says to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to those that are without outside all things are in parables so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not hear and he's saying I'm telling these stories so the certain section of the population will not understand them I'm telling these stories so that the truth will be obscure to them and that's the sort of thing that he's speaking about here it's hidden from them and it's hidden from them for this reason that God has withdrawn his spirit from them and they've hardened their hearts against them so often they've refused the message so often that they've become calloused and they're not able any longer now to respond to the message at all

[34:16] God has hardened their hearts because he hardened their hearts against them they've got eyes but they cannot see they've got ears but they cannot hear because they've grown so used to being unreceptive to the things of God that their spiritual sight that they might have had is withdrawn from them and that's the situation that he's speaking about the ages of rebellion of the Jewish people their disobedience God's laws God's ways of doing things and the rejection of the Messiah that was sent amongst them things have reached a climax and the climax is this that this is the state that got to incapable entirely of seeing anything because having closed their eyes they are now blinded to the truth a very very sad situation and that's the situation that Jesus weeps over that's a sad situation that causes him distress that people should be like that and I hope we'll take that aboard at a practical level when we're offered the gospel grasp it lay hold upon it when Christ is set before you as the saviour of sinners lay hold upon him come to him lest you harden your heart and you harden your heart and you harden your heart and the gospel never comes to you in power again it's a very sad thing

[35:56] Jesus weeps over that the present state of Israel the next thing that he weeps over is their future prospects for the days will come that's what he's speaking about he's now speaking about the future and that's part of what he's weeping over their future prospects now before we just look at what he said here I just want to take up this idea of them not seeking the things that make for peace we've talked about peace with God but you see especially in the way that things were put over in the Old Testament if you don't have peace with God you're not going to have peace outward peace if you're not going to know peace with God then you're not going to know his blessings and you're going to know all sorts of disasters that come up in you now this is the import of the passage that we read or part of it at least that's what we're trying to get over in those days it was clearly said blessings from God will bring you prosperity if you walk in his ways but if you don't walk in his ways be assured that his hand will be against you and nothing nothing nothing will prosper in your hands and that was a message that anybody that knew the Old Testament story should have known very well when the people disobeyed God they suffered for it disaster came upon them in one form or another if you know the story of the book of the judges we're told then that everybody did what was right in his own eyes because there was no king in Israel then and we're told of how the whole nation would become disobedient to

[37:44] God and there's a whole cycle of events following the same pattern their disobedience so the Ammonites come against them or the Philistines come against them or the Moabites come against them and hold them under their control for some years and they're deeply distressed by that and then when they cry to God he releases them from that slavery and he drives back the enemies and they're at peace and prosperity once again and then the cycle is repeated time and time again disobedience brings disaster disobedience brings disaster and this is you see the background to what this is talking about if they're disobedient what are you going to expect disaster and the greatest event of course in the Old Testament that illustrated that was the fact that the time came when they were taken away from their own land and they were driven into exile and the nation the Assyrians came against them and the Babylonians came against them and they were defeated in battle and their cities were destroyed and their land was ravaged and there was disaster and suffering and distress and misery bloodshed and eventually exile with Jerusalem being burned up and its walls destroyed and the people driven away taken away into Babylon or driven away as refugees into the surrounding countries and surrounding countries disaster it was there in their history time and time again the message was repeated if you don't seek the ways of peace it will bring disaster upon you and that's the background that these people understood and you come then to this and you see how this is the sort of thing that Jesus is talking about this people have turned a blind eye to the things of God they've refused to hear the message that's been proclaimed they've rejected the Messiah that was sent amongst them what can you expect disobedience brings disaster disobedience brings disaster and that's what he's talking about here the prospects that they have for the future and he's very certain about what these prospects are because he describes it in some detail 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 and they will not leave one stone upon another in you that was the disaster that was going to come it was typical of what happened in a siege in those days here are the strong city walls the people have gathered inside the walls for the security and they're hoping to be able to resist the opposing army because of the strength of their walls but the besieging army surrounds the city so that nobody can get in with food and nobody can get out as a refugee for example and so the people are hemmed in and every side as it says here and the erect siege works against them so that they can better assault the walls in due course and the people are starving the sort of thing that we read in Deuteronomy their horrible picture there of the sort of distress and misery that would be but that's the sort of thing that

