Sermons

Let's take a moment and pray.

(Prayer) Heavenly Father, we thank You for Jesus Christ. We thank You that in Him alone hope is found. We thank You, Lord, that many in this room are able to testify about the fact that the Holy Spirit removed the scales from our eyes and allowed us to see the beauty of Jesus Christ. To see the reality that in Him, forgiveness is to be found because of that perfect sacrifice, because of that great atonement that He made, that we sinners, rebels, failures may go free. We thank You that our hope is founded in Him alone.

And yet, Lord, every time we come to Scripture, we are reminded afresh of how far we fall short and how different to us He is, may I ask, Lord, as we come once more to another portion of Scripture, that You would allow us the grace to see more clearly the nature and person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the way He carried Himself in this sinful world, the way He viewed and engaged with others. And we pray, Lord, that You would cultivate in us more Christ-likeness. Forgive us where we have fallen short. Forgive us where an angry and bitter heart has sat, where there should be gentleness and compassion. And Lord, make us more like Him. For it's in His name we pray, amen. (End)

This morning as I was looking over my notes for the sermon, I was particularly convicted because there are some times when we come to Scripture, and especially I think whenever we are in the Gospels and we come and see the nature and person of Jesus Christ, the way He walked in this world, that we realize how unlike Him we actually are. You know, as Christians, I think there is a trap that sometimes many of us fall into. And it is a trap to pursue so many of the right things, to want our mind to be filled with knowledge, to love and to enjoy these times when we gather together, to be so thankful that we can sing praise to Him, that we can pray together, that we can have fellowship with one another, that we can come to this with aces, this break in our week, this Sabbath in the truest sense of that word, gathering where we find rest from a wicked world and are refreshed in the Lord's day by being together with the saints.

We need this. The Bible warns us not to forsake the coming together as some are in the habit of doing, in part because this is a rejuvenating thing. This is what we need. And yet the Bible also makes clear when we go out, we're to be salt, we're to be light, that we're to have a preserving effect on the society around us, we're to have a gospel-radiating influence in the world, we're to always be ready to give the reason for the hope that we have with gentleness and with respect.

And we do leave this place and go out there for battle, for war to proclaim the King to a world that does not know Him. But sometimes because of that battle-like, that war-like mentality, there can be within us something that is cultivated of a harder-than-it-should-be attitude. A dismissive-of-people type of attitude, a hardness-of-heart-towards-them attitude. And some of that is understandable.

There are people in this world reveling in their sin. It's not just that they quietly sin, they glory in their sin. We were talking to the ladies on Tuesday and Thursday, their God is their belly. They glory in their shame. Their mind is set on the things here and now. And that is true.

And so often, not only do they do those things, but they actually attack and push and press upon the believers. They want to take our voice away. They want to make our proclamation of good news something that is not accepted in the wider society. Or sometimes, we've seen it with politicians in this state, they want to redefine Christianity in terms of equality, togetherness, inclusion, and in a blind embracement of even sinful acts. And when that's what we face, the temptation is, because we're human, to go on the defensive. And not just defend the gospel, but to foster a deep them and us type of mentality that begins to demonize the other man.

You know, there's that great story in World War II of the Christmas Day soccer match. You know, it's that romanticized story where the Germans on one side and the British on one side at various points in the front. On Christmas Day, the British heard the Germans singing Silent Night in German, and they began to join, and there was this kind of informal peace that took place and men from both sides bravely got up and came across no man's land and met in the middle and engaged with one another in a day of fellowship even to the point where they had a soccer match amongst the torn up soil and dirt that had sat between them. And the soldiers that were part of that, their recount was largely, as they reflect that in the whole incident, one that humanized the enemy. And in fact, When the officers heard about what was taking place, they ordered, because the ceasefire was kind of stretching into the 26th and going beyond, the officers ordered that war must get back to it.

