Weep Not For Me (Luke 23:26-31)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:05.400 This is the word of the Lord. Now, as they led him away, 2 00:00:06.200 --> 00:00:10.029 they laid hold of a certain man, siren, a Sirenean, who 3 00:00:10.109 --> 00:00:13.390 was coming from the country. On Him they laid the cross that he might 4 00:00:13.429 --> 00:00:18.070 bear it after Jesus, and a great multitude of the people followed him, 5 00:00:18.070 --> 00:00:23.460 and women also mourned and lamented him. But Jesus, turning to them, 6 00:00:23.579 --> 00:00:28.820 said, daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for 7 00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:33.659 yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they 8 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:38.009 will say, blessed are the barren wounds that never bore and the breasts which 9 00:00:38.090 --> 00:00:42.170 never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, fall on 10 00:00:42.369 --> 00:00:46.609 us, into the hills, cover us. For if they do these things 11 00:00:46.729 --> 00:00:51.719 in the green wood, what will be done in the dry, thus farthest 12 00:00:51.799 --> 00:00:54.880 reading of God's Holy Word? The grass withers, in the flower fades, 13 00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:03.829 but the word of our Lord endures forever. Please be seated. US pray. 14 00:01:07.549 --> 00:01:11.030 Lord Jesus, we thank you for what it is that you've done for 15 00:01:11.109 --> 00:01:17.390 us. We thank you that you have given your life that we might live. 16 00:01:18.549 --> 00:01:22.140 We thank you that you have taken your life back up, raised from 17 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:26.379 the dead, that we might live forever and ever with you. We thank 18 00:01:26.459 --> 00:01:30.060 you, Lord Jes says, that you have ascended on high, the Prophet, 19 00:01:30.180 --> 00:01:34.810 Greater Than Moses, the king, Greater Than David, the priest, 20 00:01:36.370 --> 00:01:41.370 greater than Melchizedek. We thank you, Lord, that you have given these 21 00:01:41.409 --> 00:01:46.409 words for I edification. We pray that you would bless this reading and preaching 22 00:01:46.489 --> 00:01:51.640 of your holy word, that we might perfectly know you and love you more 23 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:57.760 and more. Lord Jesus, we ask this in your name. Amen. 24 00:02:00.750 --> 00:02:06.989 Well, today's palm Sunday and we don't really make much of a big deal 25 00:02:07.030 --> 00:02:09.909 of it, but it is palm Sunday and this is the the day every 26 00:02:09.949 --> 00:02:15.699 year when we commemorate Jesus is Triumphal entry and the last week of his earthly 27 00:02:15.819 --> 00:02:21.860 ministry, and I'm sure we're all familiar with the story. But one of 28 00:02:21.860 --> 00:02:25.259 the things I love about the Bible is that, no matter how well you 29 00:02:25.340 --> 00:02:30.650 may know it, the more you study it in the more closely you read 30 00:02:30.689 --> 00:02:35.210 it and read the whole thing and become familiar with it from beginning to end, 31 00:02:35.729 --> 00:02:42.289 the more amazing it becomes. The depth the nuance to the word of 32 00:02:42.330 --> 00:02:46.840 God just gets deeper and deeper and deeper, and so this morning what I'd 33 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:50.000 like us to do is to look at what is one of the more obscure 34 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:53.719 portions of the Gospel Account of Jesus's life. I mean, we all know 35 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:58.789 it, but it's rather obscure, I think, but it's it is, 36 00:02:58.909 --> 00:03:02.349 I believe, an incredibly powerful story that tells us a lot about God's heart 37 00:03:02.469 --> 00:03:08.550 for his people and for this world which he's created. Now, it's been 38 00:03:08.629 --> 00:03:14.620 said that the best analogy for our relationship with God is the relationship of a 39 00:03:14.699 --> 00:03:19.460 husband and wife in marriage, and I believe that is true. And though 40 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:22.780 it doesn't seem like it on the surface, in the passage that we have 41 00:03:23.020 --> 00:03:28.930 before us this morning we get a glimpse into Jesus's understanding of his Betrothal of 42 00:03:28.969 --> 00:03:32.849 the church to himself as his bride, and I want us to unpack that 43 00:03:32.889 --> 00:03:37.889 a little bit to see what it is that he's going about, why he 44 00:03:38.050 --> 00:03:40.330 says what he says and why he says it to the people he says it 45 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:45.719 to, and I think we'll find that we'll get a glimpse, perhaps that 46 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:49.400 we haven't had before, of what was in Jesus's mind on the day in 47 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:52.840 which he was crucified, and I'd like to do that in three parts. 