[41:09] Jesus has in mind this is what happens in a siege the people hopefully are starved into submission and they get sicker and sicker weaker and weaker and if there's sickness there it splides like wildfire like the plague does like coronavirus does so on the situation gets worse and worse until the situation becomes the besieging armies make an assault on the walls and they break through and they destroy the city Jesus says that is what is going to happen and no wonder he weeps what suffering that involves what a disaster that the people of God should have that happening to them it moves them deeply and he weeps over the prospects that are ahead of them and just as there was an explanation of how they did not follow the things that make for peace so there's an explanation of why this disaster is coming upon them and it says simply here because

[42:13] I've lost it sorry because you did not know the time of your visitation you did not know the time of your visitation now that's an interesting word I was going to say maybe a wee bit about it but I'll not say very much at all it really should mean your inspection you did not know the day of your inspection now you know that if you're in an institution and some inspectors are coming you make sure that everything is ready for the day of inspection and there was to be there was a similar day we might see in the experience of Israel God was going to come to inspect them but they weren't ready for that and they didn't realise what was happening and so they failed the test and the inspector as it were brought in a bad report there was a day of inspection and they weren't ready for it now what was that day well I think it simply means that Jesus was to be sent amongst them the son of

[43:22] God was going to come the Messiah was going to come amongst them as God's representative amongst them and he was going to see how things were to use the story that comes in the next chapter there's this parable of the tenants who withheld the annual rent for the vineyard and eventually they send the owner sends his son because they say he says they will respect my son but they don't respect his son that's Israel that's the son coming to see if they would give the fruits of the vineyard to God to see if they would give the fruits of righteousness to God and he finds that they're not ready in the day of inspection and this is what awaits them therefore all that the Old Testament has spoken about them is going to be fulfilled and that is the second thing that Jesus weeps over he weeps over their future prospects now what are we going to make of that well it's just underlining what we've said we've got to be ready we've got to have be receptive we've got to be following the ways of peace we've got to be looking to

[44:43] Christ as our saviour and resting upon his atoning work so that we have peace with God because if we do not do that we have not been ready in the day of visitation as it were there's a warning there in that now I don't know how I should work this idea in but I felt I had to work it in somewhere because we've got to ask you know what's the purpose of telling this story I'm going to deal with certain difficulties about it in a minute but I do really feel that we've got to ask why did Luke tell this story and my problem is that you must have had some reason for telling it but it's not at all clear what it was but I feel that if you're trying to expound scripture you've got to deal with it along these lines why is this in scripture what purpose does it fulfill I'm just suggesting this that Jesus was indicating here that there was a new age in store for the people of God that there was a new arrangement coming into effect that was different from the old and the focus of tension was away from Jerusalem and away from the temple and away from the sacrifices and away indeed from the

[46:04] Jewish people and it was put on something different Jesus here is indicating that the old way of doing things centered in the temple centered on Jerusalem is coming to an end and there's going to be a new era in the experience of God's people in the history of God's grace towards them we think for example of the closing of Matthew's gospel and that indicated the same thing go and make disciples of all nations that's new it was Israel the lost sheep of the house of Israel he had been interested in but now he says go and make disciples of all nations and we all recognize that's a new age the gospel age has come no longer is the word of God restricted to the Jewish people no longer are they his special covenant people but people from all nations are invited to embrace the gospel people from all nations are included in God's saving purpose it's a new way of doing things age based upon the death and resurrection of our