If we humanize them too much, we'll not be able to fight them. We'll not be able to war against them. Well, friends, when it comes to Jesus Christ, He makes very clear that He understands the heart of the sinner. He knows how rebellious they are. He knows more than you the wickedness that they are engaged in and the bleakness of their heart. And yet He humanizes them in a way that I think we struggle. He has a compassion for them despite their sin that would put us to shame. And it expresses itself in a Godly sorrow for the individuals trapped in their folly. Would you stand please as we read just a few verses from Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19 and verse 41. And may we learn from Scripture how the Lord wants us to think. Luke chapter 19 verse 41.

(Scripture reading) "And when He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, 'would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that made for peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemy 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.'"

Have a seat.

Arthur and Frederick Wood were two Irish men. I feel like the last number of weeks I've been talking about too many Irish men and women. And preachers, we like to recycle illustrations that we've heard in other sermons. And obviously, a lot of mine are going to be born from the island of Ireland. But these two men, Arthur and Frederick Wood, founded an organization in the UK and Ireland, a young life organization to try and reach students.

And the story is said about them that when Arthur and Frederick were walking down the streets of a particular city. They were walking along and they were walking past the university and there was in that university a student's union, a place where all of the students of that university would go and socialize and have parties and spend time with one another. And as these two brothers, the Woods, were walking past this particular student's union, the timing of it meant that all of the students poured out onto the street at the same time. Maybe there was class for them to go to, maybe a concert had finished, whatever it was that had taken place, all of the students poured down the steps and swallowed up the street and came at such a quick pace that it caused these two brothers, Arthur and Frederick Wood, to be separated in the masses. They kind of lost sight of each other. They didn't know where one another was. And they kind of, as you do in a large crowd, whenever you're swallowed up in it, they got a little flustered.

And eventually, whenever the crowd started to dissipate, Arthur found Frederick. And when he found him, Frederick was in tears, like heaving. And Arthur naturally thought that maybe he had been trampled or hurt by the crowd, or maybe somebody had mugged him or done something untoward towards him. And so, he ran over to his brother and said, "what is wrong, Frederick?"

Only to hear Frederick reply, "these people don't know Jesus." In one of those Holy Spirit moments, he was swallowed up in a crowd and became so conscious of the godlessness and the apathy that these people had towards his Jesus, the one he loved because He had first loved him. And he was provoked to tears because of it.

Now the reality is, sinners can provoke a lot of emotion. And next week we'll see that Jesus Himself has a righteous anger towards the rebellion that marked this people. There is a place for that, but that righteous anger is not separated from a Godly sorrow. Here with Jesus, before we see His turning over the tables at the temple and driving people out because of the way that they had abused the place of worship, the text makes clear that He was marked by a sorrow concerning their rebellion. It wasn't an empty human emotion, but we could call it a holy emotion. A holy emotion that should mark the believer today, for it is one that is reflected across Scripture.

In the Old Testament, we have most famously Jeremiah, dubbed the weeping prophet. Why was he called the weeping prophet? Because when he lived and saw the reality of sin in the people, in the nation, in Israel, to whom he ministered, it drove him to tears. Jeremiah chapter 9, verse 2 and 3, the weeping prophet describes the state of the nation. It says, Jeremiah 9 verse 2, "'Oh, that I had in the desert a traveler's lodging place, that I may leave my people and go away from them, for they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men. They bend their tongue like a bow. Falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land, for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the Lord."

The people marred by wickedness, and Jeremiah will continue to talk about the type of sin these people are engaged in, but here's what's important the verse before declares, the tone that these words are to be read in declares in verse 1, "'Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.'" Were they sinners? Absolutely. Were they grievous sinners? Most certainly.

And how did it affect the prophet of God? It caused him to weep sincerely. He likewise declares in Jeremiah 13 verse 17, “but if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride. My eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears because the Lord's flock has been taken captive.” Their pride, their arrogance, sometimes that's the sin that's the hardest to engage with, isn't it? It's hard to feel anything but animosity towards the individual marked by pride and selfishness. And yet Jeremiah rightly reflects the sorrow, the weeping that should accompany one that sees that as it is.

