SPEAKER_00: Well, church, we are in Luke again and covering a large section.
SPEAKER_00: This first section in Luke 12, 49 through 139.
SPEAKER_00: So left over from last week.
SPEAKER_00: And as I was preparing for the sermon this week and just thinking about the theme and the text and what it means, I was beginning to think about just my childhood actually, growing up here in Ohio.
SPEAKER_00: I was raised in a family that was filled with uh Cleveland Browns fans.
SPEAKER_00: My dad, my uncles, friends, neighbors, like everyone, just the Browns fans.
SPEAKER_00: And so that you just grow up in this.
SPEAKER_00: So as a young person, uh this taught me how to deal with regular disappointment in life.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Just it's gonna come.
SPEAKER_00: It also taught me how to pick a backup team that was pretty good most of the time.
SPEAKER_00: And that was the Packers.
SPEAKER_00: So didn't go so well last night.
SPEAKER_00: But what I was told in this discipling culture, if you will, of being a Cleveland Browns fan, a Cleveland Browns fan, is that there's still hope because there's always next year.
SPEAKER_00: How many times?
SPEAKER_00: There's always next year.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe next year.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, if you hear that, okay, okay, and then the years tick by, you're like, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00: You realize the glimmer of hope, the little bit of satisfaction kind of midway through the years.
SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe next year we'll have a winning team.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe next year.
SPEAKER_00: There's always next year.
SPEAKER_00: But that's a foolish way to think, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: There's always next year.
SPEAKER_00: There's always tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: Next time I'm with that person, I'll say what I've been meaning to say.
SPEAKER_00: Next time I'm with so and so, I'll actually confess my sin and get right.
SPEAKER_00: Next time I fill in the blank.
SPEAKER_00: It's a foolish way to think.
SPEAKER_00: Because we're not promised tomorrow, we're not promised another chance, another opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: And as Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem, as he's getting closer to crucifixion, his crucifixion, he is clear that he has come to establish his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, and he's teaching that now is the time of repentance.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' ministry was divisive, as the text tells us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says in verse 49, I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled.
SPEAKER_00: I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished.
SPEAKER_00: Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?
SPEAKER_00: No, I tell you, but rather division.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' ministry was divisive because he was calling sinners to repent of their sin and follow him.
SPEAKER_00: They thought their faith was primarily about themselves.
SPEAKER_00: They thought their relationship with God was primarily about themselves.
SPEAKER_00: And here comes Jesus, and he's just saying, no, actually, it's all about God.
SPEAKER_00: It's not so much about you or your standards of righteousness that you have made or that you're bearing or you're laying on as burdens to others.
SPEAKER_00: So you can imagine that this is an offensive message.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus coming to say, this is actually not about you, it's about me.
SPEAKER_00: In the gospel, the good news, it is an offensive message because you're coming to people and you're saying, there is a holy, righteous creator God.
SPEAKER_00: He created all things and he created you, and he has authority over you.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're his creation, he now is a standard bearer.
SPEAKER_00: And the standard is one that you have not met, that you have come short, you've fallen short of.
SPEAKER_00: That God has created this world, He's created us, and now we have this sin thing going on, thanks to Adam and Eve.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't choose it.
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't have done that.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, but you would have.
SPEAKER_00: And so would I.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, Listen, you've broken my law.
SPEAKER_00: And the only consequence for that is that you're separated from me for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: And that's hell.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord, in his kindness, sends a Savior.
SPEAKER_00: See, it's really offensive that there's a God and He's telling us how we're supposed to live.
SPEAKER_00: But then the mercy and the grace of God to come and say, But if you repent, and if you follow me, your creator, and if you live the way I've made you to live, there is life in that.
SPEAKER_00: There is joy, there is satisfaction and contentment.
SPEAKER_00: True life.
SPEAKER_00: You understand the mercy of God.