[47:17] Lord Matthew tells the positive side of it go and make disciples of all nations Luke describes the negative side of it Jerusalem that has been the centre of attention the centre of worship where sacrifices were made it's going to be destroyed and that implies a new way of doing things is coming into being this is the downside of Matthew's upside if you might put it that way if you don't misunderstand me Matthew speaks positively of the gospel age coming to all Luke speaks of the age of God's dealings especially with the Jewish people coming to an end and that it seems to me is what this verse does in regard to the whole purpose of redemption so even even though it's got a very negative aspect here let's remember the positive side of it that there is this indicates that no longer are we looking to sacrifices in Jerusalem to give us atonement no longer are we looking to a temple made with human hands we are the temple of God we look to

[48:18] Christ not to animal sacrifices it's a new age that has been introduced and in that we should rejoice so that's what this passage is speaking about Jesus weeps because of the present state of unbelief of Israel and because of their future terrible prospects now I want to just deal with a couple of things that people have problems about this you know some people have this problem over Jesus weeping and really what I have to say does centre upon that some people may simply have a feeling that it's somehow just not appropriate that somebody like Jesus should be weeping it just seems out of keeping with the message and with his submission to God for example and it just doesn't seem right in some people's eyes some people might argue

[49:22] God has no emotions Jesus is God therefore Jesus can't have emotions and that's the way that some people might try and express their difficulty there are other difficulties that were mentioned in the moment but I'm just saying some people do have a problem over this fact that Jesus wept but you see the thing is he is God but he's also human he's also a man a real man and he's not just a man with a physical body he's not just God in disguise he's a real human being and a real human being doesn't just have a body he's got a mind and he's got a psyche if you like he's got feelings and Jesus is a complete human being and it's because of that he is capable of suffering and dying on the cross and it's because of that that he's capable of feeling and weeping and that it seems to me is quite important for us to remember because you see it makes him very much closer to us now some of us was brought up

[50:40] I don't know about your upbringing but mine certainly was that whatever you did you couldn't call in question that Jesus was God but the result of that was you called in question whether he was a real human being you diluted his humanity to try and play up his divinity but you can't do that you've got to hold both things together equally he was fully God but he was fully man and that means that he's a person with real feelings and that's what this passage tells us and that's useful for us it means he's somebody that understands he weeps with people in their distress and he weeps with them in their distress and he weeps with us in our distress he looks at the refugee and in his heart as it were he weeps for them he looks at the poor and miserable that are exploited by the rulers and that are deprived of justice and he weeps in his heart for them because he's a human being with real feelings and emotions as he wept here over

[51:47] Jerusalem and that you see is something that doesn't distance us from him or make us feel that oh we can't trust a man like that it makes us feel the very opposite of that here's something that we can trust in because he feels for us and he knows our situation and understands it and sympathizes with it this is a great thing that makes us trust in the saviour he's not just a distant being that in a cold and personal manner announces the gospel to us in a take it or leave it fashion he's somebody that is genuinely interested in our situation and that knows us through and through and sympathizes with us in our misery or distress why can't we trust a person like that why can't we go to him in our need and say you know will you not deal graciously with this problem will you not take away my sin that is causing me so much guilt and is keeping me back from so much will you not deal with this situation that is causing me so much distress why can't we do that if we have in our minds a picture of a

[52:57] Jesus that weeps and that I think is a very significant message that we can take from this story but it becomes much more complicated you see and people say well you know what is being done here was prophesied in the Old Testament the destruction of Jerusalem well it was virtually told us in that passage in Deuteronomy that we read in other parts of the scripture it's quite clearly said that this sort of thing was going to happen is Jesus fighting against God's purpose is he displeased with what God is doing and people have real problems over that if they think too deeply about it they don't have too much problems they don't think deeply about it but some people do think deeply about this and they're a wee bit disturbed how can a person that is absolutely submissive to the will of God and who knows that the destruction of Jerusalem is the will of