Paul does the same thing. Do you remember Romans 9 through to 11, chapter 9 through to 11, when Paul talks about the state of the nation, the Israelites, the Jews of his day en masse. He identifies their rebellion. He identifies the rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He identifies their animosity to the one who saved him.

And yet he says, Romans chapter nine, verse two, "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart." You see the testimony of Scripture. The Old Testament prophet, the New Testament writers were moved with sorrow even as they confronted the worst of the rebellion of the Jews. And here in Luke chapter 19, we see that that same spirit marked Jesus Christ.

He had a sorrow for sinners. That's really the summary of what I want us to see in the text this morning. Our Savior was marked by a sorrow for sinners. There's many times, isn't there, in the Scriptures where we see His compassion to the elect? And rightly, I think that dominates our conversation. That is where our mind should go, and yet there is a point here. If we are to grow in Godliness, we need to recognize that our Savior was marked by a sincere sorrow for sinners. Look at verse 41.

"And when He drew near," we're talking about the city, Jerusalem. The city, remember, He is moving towards on a donkey. The one He is going down the royal route towards, this capital of the nation, the one where He should be recognized and accepted and embraced as King, for that He was. As He moves towards that place, verse 41, "as He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it."

He wept over it. And He weeps over it because destruction is coming to them because of their rebellion. Verse 43 and 44 talk about the persecution, talk about the destruction, talk about the punishment that was coming in their direction because of their rejection of Him. And yet verse 41 says, of that very city that refused to accept Him, of those very hard hearts that would ultimately call for His crucifixion, it says of Jesus, He wept for them.

That's the strongest word in Greek that we could get for this particular expression of sorrow. We're not talking about a single tear falling down the eye. This is a heaving, a sincere breakdown in emotion in the right sense of that word, a weeping, an inconsolable spirit that expresses itself in an obvious sorrow. We've seen this word many times in Luke before. If you turn back to Luke chapter 6. Luke 6, verse 21. Luke 6, verse 21.

"Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. And blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh." Talking about that Godly sorrow, that being crushed by the reality of our sin, that Godly deep emotion. Here, Jesus reflects something sincere. Look at verse 25, you see the word again. "Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep." When life finally catches up, when the reality of punishment comes upon them, the grief that that fosters. If you look at chapter 7 and verse 12, chapter 7 verse 12, we see another example.

"As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, 'Do not weep.'"

Can you imagine the heaviness of heart that anybody would have at a funeral? You intensify that heaviness of heart by realizing this was a mother at the funeral of her son. And then you intensify it even more by realizing that this was a mother at the funeral of her only son, her only child. And we see why this word, this weeping, was so appropriate.

You look on down chapter 7 verse 37. We see another example of this word being used in Luke's gospel. "Behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, when she learned that He was reclining at the table at the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed His feet and anointed them with ointment." Now, I don't know how much water you collect when you cry, but if it's enough to wash feet, that would be significant. Like this is a heavy sob. This is a real heartfelt cry that is being talked about.

The other time before the passage that we're in, we see this word coming up, is Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13 and verse 27. "But He will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil." And then speaking of that destiny, it says, verse 28, "in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" over the punishment, the eternal punishment that they will face, that there is an anguish of heart that is brought. There is a despair that is felt, and that's our word, the weeping that that cultivates. And yet here, that spirit, that heart that expresses itself in a clear grief, a weeping, a sorrow, a mourning for the state of a city is directed towards the state of a rebellious, sinful city that was opposed to Him.

What I'm trying to help you see is this is not Jesus with a stiff upper lip saying, well, pity on them. This is not Jesus thinking they'll get what their deeds deserve. Jesus, even as He is a righteous King that punishes evil to the full most because He is right and just and it is appropriate for Him to do so, yet He is still marked by a clear sorrow at the nature of their rebellion and the consequences it brings.