48 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:57.189 You know, there's the old saying that most preachers either their sermons have three 49 00:03:57.270 --> 00:04:00.669 points or they're utterly pointless. So I hope this is three points. But 50 00:04:00.949 --> 00:04:05.069 the first thing I'd like us to look at is the women Jesus addresses. 51 00:04:06.189 --> 00:04:10.460 The second thing I'd like us to look at is the command Jesus gives and 52 00:04:10.659 --> 00:04:15.340 third I'd like us to look at the warning Jesus speaks. So the women 53 00:04:15.379 --> 00:04:21.060 he addresses, the command he gives, the warning he speaks. Now, 54 00:04:21.100 --> 00:04:25.009 as we come to our passage, here in Verse Twenty Six, it's just 55 00:04:25.250 --> 00:04:30.930 after that long dark night when Jesus was betrayed by Judas to the Jewish authorities 56 00:04:30.569 --> 00:04:34.410 and, as we know, all of his friends and his disciples had fled 57 00:04:34.449 --> 00:04:40.240 from him and in terror and in fear for their lives, Peter went on 58 00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:44.959 to deny him three times. Conscious pilot, of course, had in severely 59 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:49.079 beaten and he had him whipped until his back was torn, the flesh was 60 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:54.430 ripped, the blood ran freely down. He was spat upon, smacked, 61 00:04:54.470 --> 00:05:00.310 humiliated, mocked and abandoned. And here in Verse Twenty Six, we find 62 00:05:00.350 --> 00:05:04.069 Jesus walking down the via Dolor Rosa and Jerusalem, that's what we call it 63 00:05:04.230 --> 00:05:10.939 today, though the way of sorrows. And as he's carrying his cross out 64 00:05:11.220 --> 00:05:15.420 the via Dolor Rosa down toward the place of execution, there's all these throngs 65 00:05:15.779 --> 00:05:19.259 of happy people pouring into the city first thing in the morning to go for 66 00:05:19.379 --> 00:05:23.329 because it's the feast of the Passover. Remember, there are not all there 67 00:05:23.449 --> 00:05:26.850 for Jesus. These people are pouring into the gates of the city for the 68 00:05:26.970 --> 00:05:30.889 most wonderful, happiest occasion in the life of Israel. And so they're pouring 69 00:05:30.930 --> 00:05:34.920 into the city. And as he's going through all of these places, carrying 70 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:40.680 his cross to the place of Croupus, crucifixion, he stumbles under the weight 71 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:45.519 of the Cross beam that he carried, because he is utterly incapable, in 72 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:48.079 the condition he's in, beaten as he is, to carry that cross any 73 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:54.310 further. So the Romans grabbed hold of this fellow from Libya named Simon, 74 00:05:54.389 --> 00:05:59.589 and they make him carry Jesus's Cross and help Jesus get to the place of 75 00:05:59.709 --> 00:06:05.379 execution. And as Jesus is rising to his feet, he turns and he 76 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:11.540 sees this group of women who are following the execution procession, and he sees 77 00:06:11.620 --> 00:06:15.699 that they're weeping. They're mourning, lamenting over him, Luke says, and 78 00:06:15.899 --> 00:06:21.410 this is what he says to them. Old Daughters of Jerusalem, do not 79 00:06:21.730 --> 00:06:29.250 weep for me. Oh daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. 80 00:06:29.449 --> 00:06:32.920 So we have to ask ourselves, dig a little deeper. Why are they 81 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:39.000 weeping? What was in their hearts to make these women mourn for him like 82 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:45.079 this? Well, obviously these women are sympathetic to Jesus Right. These are 83 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:48.829 women who see this Nice Young Minister, this prophet and Miracle Worker from Galilee, 84 00:06:49.149 --> 00:06:55.589 they see him suffering so awful, awfully, they sympathize with him. 85 00:06:56.829 --> 00:07:00.310 These are women, by the way, there who are not his disciples. 