SPEAKER_00: But the truth is, you don't get to have the world and follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You don't get to indulge your flesh and do what you want to do and get salvation and be a disciple of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what Jesus is revealing.
SPEAKER_00: That his message is divisive because he's saying, you've got to repent.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying your heart is prideful and your heart is arrogant.
SPEAKER_00: And you need to turn from those things.
SPEAKER_00: He gives them this rebuke that they are wise enough to interpret the sky.
SPEAKER_00: Again, this narrative, he's speaking with Pharisees and lawyers and kind of the religious crowd.
SPEAKER_00: And he's saying, listen, you know how to judge.
SPEAKER_00: You know how to interpret the time.
SPEAKER_00: You look at the skies, rain's coming.
SPEAKER_00: Or it's going to be tomorrow, it's coming.
SPEAKER_00: Or it's going to be clear.
SPEAKER_00: But you don't know how to interpret the times.
SPEAKER_00: All of the Old Testament, all of the Jewish scriptures were pointing to the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: They were pointing to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The scriptures said that he would be born in Bethlehem, that he would come from Nazareth.
SPEAKER_00: All the miracles that he performs.
SPEAKER_00: John the Baptist coming and preparing the way.
SPEAKER_00: All the signs just blaring in the sky, if you will.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus rebukes them.
SPEAKER_00: You can see all those things, but you can't understand what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: The Messiah has come.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom has come.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is giving them this warning.
SPEAKER_00: That as divisive as the message is, that Jesus is saying, listen, you're prideful and you need to repent.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, listen, you don't have all the time in the world.
SPEAKER_00: He gives this analogy.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Why do you not judge, verse 57 for yourselves?
SPEAKER_00: What is right?
SPEAKER_00: As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison.
SPEAKER_00: I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus goes on into 13 to talk about repentance and perishing.
SPEAKER_00: Do you think Jesus is just like kind of talking about the kingdom and talking about his what he's here to do and the divisiveness and how you're supposed to read the times, and then he just jumps into, and by the way, if you have a legal issue, here's how you need to take action.
SPEAKER_00: No, he's giving them a warning before judgment comes to you, before you stand before your creator, God, make an effort.
SPEAKER_00: Seek salvation.
SPEAKER_00: In this settlement, this isn't like, okay, God, well, I'm gonna give you 10 years, 10 good years of service, or I'm gonna raise my kids in the church, or I'm gonna read your Bible so many days, or do X, Y, and Z.
SPEAKER_00: But here, Jesus is giving them a simple picture.
SPEAKER_00: Judgment is coming.
SPEAKER_00: Why would you not want to settle with your accuser before you stand before the judge?
SPEAKER_00: What they needed was someone to stand before the judge for them.
SPEAKER_00: And that's who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: Again, in verse in chapter 13, there's this conversation, people are talking about these Galileans and how they had died.
SPEAKER_00: They suffered in this way.
SPEAKER_00: This blood that was mixed, and all these things.
SPEAKER_00: And people are concerned, and like, well, what about those in the scaffolding fell that killed those guys?
SPEAKER_00: Or when the blood was mixed in the temple and the pagan worship?
SPEAKER_00: What about those people?
SPEAKER_00: Like, are they before the judge?
SPEAKER_00: And did they make it right with their accuser?
SPEAKER_00: And how normal and natural is this for us?
SPEAKER_00: We hear about judgment, we hear, we read about it.
SPEAKER_00: We start thinking of other people and their situation, and how are they handling those things?
SPEAKER_00: Or diverting the attention.
SPEAKER_00: What about them?
SPEAKER_00: What are you gonna say about those things?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, Do you think they were worse offenders than all of the others who lived in Jerusalem?
SPEAKER_00: No, verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
SPEAKER_00: And once you've perished, that's it.
SPEAKER_00: There is no perishing, and then you have kind of an intermediate time or like a second chance or a do-over.