Friends, it is right that God punishes evil. It is right that God will judge the wicked. And it is right that we are filled with an appropriate sorrow as we contemplate that reality. I worry sometimes that believer’s glory in the demise of the wicked in a way that is not Christ-like. We know the Lord will do what is right. And we know His justice is perfect.

And yet, it is appropriate that we are marked, like our Savior was, by our sorrow for sinners. So, let's unpack the verses as they come. What was it caused the sorrow for sinners? He had sorrow, first of all, over their failure to find peace over their failure to find peace. Look at verse 42. "He wept over it saying, would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace."

On this day, speaking of that reality, He was about to enter the city as the King. He came down the royal route on the donkey. We talked about that last week. He was coming as King. And the city did not accept Him. Verse 44 speaks of the time of His visitation. That's what this means. The King was entering the city. The King was coming to the capital. Even more importantly, the King was about to enter the temple once more. This was a time that appropriately the people should have bowed the knee. The people should have paid homage. The people should have been filled with praise towards Him. The people should have expressed a submission to His rule. The people should have rallied.

And yet here, they did not. And yet we see as well in verse 42, the sadness that Christ felt towards them was not simply to the fact that they missed their time, but what they missed out on. In other words, His sadness isn't they haven't got it yet. His sadness is what they missed. Look at verse 42. What did they miss? "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace." His sorrow came because He knew they had missed out on the peace that Christ affords. The, not just time, but that peace had passed them by, and it provoked Him to weep.

Now look at chapter 1, verse 78 and 79. Zechariah, back as he contemplated the Savior that was to come, even before Christ's birth, it says, chapter one, verse 78, "because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high." Verse 79, "to give light to those who sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Jesus had come to guide the feet of many into the way of peace.

What peace? It wasn't simply a political piece. It wasn't simply a removal of the Romans and the establishment of His throne on earth in just that sense. It was a much more profound peace that Zacharias spoke of and that Scripture testifies to. It's that peace that Romans 5 verse 1 speaks of. "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” That's the peace. The peace that's brought through Him. A peace with God.

Sinner, you are a rebel. We are rebels before God. We are enemies of God. We are standing under the judgment of God, the righteous, the appropriate, the true judgment of God that our sins deserve. And we have no way of saving ourselves. We have no way of remedying the situation. We are lost.

And rather than be in a state of peace, we are in a state of judgment. The death sentence hangs over us, but thanks be to God that He sent His Son to make a way that the wicked may go free; to make a way that the individual sinner may know not just neutrality with God, but peace. No longer will He be our judge, but He will be our King, and we will be a citizen of the kingdom. This is the peace that is being spoken of, and yet think about that reality as Jesus looks out on the city of rebels who do not know that peace, who have not trusted in Jesus Christ, and would not at large embrace Him as Lord, embrace Him as King, and so would not know the peace that He can afford. That moved Him to feel not simply wrath, but sorrow. Sorrow.

They missed out on that peace that is found only through Jesus Christ. Let me pause, and though our main focus today is on the sorrow of Christ, let me ask, because it is so necessary to do so, do you know that peace with God? Have you been reconciled to Him? We quoted from Romans 5, 1 a few moments ago, there is no way to be right with God, there is no way to find peace with God through anything that you can do. There's not a high enough percent you can get in the Bible quiz. There is not a good enough performance that you can make. That there is not enough piety that you can express, there is not enough right things that you can do, the only way to find peace with God, as Romans 5, one says, is through the Lord Jesus Christ, Him alone.

And so, friend, do you know peace with God because your trust is holy in that finished work of Jesus Christ? And if you do know and love Him, and you look out at our world that is largely in rebellion against Him. Christian, does it fill you with sorrow that they do not know that peace? That that sweet fellowship with God, that security in His hand, that reality that you're not an enemy, you're a child of God through the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are missing out on that. Does that not fill your heart with sorrow?