86 00:07:00.389 --> 00:07:05.540 His disciples all fled. These women are not his disciples, but they are 87 00:07:05.579 --> 00:07:10.420 very sympathetic, it seems, to his message and now they're crying for him. 88 00:07:10.420 --> 00:07:15.259 They're saying, Oh, this poor man, how horrible, how tragic 89 00:07:15.730 --> 00:07:20.889 to see such a nice preacher and a prophet die so horribly. They're very 90 00:07:20.930 --> 00:07:28.050 sympathetic to him and I think that they see his situation as being utterly hopeless 91 00:07:28.329 --> 00:07:35.519 and desperate. They see Jesus being helplessly carried to his death, unable to 92 00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:40.240 escape his doom. And so these women are crying the tears that one would 93 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:47.310 cry for a man who is utterly hopeless. But then Jesus says to them 94 00:07:48.189 --> 00:07:53.790 not to cry. He says, oh daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for 95 00:07:53.910 --> 00:07:58.550 me. Now it seems sort of an odd way for him to address them, 96 00:07:58.740 --> 00:08:01.540 doesn't it? I mean he's on his way to die, he's within 97 00:08:01.579 --> 00:08:03.660 an inch of his life already, and he stops and he looks at these 98 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:11.139 women he says, oh daughters of Jerusalem, and when we see something like 99 00:08:11.300 --> 00:08:13.610 this, when we see something that seems out of place when we're reading the 100 00:08:13.649 --> 00:08:18.410 Bible, we need to ask ourselves why is this little odd tidbit here? 101 00:08:18.449 --> 00:08:20.649 I mean there's not one wasted word in scripture. So why does he say 102 00:08:20.810 --> 00:08:28.199 this here? So why? Why does he call them the daughters of Jerusalem? 103 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:31.839 And notice that he doesn't say Oh, daughter of Jerusalem. The term 104 00:08:31.879 --> 00:08:35.080 daughter of Jerusalem or daughter of Zion runs throughout the entirety of the Old Testament 105 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:39.960 and refers to God's people, Israel, but he refers to them here as 106 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:43.149 the daughters of Jerusalem. And I think it's not just because it's more than 107 00:08:43.230 --> 00:08:48.909 one woman. I think what he's doing here is he's referring to something in 108 00:08:48.990 --> 00:08:52.070 the Old Testament that you might not expect, and what I think he's referring 109 00:08:52.110 --> 00:09:00.100 to is Song of Solomon. He wants us to be thinking about something from 110 00:09:00.220 --> 00:09:03.139 Song of Solomon, and we all know the story of Song of Solomon. 111 00:09:03.220 --> 00:09:07.059 I think it's the book in the Old Testament about how Solomon the Great and 112 00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:13.169 glorious King in Israel, the son of David, the Prince of peace. 113 00:09:13.289 --> 00:09:18.610 That's what Solomon means. He's the king in Israel and we know in that 114 00:09:18.809 --> 00:09:22.850 story that he goes off and he falls in love with a poor farmer's daughter, 115 00:09:22.929 --> 00:09:28.080 Shulimouth, this undeserving farm girl, with all the beauties in the court 116 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:33.039 in Jerusalem he could pick from, Solomon falls in love with a girl named 117 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:37.950 Schulimouth, this farmer's daughter, who's got a terrible farmer's Tan and she has 118 00:09:39.029 --> 00:09:45.110 these hard calloused hands from laboring out in the Field Day by day. But 119 00:09:45.269 --> 00:09:48.470 for some reason the king falls in love with the farmer's daughter and he makes 120 00:09:48.509 --> 00:09:52.379 her his queen, and the whole book of Song of Solomon is the story 121 00:09:52.419 --> 00:09:58.740 about how they fell in love and courted and how they got engaged and finally 122 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:03.620 it tells us about the wedding night. And Throughout Song of Solomon we find 123 00:10:03.700 --> 00:10:09.289 the only place in the Bible other than right here, where someone is called 124 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:16.929 the daughters of Jerusalem. And the daughters of Jerusalem are the women of the 125 00:10:16.009 --> 00:10:22.080 court, these are the ladies in waiting, these are the the fancy ladies 126 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:24.120 who go to the balls and they go to the fairs and the parties. 