[53:57] God how can they then weep over it well I would like to suggest that there's two ways of looking at the will of God there's a secret purpose which is infallible God rules he does what he likes and nobody can say what are you doing or call in question he is sovereign he's sovereign in everything but at the same time he's given us his revealed will and he's told us what he delights in and what he likes to see done and that's the way that we in general operate if somebody breaks the sixth commandment that says you shall not kill we don't say oh it was all in the will of God we may believe that but that's not the way that we look at it we can still say it was against God's will God took no pleasure in that he's not delighted when a person sins against them and what we're doing there is we're acting according to God's revealed will not according to his secret purpose which is infallible and incomprehensible and far above us and our understanding he's given us a will he's given us his will revealed in scripture and we work according to that and make judgments according to it and God has commanded all men everywhere to repent and if they don't repent we should be grieved at it and we should weep over it as Jesus did

[55:29] God takes no delight in the death of the wicked but that the wicked should turn to him and live therefore we do not take delight in the death of the wicked and we delight when they turn to God and live and we don't take delight in this picture of destruction any more than Jesus did and that is the way that is quite understandable if we understand what it means to be directed by the will of God so what I'm trying to say here there's every justification for Jesus weeping in this way even although he knew that what was going to happen to Jerusalem was according to God's will and purpose as previously expressed in the Old Testament and elsewhere indeed in his own teaching and that's the way we have to think in things there's no discrepancy between Jesus being the perfect son of God submissive to his will and Jesus weeping over the fulfilment of God's purpose here no discrepancy at all and therefore we should take this at its face value

[56:42] Jesus weeps over the lost Jesus is distressed to see people not responding to the gospel Jesus is distressed when he sees people suffering for their sins and he's distressed when he sees the ultimate punishment coming upon them because he weeps over Jerusalem here and that does two things for us firstly it encourages us to come to him for salvation as we've been indicating right on the way along here if this is the sort of attitude that Jesus has that he doesn't delight to see people in their sin he doesn't he weeps over the hardness of their heart will he not rejoice when a person comes and says will you not save me will he not say there is to be rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repents and it's not that an incentive for us to come to him with the greatest assurance and the greatest of confidence and therefore this although it's a very dark passage has got a very positive note in it because it reveals to us a sinner a saviour who does not delight in the death of the sinner and who invites us to come to him that we might live and that gives credibility to the offers of the gospel and if we don't respond to that how blind and how hard hearted we must be but finally if Jesus weeps over the lost surely surely we should as well now we're not we are using Jesus as an example here if even

[58:19] Jesus who knew the things from the beginning and understood God's purpose for the future better than any of us ever can if he even wept over the lost how much more should we do the same and this is a challenge to us does it move us to see people around us ignorant of the things of God does it distress us to think that there are people out there who have never heard the message of the gospel does it concern us that people are going on in their lostness under the condemnation of God unless they turn that's what this should teach us that as he wept we should weep as well and if we weep then we will pray and we will act according to the opportunities that are given to us may God bless to us his word we're going to sing in

[59:22] Psalm number 50 that's in the Sing Psalms version and that's on page 66 now we're singing verses 7 to 9 and then 12 to 15 so take note there's one verse missed out in the middle there so just be aware of that if you're following in the book Psalm 50 hear oh my people listen while I speak against you Israel I will testify you are my people I am God your God hear me as I address you from on high verses 7 to 9 and 12 to 15 Psalm number 50 hear though my people listen while I sing I am to prison

[60:23] I will testify you are my people I am God your God hear me as I am blessed you from on high I will not lay you in for you of your ways the sacrifices which you give to me I have no need of cattle from your souls for all them wants you bring me constantly me

[61:37] I would not tell you if I needed truth because the world I am all is well I do I require to bring down the love of those on flesh of bulls do I deny to die to die far sacrifice and offer it to God fulfill the powers you made to the most high come me in the day when trouble comes

[62:58] I will save you and my name you glorify me now may grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be with us all now and forevermore Amen