Jesus expresses sorrow over their failure to get peace, but secondly, over their spiritual blindness. He is sorrowful over their spiritual blindness. Look at how the rest of verse 42 continues. "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes." Now it is hidden from your eyes. What is hidden from their eyes? What have they failed to see? What can they not conceive? The things that bring peace. Or, we could say, the one in whom peace is found. This people didn't suffer from a lack of exposure to truth.

They had been around Jesus. In fact, in this very moment, Jesus is about to enter their city. He is about to engage with them. Next chapter, at the beginning, He's going to preach in their temple with all authority. He's going to continue to make things clear. It wasn't a lack of being around Him. It wasn't a lack of hearing Scriptures. He would preach the Scriptures to them. Brother, Acts chapter 13 verse 27 says, "for those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize Him or understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning Him." These people knew the Scriptures, they read the Scriptures, they were familiar with the Scriptures, and yet they were the very instruments by which the Scriptures were fulfilled.

These people are culpable. They are culpable. No one goes to hell innocently. It is never God's fault that the individual ends up in hell. It is a willful rebellion that takes the individual to punishment, to eternal punishment. That is so true. And yet there is a reality that Scripture speaks of that the individual, the purposeful rebel, at the same time these things are hidden from them.

That word hidden is in the passive form. It's not something the individual does to themselves, it is something that has happened to them, has happened externally from them. In other words, not only are they a willful rebel, but God has allowed in His divine plan this truth, this glory to be hidden from their eyes. He has hidden from their eyes the things that make for peace.

The Scripture speaks so clearly about that reality too. Man is culpable for their sin, for their willful rejection of the Savior. And yet, at the same time, it is also true to say that the Lord has also chosen to leave them in that state of blindness. Man has hardened his heart. Absolutely. But the Lord is still sovereign over that hardening.

Now, there's two simple points of application I want to make here. But first of all, building on what we've been talking about, for you who are Christians, even as we come across the hardness of the heart, our safe here shows us we're not to be cold to that. We're not to be callous to that. We trust His plan, we trust all that He is unfolding in this world, and yet it is appropriate that we have sorrow over even the hardness of men's hearts. Even over their refusal, their stubborn refusal to embrace Jesus Christ. Here, Jesus, as He contemplates those who did not know peace, because their eyes were blind, it provoked Him to tears, and it should us too.

And secondly, as a point of application, there may be some who are here this morning who, because you've been exposed to this doctrine of election, which is a true and biblical doctrine, your mind begins to spin with that question, am I elect? Or am I one of those who is blind and hard? Now have I, a mind and heart for Christ? Have I experienced that gift of faith? Or do I have a head full of rocks and a heart that is stone?

If that's you this morning, if you're one that is wrestling with, is there a genuine faith? a genuine trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Let me ask you to turn, in fact, let's all turn to 2 Corinthians 3. 2 Corinthians 3 in verse 14. 2 Corinthians 3 in verse 14. Speaking of the same hardening, the same people, 2 Corinthians 3 verse 14 says, "but their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted. Because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts."

The New Testament is speaking of that reality, that these people, these same Jews, would hear the Scriptures read. They continue to hear the Scriptures read, and yet they do not see the obvious Jesus that the Scriptures speak of. And those who are in that state, who have that veil, who have that hard heart. Look at what verse 16 says immediately after, "but when one turns to the Lord, the veil" is what?

Friend, if you're one of those individuals who is here and is caught up in that horrific self-examination over am I the elect or not? Here, here is an active way to respond. You want your heart to be changed? You want a heart that is soft? It is a work that God does, but it is a work that God always does for the one who turns to the Lord. Sometimes our minds get trapped by contemplating the things that belong to God. And we can get lost in that. How is this mind going to understand the infinite mind of God and all that He has planned for this world and the people off it? It's impossible.