127 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:28.480 And there the women, throughout the story of Song of Solomon, who are 128 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:37.230 observing the story and watching the love butting. These are women who watched the 129 00:10:37.309 --> 00:10:43.070 king and his bride fall in love. They watched, they observes the engagement, 130 00:10:43.230 --> 00:10:48.269 but needless to say, they didn't get engaged. These are women who 131 00:10:48.350 --> 00:10:54.299 perhaps heard of the wedding night, but quite obviously they weren't there. Right. 132 00:10:54.860 --> 00:11:00.980 So these women watch, they observe, they hear, but they are 133 00:11:01.019 --> 00:11:05.330 not the bride. And here in Luke, Chapter Twenty three, is Jesus 134 00:11:05.370 --> 00:11:09.409 is going to his death. He calls them the daughters of Jerusalem, and 135 00:11:09.529 --> 00:11:15.809 the reason he does that is because these women are not his disciples. These 136 00:11:15.929 --> 00:11:20.919 are some of the nice respectable people in Jerusalem. These are the people who 137 00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:26.480 had listened for three years to Jesus is teaching and preaching. They'd seem the 138 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:30.879 things he'd done, they'd heard the nice words and they wanted his blessing. 139 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:35.629 But they didn't want to follow him. And I suspect that the most likely 140 00:11:35.750 --> 00:11:41.070 reason they didn't want to follow him is because because of the company he kept. 141 00:11:41.110 --> 00:11:46.669 Right these are the respectable people. And and Jesus, you know, 142 00:11:46.460 --> 00:11:50.740 he's awfully interesting. You know, the Mahatma Gandhi once made the observation. 143 00:11:50.820 --> 00:11:56.220 He says, I like your Christ I do not like your Christians, and 144 00:11:56.379 --> 00:12:03.610 I have a feeling these people were the same way. They thought he was 145 00:12:03.690 --> 00:12:11.129 intriguing, you see. But his friends, his friends, they're disreputable. 146 00:12:11.649 --> 00:12:16.159 I mean, he's got these immoral women, foreigners, tax collectors, drunks, 147 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:20.159 creeps, sinners of all sorts. That's who he hung out with. 148 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:24.759 And you know, I'm sure these Nice, clean, cut upwardly mobile young 149 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:30.509 women in Jerusalem saw the way that the king of kings was courting these sinners 150 00:12:31.029 --> 00:12:35.710 and though they like the message of love and grace and forgiveness, they could 151 00:12:35.870 --> 00:12:41.309 never understand why a guy like him fell in love with people like this, 152 00:12:45.179 --> 00:12:48.700 like Schulimouth and Song of Solomon. The women are the people Jesus hung out 153 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:56.620 with. Were undeserving. There're scummy, they're disreputable, and these women that 154 00:12:56.740 --> 00:13:01.049 day in Jerusalem couldn't understand what Jesus was doing, because they didn't understand that 155 00:13:01.210 --> 00:13:07.570 they too were just as disreputable and sinful as the people that Jesus kept company 156 00:13:07.610 --> 00:13:13.879 with. And so they repeatedly sat on the fence while Jesus called for repent 157 00:13:13.960 --> 00:13:18.159 sentence. But when the Nice words of the Nice Young Prophet were being stopped 158 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:24.120 by the execution, they wept. But Jesus commands them not to weep. 159 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:31.070 Oh daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but why not weep for 160 00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:35.909 him? This is a tragedy, isn't it? This is a sad, 161 00:13:35.990 --> 00:13:39.990 awful, heartrending moment. I mean, look at the Romans are about to 162 00:13:41.350 --> 00:13:46.940 crucify Jesus, the most hideous execution in the ancient world. He had just 163 00:13:46.220 --> 00:13:52.539 stall thought, stumbled and fallen because he's exhausted. In the blood is coursing 164 00:13:52.700 --> 00:13:58.090 down his back in those awful thorns are poking into his brow. He is 165 00:13:58.409 --> 00:14:05.529 helpless, isn't this horrible. Why not weep at a moment like this? 166 00:14:07.809 --> 00:14:13.720 Well, Jesus commands them not to weep because this is not a hopeless moment. 