SPEAKER_00: Once you've perished, once you've you've died, it's done.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, to reinforce this message, gives us his parable of a fig tree.
SPEAKER_00: It's barren.
SPEAKER_00: The master says, cut it down, and the gardener says, Well, let me let me have one more year.
SPEAKER_00: I'll dig around it and I'll put manure in there and I'll do everything I can to get this to grow.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Okay, one year.
SPEAKER_00: You have one year.
SPEAKER_00: What was Jesus saying with that?
SPEAKER_00: He's like, listen, judgment is coming.
SPEAKER_00: The opportunity to repent is coming.
SPEAKER_00: Those who the tower fell on or whose blood was mixed, their opportunity is gone.
SPEAKER_00: There is no more chance for them to repent.
SPEAKER_00: See, this message, you can see how Jesus' message would be divisive.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just saying that God is holy and you're not, and you need to do something about that.
SPEAKER_00: It's saying you need to do something about it right now.
SPEAKER_00: Because you don't know that you're gonna have tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know that you're gonna have this afternoon, let alone a year, or the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_00: Or the rest of your life that you assume you're gonna have.
SPEAKER_00: Another 10 years, another 30 or 40 years.
SPEAKER_00: The call of Jesus is urgent, which feels divisive.
SPEAKER_00: JC Ryle speaking about this, talking about people diverting.
SPEAKER_00: They don't want to talk about their life or their death.
SPEAKER_00: They're concerned with other people and what happened to them and what happened to them.
SPEAKER_00: He says, let us observe for one thing in these verses how much more ready people are to talk about the death of others than their own death.
SPEAKER_00: They want to know about them.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 3.23 says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what that means is not that, like, well, everyone's a sinner and everyone's kind of missed the mark, and so everyone's gonna clean it up a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone's gonna work on this a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: But what it means is that everyone is guilty of sin, guilty of breaking God's law, which is a sin, and deserves hell.
SPEAKER_00: Deserves punishment.
SPEAKER_00: And if that is offensive to you, I think for most of us, there is part of us that, yeah, it kind of feels offensive.
SPEAKER_00: That's because God is so holy, so holy and righteous and good.
SPEAKER_00: That when you've broken his law, you haven't just kind of broken a law and you gotta kind of do some time or you gotta kind of do some community service.
SPEAKER_00: No, you've broken God's law.
SPEAKER_00: For that is an eternal punishment.
SPEAKER_00: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: And you would think as Jesus is talking, and he's talking with the Pharisees, he's talking to this huge crowd where thousands of people are gathered around, that there would be a softening of the heart.
SPEAKER_00: That people would say, Man, I have been living for myself.
SPEAKER_00: I have been taking God's law and making it about me.
SPEAKER_00: I have been kind of taking the good things that God's given me, and I've used them for my own glory.
SPEAKER_00: I've kind of made this thing about me.
SPEAKER_00: And here we're called to repent, we're called to turn, we're called to act now because judgment is coming.
SPEAKER_00: That would be the natural thing I think we would think.
SPEAKER_00: But we see in verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: That's not really what happened.
SPEAKER_00: There was a hardening, or sorry, beginning in verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: This next passage, we begin to see the hardening of the hearts.
SPEAKER_00: This woman, she's in the synagogue, and Jesus is there and she's bent over.
SPEAKER_00: She's has a demon, a disabling spirit, verse 11 says, for 18 years.
SPEAKER_00: 18 years is a very long time to be bent over and cannot fully straighten herself.
SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, Woman, you are freed from your disability.
SPEAKER_00: And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.
SPEAKER_00: But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people this is passive aggressive behavior, there are six days in which you ought to work.
SPEAKER_00: Work ought to be done.
SPEAKER_00: Come on those days and be healed, not on the Sabbath day.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_00: Can you just imagine for a moment Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: We know from verse 12 he's addressing, he's talking about friends.
SPEAKER_00: He's using the language of friends.