But the instructions in Scripture are clear. If this morning you are not sure if your faith is in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, if you are worried that your heart remains to this point cold and hard and unresponsive, the Scripture's call to you here and now is clear. Turn to the Lord Jesus and that veil will be removed and that heart of stone will be replaced. The faith is a gift that God gives absolutely. But the call for you this morning is to turn to Jesus while he may be found. And so, if you are sitting there, don't get yourself stuck in this endless cycle of self-examination and questioning about the things that belong to God. Rather, come back to the clear command of Scripture. Turn to Jesus. Right now.

Here, even as this rambling preacher goes on, you have a few moments here and now to call to Christ, to call to God and say, Lord, I am not what I ought to be. In fact, I am one of those rebels that has been marked by a heart that has had no feeling towards you. And yet, Lord, it has been communicated to me that Jesus came, that individual sinners may know peace, not through their works, but through Him. So, Lord, forgive me and save me, not because of what I have done, but because of that finished work of Jesus Christ. That's the call. And here and now, you can know Jesus as your Lord and Savior and the peace He affords by, as we just read, turning to the Lord so that the veil is removed. And turn to the Lord now.

Jesus expresses sorrow over their failure to find peace, over their spiritual blindness, and thirdly, over the punishment that they must face. Over the punishment that they must face. Look at verse 43, "for the days will come upon you." That's an Old Testament phrase for judgment. The judgment is coming, in other words.

"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 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." Jesus summarizes how this literal city would be destroyed. He speaks of an event that would take place four decades later in 70 A.D. When Titus, the commander of the army would come and He would get his army to lay siege to surround the city, to hem them in and to bring about a state of starvation and desperation within the city and then they would attack and they would so decimate the city to be a testimony to all the other nations under Roman control that you do not mess with Rome.

Stone was taken from stone at an excessive level. To make clear, you do not mess with the Romans. But here, way before that had even been conceived, Jesus makes clear this whole thing happened because of the plan of God. There's details that are here, and the next two chapters will unfold more details about that reality that would come. Jesus, in verse 40, has just talked about the fact that the stones would cry out.

Well, very literally, the stones would be broken down as a testimony against this city and how far they had departed from God, because they had rejected Him, the verse says, at the time of their visitation. Well, we'll see more about the reality of this punishment that would come for their rejection of Jesus in the next chapter. But that is the reality that Jesus proclaims, the punishment that would fall upon the citizens of this city.

And it was a punishment that would fall upon them because of their real rebellion. It was a punishment that was due. It was a punishment that was just. It was a punishment that was appropriate. And yet it was a punishment that provoked His sorrow. We don't glory in the punishment of the wicked. We have sorrow over the punishment they have brought on their own heads, but sorrow at that punishment.

Jesus expresses sorrow over their failure to get peace, over their spiritual blindness, over the punishment they must face, and lastly, over the consequences sin has on the vulnerable. It's right to have sorrow over the consequences sin has on the vulnerable.

Did you notice the reference in the middle of verse 44? Speaking of the decimation of the city, the destruction that would fall, we have that phrase, "and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you." And your children within you. Now, the Bible makes clear all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

There is no child that is innocent. That is true, and yet, and yet, it is true of children that they are not marked by the fruits of sin in the way that sinful parents are. It is true of children that they do not invite the consequences of sin upon themselves. It is something that is brought to them by the homes that they are born into. There was no child in Jerusalem that day that chose to rebel against the Romans. And yet those children too would experience the siege, the desolation, and the genocide that Titus brought. Sin is such a horrible thing.

As I have got older, more and more, I've learned to value the home that I grew up in. The Christian parents that God graciously allowed me to have, and the reason I value it more is because I see the pain that many others have experienced who did not have that blessing. Extended family members who have had a hard, hard life.