167 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:22.519 What they don't get is this is Jesus is greatest moment. These women 168 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:28.549 think it's hopeless because Jesus is going to die. They think that's a cause 169 00:14:28.029 --> 00:14:33.429 for misery because, from their perspective, Jesus is being taken against his will 170 00:14:33.590 --> 00:14:39.500 to suffer and die in vain. That's their perspective. That's what they think, 171 00:14:39.539 --> 00:14:45.940 and they think think that because they don't understand Jesus. They don't understand 172 00:14:46.179 --> 00:14:52.259 what he's doing or why he's doing it. So think about it from another 173 00:14:52.299 --> 00:14:58.970 perspective. And Song of Solomon, in that story of love and romance with 174 00:15:00.169 --> 00:15:07.879 the daughters of Jerusalem, had started just bawling and hopeless sorrow the day Solomon 175 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:13.600 went to go ask Chulimouth to marry him. I'm would they have lamented at 176 00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:18.159 that great moment of joy when Solomon, the great king, takes the dowry 177 00:15:18.679 --> 00:15:22.429 down to the farmer's house and says I would like to marry your daughter? 178 00:15:24.269 --> 00:15:28.830 Of course not. That that would have been bizarre to see in the story 179 00:15:28.909 --> 00:15:33.070 wouldn't. I mean to put it in our own context here. Can you 180 00:15:33.110 --> 00:15:37.500 imagine that if you were there when Christopher got down on his knee to Rachel, 181 00:15:37.580 --> 00:15:43.059 going horribleut the other of the world right? He wouldn't do that? 182 00:15:45.700 --> 00:15:48.299 Or when your best friend comes to you and she says look at, look 183 00:15:48.299 --> 00:15:52.649 at, I got a big rock. Look at I mean, would you 184 00:15:52.690 --> 00:15:56.929 go no, of course you wouldn't do that. That would be bizarre. 185 00:15:58.049 --> 00:16:03.929 You wouldn't cry at such a moment unless it was tears of joy. So 186 00:16:03.049 --> 00:16:10.559 how much more bizarre is it when the daughters of Jerusalem weep when the being 187 00:16:10.679 --> 00:16:19.230 of glory goes to betrothed his bride to himself? In that great passage on 188 00:16:19.350 --> 00:16:25.350 marriage in Ephesians Chapter Five, Saint Paul tells husbands that they should love their 189 00:16:25.470 --> 00:16:30.029 wives just as Christ first love the church. He says that Jesus laid down 190 00:16:30.309 --> 00:16:37.059 his life for his bride, the church, so that she might be spotless 191 00:16:37.100 --> 00:16:41.100 and without blame before him in love to make her his own dear wife. 192 00:16:41.899 --> 00:16:47.570 Paul says that he gave up his life so that the church and the Messiah 193 00:16:47.610 --> 00:16:52.210 could be united in the bonds of love forever and ever. And there was 194 00:16:52.409 --> 00:16:57.570 no hopelessness as he did so. There's no sense in which Jesus was coerced. 195 00:16:57.570 --> 00:17:02.000 I mean, come on, he is God. He could have called 196 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:07.160 down a legion of Angels to destroy a Rome in Jerusalem and pilot in Augustus 197 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:11.319 and the Jews and the Roman soldiers. He could have done it himself. 198 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:15.750 With one word, he called all things into existence himself. He could have 199 00:17:15.869 --> 00:17:22.349 destroyed them. But he didn't do that, and that's because, contrary to 200 00:17:22.470 --> 00:17:27.309 what those daughters of Jerusalem thought that day in Jerusalem, Jesus was doing this 201 00:17:27.509 --> 00:17:33.900 of his own accord, just as a girl's bow will go and drop a 202 00:17:33.140 --> 00:17:40.660 huge sum for an engagement ring. Even so, Jesus is laying down his 203 00:17:40.980 --> 00:17:47.089 life, we're told, because of the joy that was set before him, 204 00:17:48.490 --> 00:17:52.130 and the joy that was set before him that day is he was rising back 205 00:17:52.210 --> 00:17:59.440 to his feet. was you and me. He laid down his life gladly 206 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:03.599 and willingly, so that he could pay our dollarry, so that he could 207 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:07.039 pay the penalty for all the sins of all of his people, so that 208 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:12.190 nothing would stand between his church, the bride of Christ and the love of 209 00:18:14.190 --> 00:18:18.029 her beloved bridegroom. You see, this isn't a tragedy. This is the 210 00:18:18.150 --> 00:18:23.470 Culmin Nation of everything that the prophets had spoken of. A few weeks ago, 211 00:18:26.269 --> 00:18:32.099 we heard pastor mark quote from Zeph and I ah chapter three. And 212 00:18:32.220 --> 00:18:34.859 in Zeph and I a chapter three, in the fourteen through seventeen verses, 213 00:18:34.900 --> 00:18:38.259 Zeph and I as says something that I want to read to y'all. He's 214 00:18:38.380 --> 00:18:44.049 talking to the True Daughter of Zion, not the daughters who watch from the 215 00:18:44.170 --> 00:18:48.170 sideline, but the daughter, the true and only one, of Israel. 