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to be uh call these people to repentance.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, listen, I didn't come just to bring this tranquil peace where everyone just kind of gets to do what they want to do and bad things disappear.
SPEAKER_00: No, he's like, I've come to conquer evil, and that's divisive because some people love evil.
SPEAKER_00: I've come to defeat sin and that's divisive because some people love their sin.
SPEAKER_00: But repent, turn, follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: What a loving message.
SPEAKER_00: And then this woman who has a disability from a demon for 18 years, and Jesus frees her in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: She's freed.
SPEAKER_00: And what's the response to that?
SPEAKER_00: Indignation.
SPEAKER_00: It's a pride.
SPEAKER_00: It's this pride that you know what, I'm doing okay.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need this Jesus guy to tell me how to do this.
SPEAKER_00: It's a hard heart.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus rebukes them.
SPEAKER_00: You hypocrites, don't you untie your own oxen?
SPEAKER_00: Don't you do all these things?
SPEAKER_00: Take them to water, and hear a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for 18 years, shouldn't she not be loose on the Sabbath?
SPEAKER_00: If there's any day of the week that we should see someone freed from their sin, freed from the bondage of a demon, should it be the day that we remember what Christ has done, or remember what God has created all things, and he's sovereign over all things and he's good?
SPEAKER_00: And we belong to him?
SPEAKER_00: Should it not be this day that we is set apart for us to remember the sovereign power of God, that he is a delivering God who took us out of Egypt, who provided for us in the wilderness?
SPEAKER_00: He did not leave us in bondage.
SPEAKER_00: If someone's going to be set free, should it not be on the Sabbath?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus rebukes them and says in verse 17, as he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame.
SPEAKER_00: And all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
SPEAKER_00: We would be with all the people rejoicing at what Jesus has done.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that would be so.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we we would be.
SPEAKER_00: But there are people who are against the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Very heart is hard.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't do anything wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Or so, what if they did it?
SPEAKER_00: I don't care, it's my life.
SPEAKER_00: I'll pay for it.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever.
SPEAKER_00: If that's you this morning, if your heart is hard toward Christ, I want you to know that he loves you.
SPEAKER_00: That he desires a relationship with you.
SPEAKER_00: And that he specializes in taking cold, dead hearts and making them alive.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he does.
SPEAKER_00: That's his work to do.
SPEAKER_00: But his patience is not forever.
SPEAKER_00: And for those of us who are feel like we would be those rejoicing, praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But remember, when Jesus was crucified, there's a lot of these same crowds who, when he came into town, were laying down their garments and praising him, saying, Hosanna, Hosanna.
SPEAKER_00: And within days were yelling, crucify him.
SPEAKER_00: Crucify him.
SPEAKER_00: Let us be humble in our assessment of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus rebukes them and he gives this analogy, these two analogies of a mustard seed and leaven and bread.
SPEAKER_00: And theologians talk about what all these mean.
SPEAKER_00: But the principal idea is that from such a small thing eventually comes this powerful, mighty thing.
SPEAKER_00: So like is the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: And in our day and age, maybe in your own life you feel the same way.
SPEAKER_00: You just look around in the world and you think, is God's kingdom really like is He is this it?
SPEAKER_00: Like, is He doing His thing?
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm looking at what I'm seeing in the news and what I'm seeing just in your own lives and family relationships.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of evil, a lot of bad, a lot of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: Where's the kingdom of heaven in all this?
SPEAKER_00: And you can you can understand that logic, and you can.
SPEAKER_00: Understand here Jesus has come, lived a perfect life, he's really hasn't traveled that far, and yet he's establishing the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: How's that gonna be?
SPEAKER_00: And you can imagine even the early days of the church where it's persecuted and they're hiding.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not really, it's not prominent in any way.
SPEAKER_00: Just the religious elite kind of scoffing.