It is the fruit of the rebellion of parents. The bitterness and sinfulness of grandparents. And it has left a legacy. Now it's true that, you know, that each and every generation stands before the Lord in their own terms, absolutely. But there is a reality that sin hurts the family. And here are individuals within the city who are guilty before God, yes, but largely the consequences, the immediacy of the punishment that they faced was brought to them because of the wickedness of their parents. And they were wicked.

Titus, because the aggression against Jerusalem was so strong. He writes a justification of what he did to the people of that city. And he writes about reports, actually you can read about in Josephus, of mothers who took their babies and cooked them in the oven to eat for food. And the horror that that cultivated within the city. And the disgust that a wicked Roman general had for the barbaric way the supposed people of God behaved. A hardness that literally attacked and it consumed their children.

Sin hurts the family. You think of the drunk or the drug addict and the devastation so often that that addiction brings to their families, that willful sinfulness that longs for that substance in such a way that they trample over the top of their family to get that thing one more time. Friends, that should provoke our sorrow. That should cause the people of God to grieve. That should fill us even more with an urgency to get out there and make known the peace of God that is available. That those children who have been trampled over by those who should have loved and cared for them may hear about a God who so loved the world that He sent His Son.

I think sometimes, Christians, our eyes are just too narrow. You know in the horse races, the horses have the blinders to keep them focused on what's ahead and not on the other horses. To keep their eyes the direction it should go. It's a narrow vision. Too often we suffer from a narrow vision. We only see here. It's right that we love one another. It's right that we care about this time. It's right that we're invested, absolutely. But the blinkers need to come off.

And we need to realize there is a world that has rejected our Savior. And that reality in the here and now should fill us with a Godly, Christ-like sorrow that fills us with a burden for the lost. And helps us to feel the weight upon our shoulders That unless we go and bring with us the good news of Jesus Christ to them, their end is settled.

Sin is so ugly. And the damage it wrecks on the individual and indeed the families and the communities that it affects is real. Here is, a people clearly guilty for rejecting Jesus, and yet even the one who was rejected, as He moves towards the city, as He saw it coming over the Mount of Olives, He wept over it. He wept over it. If He, the only innocent one who has ever walked this world, so wept over sinners, friends, we ought to care. We ought to be moved. We ought to weep for the lost who are stuck in their lostness, and the pain and the brokenness that their sin has fostered.

Let's pray.

(Prayer) Heavenly Father, we are so thankful that there is good news. We are so thankful that there is a tangible hope that may be seen even in the lives of believers walking in this world. We thank You that there is a genuine peace with God to be known through the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You for that reality that the individual who turns to Jesus Christ, that the veil will be removed and they will know fully Him as our Lord and Savior.

And so, Lord, we pray for those who are amongst us this morning who are lost. And we ask, Lord, even as they've witnessed the tears of our Savior, that You would move them not to an emotionalism, but to a sincere desire to turn to Christ, to find Him while He may be found. And yet, Lord, we ask for forgiveness for being so narrow in our prayers only to pray for those in this building. And we ask that You would cultivate in the heart of believing men and women in this place a genuine sorrow for the sinner.

A genuine grief for them trapped in their lostness. A heaviness of heart that they do not know peace. A brokenness that these things are hidden from their eyes because of their willful rebellion. A grief over the end that is theirs unless they bow the knee and over the pain that their sin has caused to their family and friends and community.

Lord, You made a world that was very good and mankind has ripped it apart. Lord, protect us from arrogance. Protect us from a hard heart that does not care and cultivate in us a love for this world that reflects You, that we would go and we would take the only message of hope to a hopeless world, that we would proclaim boldly the good news about Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And we ask that graciously, Lord, You would work through your people, even the people of this church as we go forth this week, so that Jesus would be known, and sinners would be saved, and turned to Jesus Christ, be spared from the destruction that is their end, and to be brought into the family of God, to glory in Jesus Christ, the most compassionate Savior for all eternity. Make us more what we ought to be, for we ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. (End)

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