216 00:18:48.369 --> 00:18:55.289 He says this seeing, Oh daughter of Zion, shouts, Oh Israel, 217 00:18:55.960 --> 00:19:00.200 be glad and rejoice with all your heart, old daughter of Jerusalem, the 218 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:04.119 Lord has taken away your judgments, he's cast out your enemy, the King 219 00:19:04.279 --> 00:19:08.839 of Israel. The Lord is in your midst. You shall see disaster no 220 00:19:10.029 --> 00:19:14.069 more. In that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem, fear not, 221 00:19:14.990 --> 00:19:18.869 Zi and let not your hands be weak. The Lord God is in 222 00:19:18.950 --> 00:19:22.990 your midst. The mighty one will save. He will rejoice over you with 223 00:19:22.150 --> 00:19:27.180 gladness, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you 224 00:19:29.099 --> 00:19:37.740 with singing. This was that day. This, this lowest seeming of all 225 00:19:37.900 --> 00:19:41.730 moments, was the means of the betrothal of the bride of Christ to her 226 00:19:41.809 --> 00:19:48.690 beloved. So then, why on earth should you weep at a time like 227 00:19:48.890 --> 00:19:56.680 this? Oh daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, for I am 228 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:07.430 going right now to make her mind. But, having said this, Jesus 229 00:20:07.509 --> 00:20:14.789 gives these women a warning and, starting in Verse Twenty Eight, he says 230 00:20:14.869 --> 00:20:19.150 this, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your 231 00:20:19.230 --> 00:20:23.740 children, for indeed the days are coming in which they will say blessed are 232 00:20:23.740 --> 00:20:29.539 the barren wounds that never bore and the breasts which never nursed. Then they 233 00:20:29.539 --> 00:20:32.740 will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us, into the hills, 234 00:20:32.900 --> 00:20:36.809 cover us. For if they do these things in the green wood, 235 00:20:37.450 --> 00:20:44.210 what will be done in the dry? So why should they weep for themselves? 236 00:20:45.690 --> 00:20:49.640 What cause is there for this? Well, Jesus tells them to weep 237 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:55.039 for themselves because, as we said before, they weren't his disciples. These 238 00:20:55.200 --> 00:21:00.359 women here are still sitting on the fence. They're like so many people today 239 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:04.789 who hear the word of God. They like the nice sounding sentiments, but 240 00:21:04.910 --> 00:21:11.950 they don't want to go down that hard road of discipleship. And that's because 241 00:21:11.950 --> 00:21:18.470 the hard road of discipleship is a life of rigorous self examination. It's a 242 00:21:18.619 --> 00:21:22.900 life of self examination that uses Jesus as sermon on the Mount and not how 243 00:21:23.019 --> 00:21:29.180 we measure up to the next guy. It uses Jesus as standard, as 244 00:21:29.259 --> 00:21:34.009 the yard stick of our self are as our sinfulness. The life of discipleship 245 00:21:34.170 --> 00:21:40.930 looks at our hearts, not our deeds. It looks at our motives and 246 00:21:41.130 --> 00:21:45.569 our goals for all of our words and actions, not the things that we 247 00:21:45.650 --> 00:21:51.599 do as the judge of whether we're sinning or not. And the only acceptable 248 00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:59.599 motive for any thing that we do or say or think is the love of 249 00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:04.670 Christ, because of what he's done for us. And the only acceptable goal 250 00:22:06.349 --> 00:22:10.950 for any of our thoughts or words or deeds is the greater glory of God, 251 00:22:11.150 --> 00:22:15.180 because of what Christ has done for us. Our motive must always be 252 00:22:15.420 --> 00:22:21.779 loved, our goal must always be glory. But these women here are not 253 00:22:22.059 --> 00:22:26.019 his disciples. They don't