SPEAKER_00: Like, ah, he said he was establishing the kingdom, and everyone's just scattered and afraid.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus is teaching us something.
SPEAKER_00: Whether it's in your understanding of your own life, or as you look out and you see the world, the kingdom is growing.
SPEAKER_00: The leaven is working.
SPEAKER_00: The seed is, the plant is growing.
SPEAKER_00: And when it grows, when it becomes full, and the all we're no longer in this already and not yet of the kingdom, but when the kingdom fully comes and it's all revealed, you'll be amazed.
SPEAKER_00: How did this happen?
SPEAKER_00: And the world was dark.
SPEAKER_00: Sin was prevalent even in your own lives.
SPEAKER_00: The slow maturation of the Lord working and sanctifying us, and he will bring it to completion.
SPEAKER_00: It's a principle of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is at work.
SPEAKER_00: Trusting the Lord, not our own abilities.
SPEAKER_00: The religious elite were often trusting in their own abilities, their own wisdom, their own understanding, their own righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And we're not like that.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what citizens of the kingdom do.
SPEAKER_00: We trust in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 22, we just transition.
SPEAKER_00: It says, and he went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And someone said to him, Lord, will those who, excuse, excuse me, Lord, will those who are saved be few?
SPEAKER_00: And what a question that we all ask, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Christian, like, how many people are going to be in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you hear that like it sounds like next to nobody's going to be in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you feel like people teach that everyone's going to be in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't answer that question directly.
SPEAKER_00: He says, strive to enter through the narrow door.
SPEAKER_00: This word strive.
SPEAKER_00: In the Greek, it's where we get our word agony, this effort.
SPEAKER_00: For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
SPEAKER_00: When one, when once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us.
SPEAKER_00: Then he will answer you.
SPEAKER_00: I do not know you.
SPEAKER_00: I do not know where you come from.
SPEAKER_00: Then you will begin to say, We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught us in our streets.
SPEAKER_00: But he will say, I tell you, do, I do not know where you come from.
SPEAKER_00: Depart from me, all you workers of evil.
SPEAKER_00: And in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: But you yourselves cast out.
SPEAKER_00: And people will come from the east and the west and from north and south and recline at table in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.
SPEAKER_00: What Jesus is saying here isn't just really try harder, strive and agonize into the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: But what he is saying is pursue the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Pursue a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: Repent.
SPEAKER_00: Remember who he's speaking to, this religious elite who are against him.
SPEAKER_00: And those who are raised in this religious context with all these rules and laws.
SPEAKER_00: And he's saying to them, the door is narrow.
SPEAKER_00: And but if you seek after it, you will find it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the Bible says, does not turn anyone away who seeks after him.
SPEAKER_00: But once the door has been shut, it will not be open again.
SPEAKER_00: It does not open again.
SPEAKER_00: And all the arguments.
SPEAKER_00: And this and that, and the other.
SPEAKER_00: I was a member of the church and whatever, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: I was a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: None of those things matter.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't open the door and say, whoa, wow, you gave a lot of money to the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Come in.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Or wow, you know, like you gave a lot of your time and you're just nice to everyone.
SPEAKER_00: Come in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: The door is shut.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read this long quote that I think summarizes this really well.
SPEAKER_00: There is something particularly striking in our Lord's language in this prophecy.
SPEAKER_00: It reveals to us the awful fact that men may see what is right when it is too late to be saved.
SPEAKER_00: There is a time coming when many will repent too late and believe too late.
SPEAKER_00: Sorrow for sin too late and begin to pray too late.
SPEAKER_00: To be anxious about salvation too late, and to long for heaven too late.
SPEAKER_00: Myriads of people shall wake up in another world and be convinced of the truths which on earth they refused to believe.
SPEAKER_00: There is a time coming.
SPEAKER_00: There is a day coming.
SPEAKER_00: It may be this afternoon, it may be in 40 years.
SPEAKER_00: But the door will be shut.
SPEAKER_00: Your life, all this earth will end.
SPEAKER_00: And if we have this thinking that we're just, you know, I believe enough of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: I've lived good enough.
SPEAKER_00: Our only hope is in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Not that we're, not that we've said, hey, I want to be a follower of Jesus, and so I'm going to keep all the laws that Jesus said.
SPEAKER_00: But that Jesus Christ has covered our sin.
SPEAKER_00: Our faith is that we've repented, turned from our sin and following Jesus because Jesus was a sufficient sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Then when Jesus says, I've come to redeem those who are repentant, I've come to pay the price for their sin and bring them into my family, that he has the power to do that, he has the authority to do that, and that he did do that.
SPEAKER_00: Our confidence isn't that we're just hoping when we get there and the book is open that the scales weigh out in the right way for us.
SPEAKER_00: Christ alone is our hope.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is in his mercy, in his kindness, has come.
SPEAKER_00: His calling, even the hard-hearted and the unrepentant, to the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And many will refuse.
SPEAKER_00: Many will choose their sin over their creator God.
SPEAKER_00: Many will choose to stay in their rebellion to God.
SPEAKER_00: This is why, Christians, we should be a praying people.
SPEAKER_00: Praying that our own hearts don't become hard, and praying that the Lord would work and save those around us for soft hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And that we would not grow weary in telling others the good news of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The good news is just that God is holy and you're not.
SPEAKER_00: At that very hour, verse 31, some Pharisees came and said to him, Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Go and tell that fox.
SPEAKER_00: Strong language, behold, I cast out demons, perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.
SPEAKER_00: What's he talking about right there?
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about his death, burial, and resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following.
SPEAKER_00: For it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Jerusalem, the city of prophets, where God has bringing his message to his people to follow him, to repent, to enjoy his love, his provision.
SPEAKER_00: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.
SPEAKER_00: How often would I have gathered you, your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, from before the foundations of the world, has set out to redeem his people.
SPEAKER_00: It is the covenant that God the Father made with God the Son that he would give him his redeemed, his bride.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, through the centuries, looking to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: How I have longed, how I would have gathered your children together as hens gather her brood under her wings.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever seen a mother hen gather her chicks under her wings?
SPEAKER_00: You can't even see them.
SPEAKER_00: They're protected, they're cared for.
SPEAKER_00: You were not willing.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, your house is forsaken.
SPEAKER_00: And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is coming again.
SPEAKER_00: He will return.
SPEAKER_00: And you either die in this life and go see him, or you'll be alive when he returns.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone, every single one of us, every single person will stand before him.
SPEAKER_00: And that's not a time that you want to stand in your own righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: For the only kind of righteousness you want to stand before God in is the righteousness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That has paid for your sin, that has made you a new creation, that has adopted you into his family.
SPEAKER_00: As Romans tells us, you are now a joint heir with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's the righteousness that you want to stand before God in.
SPEAKER_00: There's only one way to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Repent, turn from your sin, and follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: My plea this morning for you and for me as Christians is that our hearts would be soft.
SPEAKER_00: That we would not grow weary in doing good, that we would not be confident in our own righteousness, but our hearts would be soft.
SPEAKER_00: That we'd be pleading with others to repent, follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That we would be preparing ourselves, that we would walk in obedience, knowing as chapter 12 tells us, that he's coming.
SPEAKER_00: And we don't know when somewhere, live like he's coming today.
SPEAKER_00: As his people, not out of fear, but out of worship.
SPEAKER_00: For those who are here this morning and they're still in their sin.
SPEAKER_00: You have not put your faith and your hope in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You've kind of kept him at arm's length or maybe really far away.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus makes this loving plea to you that today is the day of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Don't wait for tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: Don't wait for next week.
SPEAKER_00: Don't wait to clean yourself up because that's never gonna work.
SPEAKER_00: Today is the day of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: So may you repent and believe.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.