want that road of discipleship. Like the daughters of 254 00:22:26.099 --> 00:22:33.490 Jerusalem and Song of Solomon, these are mere spectators between the love of the 255 00:22:33.650 --> 00:22:44.359 groom and the bride. And you know that said even faithful Christians, when 256 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:48.680 we come across passages such as this, have to ask ourselves. How do 257 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.359 I stand in regard to Jesus? I mean, remember, these women are 258 00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:59.230 members of the Old Testament Church. But just listening to Jesus as words and 259 00:22:59.349 --> 00:23:04.230 having membership in the church and even following him around wasn't enough. So I 260 00:23:04.349 --> 00:23:08.789 ask you, as we come to the Lord's table, how are you this 261 00:23:08.950 --> 00:23:17.339 morning? Are you offense Si he is there something about the road of discipleship 262 00:23:17.420 --> 00:23:22.059 that you don't want to undertake? Do you look at the story and feel 263 00:23:22.099 --> 00:23:27.930 the emotion, but wonder if you have any part of him? When you 264 00:23:29.009 --> 00:23:33.049 hear sermons about the radical nature of our sin and of the love and grace 265 00:23:33.210 --> 00:23:40.329 of Christ for sinners, do you say yes, yes, I too mourn 266 00:23:40.450 --> 00:23:45.319 over that my sin is so horrible and I would have no hope in this 267 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:53.200 earth except for the love of my bridegroom for me. Or do you, 268 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:59.549 like these women in Jerusalem, like the nice words but don't see that you're 269 00:23:59.549 --> 00:24:04.269 quite as bad as the people you compare yourself to? How do you stand? 270 00:24:07.470 --> 00:24:10.539 Well, Jesus tells these women what fate awaits them if they don't at 271 00:24:10.539 --> 00:24:15.259 last repent. He says this. The days are coming in which they will 272 00:24:15.299 --> 00:24:18.500 say blessed are the barren wounds that never bore in the breasts which never nursed. 273 00:24:19.259 --> 00:24:22.099 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us, 274 00:24:22.180 --> 00:24:26.410 into the hills, cover us. For if they do these things in the 275 00:24:26.450 --> 00:24:32.890 green wood, what will be done in the dry? Now these words are 276 00:24:32.890 --> 00:24:38.200 an echo of Joseiah chapter ten and revelation chapter six, and in those two 277 00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:44.480 passages the words that we see here the last words that the damned utter before 278 00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:48.279 the Lord casts them into Hell at his return and glory. These words are 279 00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:53.750 death wish on the part of those who are doomed, and that's because when 280 00:24:53.750 --> 00:24:59.470 they finally see what happens to those who do not accept their need for Christ 281 00:24:59.509 --> 00:25:03.109 to take away their sin while there's still time, they're going to wish that 282 00:25:03.150 --> 00:25:12.019 they would be utterly destroyed rather than face the eternal fires of hell. See 283 00:25:12.099 --> 00:25:15.779 this that Jesus is talking about is the fate of the of the lukewarm. 284 00:25:18.259 --> 00:25:23.009 We read about that for our reading of the law this morning. We saw 285 00:25:23.170 --> 00:25:29.569 there what Jesus says about the lukewarm. He says, because you're lukewarm and 286 00:25:29.730 --> 00:25:33.170 neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth because you 287 00:25:33.210 --> 00:25:37.160 say I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing and do 288 00:25:37.319 --> 00:25:41.480 not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. 289 00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:45.039 I counsel for you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that 290 00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:48.480 you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed, that 291 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:52.430 the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and annoint your eyes with 292 00:25:52.630 --> 00:25:56.789 eyes have that you may see as many as I love. I rebuke, 293 00:25:56.910 --> 00:26:03.269 can chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Turn around behold. I 294 00:26:03.339 --> 00:26:07.700 stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the 295 00:26:07.740 --> 00:26:10.740 door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with 296 00:26:10.900 --> 00:26:14.700 me. To Him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on 297 00:26:14.779 --> 00:26:18.500 my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his 298 00:26:18.730 --> 00:26:22.049 throne. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the 299 00:26:22.130 --> 00:26:32.690 spirit says to the churches. Jesus had labored for three years in Israel preaching 300 00:26:32.769 --> 00:26:36.920 the good news to people like these women, but they refused to hear. 301 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:42.319 For three years, perhaps unbeknownst even to themselves, they were hardening their hearts 302 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:48.869 against Jesus, just as Pharaoh had hardened his heart against Moses, but now 303 00:26:48.109 --> 00:26:56.029 Jesus is offering them one last chance to hear his message. Even as he's 304 00:26:56.069 --> 00:27:00.539 rising back to his feet after falling, as Simon the Serenian is beginning to 305 00:27:00.700 --> 00:27:06.500 drag that heavy cross for Jesus up to go Gotha, even as the blood 306 00:27:06.539 --> 00:27:11.180 from his head in his back is mingling with the spit of his tormentors on 307 00:27:11.339 --> 00:27:18.250 his skin. Even then, Jesus was still pleading with these women to hear 308 00:27:18.369 --> 00:27:26.650 him, and Jesus Beckons to us this morning as well. He calls upon 309 00:27:26.769 --> 00:27:33.039 us to make a choice. Will we be like the women here? Well, 310 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:40.279 we be like these daughters of Jerusalem who just observe the love story without 311 00:27:40.359 --> 00:27:45.430 getting engaged? Will we listen to sermons about our sin and the grace of 312 00:27:45.509 --> 00:27:48.950 God in Christ and say, you know that sure is swell for those people? 313 00:27:52.789 --> 00:28:00.259 Or will we be like shoe almouth and Song of Solomon? Sulimouth was 314 00:28:00.299 --> 00:28:03.740 a woman who knew that there was nothing good in her. She had no 315 00:28:04.220 --> 00:28:11.420 reason to expect that the king of Israel would fall for the likes of her, 316 00:28:12.609 --> 00:28:19.170 but he did, and once he did, she couldn't keep herself from 317 00:28:19.329 --> 00:28:25.730 looking into her beloved eyes. As her heart melted, she couldn't restrain herself 318 00:28:26.049 --> 00:28:30.240 from telling the daughters of Jerusalem about the wondrous beauty of her Lord. King 319 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:37.160 Solomon Shulmouth was well and truly wooed in one as Shakespeare would say, she 320 00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:42.910 was smitten, lost in love. She was sure with the most wondrous man 321 00:28:44.150 --> 00:28:49.789 that any woman could ever fall in love with. And today we know that 322 00:28:49.950 --> 00:28:59.980 the king of kings died to make us his bride. Shulmouth, the Lord 323 00:29:00.140 --> 00:29:07.619 of Glory, went in his humiliation to his death, beaten, crushed, 324 00:29:07.460 --> 00:29:19.529 whipped, abused and utterly victorious. Today, this palm Sunday, we remember 325 00:29:19.690 --> 00:29:25.640 the beginning of the last week of Jesus's Earthly Ministry. We remember that he 326 00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:30.720 came in his triumphal entry into his royal city with one mission in view, 327 00:29:30.279 --> 00:29:37.559 namely the redemption of his beloved people and Nest. Next Week is Easter, 328 00:29:37.750 --> 00:29:45.990 the resurrection. He is risen, indeed, isn't he? And he has 329 00:29:45.029 --> 00:29:49.990 risen to prepare a place for you and for me, and some day soon, 330 00:29:51.269 --> 00:29:56.420 and very soon, he is coming back to take us to his father's 331 00:29:56.500 --> 00:30:00.740 house for the wedding banquet and the consummation where we will live with him in 332 00:30:00.180 --> 00:30:06.460 love forever and ever, world without end. A men and a men, 333 00:30:06.859 --> 00:30:15.650 and that is because nothing, nothing, not your sin, not your guilt, 334 00:30:15.970 --> 00:30:22.000 not your wickedness, not his death or his burial, nothing could stand 335 00:30:22.039 --> 00:30:29.839 between your Lord and his love for you. And even at that last day 336 00:30:30.039 --> 00:30:34.000 he was seeking and saving those who were lost. This, you see, 337 00:30:36.509 --> 00:30:41.950 this is the depth of his love for you and for me and for all 338 00:30:42.029 --> 00:30:51.700 the world. And that, my friends, that is good news. And 339 00:30:51.859 --> then