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[0:00] Well, open your Bibles to Luke chapter 19, please. Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. Before we delve into our text, let's ask the Lord's blessing upon the reading of the scriptures.

[0:15] Let's pray. Lord, we are indeed a needy, needy people. Apart from your spirit, we are as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Please, Father, please come meet with us this afternoon.

[0:37] Open our hearts. Open our eyes that we might behold the wondrous things that are in your law. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

[0:49] Amen. Luke chapter 19. And I'll begin reading at verse 28. Luke 19, verse 28.

[1:06] After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples saying to them, Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt there which no one had ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untelling it? Tell him the Lord needs it.

[1:38] Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, his owners asked, why are you untying the colt? They replied, the Lord needs it. They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and put Jesus on it.

[1:55] As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen.

[2:11] Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.

[2:28] I tell you, he replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, if you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes.

[2:50] The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls.

[3:06] They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you.

[3:17] Amen. Our Lord Jesus Christ is at one time, at one and the same time, our teacher and our lesson.

[3:29] As our teacher, we are to listen to what he says. As our lesson, we are to do as he does. Jesus himself said in John 13, I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

[3:49] God willing, this afternoon, we will look at an example the Lord Jesus Christ has set for us, and hopefully by his spirit's work in us, we'll be inspired to follow him.

[4:01] How important is it for you and I to follow Jesus' example? How important is it to do as he has done? Well, Matthew Henry says, we must bear a resemblance to Jesus' life if we would have the benefit of his death.

[4:18] Ah, but one far, far greater than Matthew Henry has said, whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

[4:32] Now may our Lord Jesus' example here in Luke 19 motivate us all greatly. The first thing I want us all to notice in this text that I read for you is the omniscience, that is, the all-knowing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[4:51] This same Luke writing in Acts chapter 15 says, known unto God are all of his works from the beginning of the world. In the first part of our text, Jesus sends two of his disciples to a village where they find a colt which no man had ever ridden.

[5:11] The omniscient Lord Jesus Christ describes beforehand precisely what they would both see and hear in verses 29 through 44.

[5:22] And then in the closing portion of our text, the last four verses, Jesus speaks of an event that was to take place approximately 37 years later.

[5:36] An event that has been well documented in history and was foretold by the Lord Jesus himself in each of the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

[5:50] I think it important for us to be reminded of not only the omniscience of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also his predestinating sovereignty over all events.

[6:04] Before I get any further along in our text, the scripture I quoted just a few moments ago, Acts 15, does not merely say known unto God are all works, excuse me, known unto God are all works from the beginning of the world, but rather it says known unto God are all of his works from the beginning of the world.

[6:29] As the Lord says in Isaiah 48 verse 3, I foretold the former things long ago. My mouth announced them and I made them known.

[6:39] Then suddenly I acted and they came to pass. The Lord God knows beforehand what is going to take place.

[6:50] And the reason that he does is because he himself has predetermined it. He's not passively sitting by waiting for events to happen, but he is actively working to bring things about.

[7:07] In Luke chapter 1 verse 22, the Lord Jesus says that the coming destruction of Jerusalem, which our text here in Luke 19, 43 and 44 is speaking of, is the fulfillment of what has been written in the past.

[7:22] As the Spirit of Christ spoke through the prophets, the Lord announced and made known through the prophets, his plan to destroy the city and it will happen.

[7:34] He will act and it will come to pass. What he has said, that will he bring about what he has planned that he will do.

[7:45] It is his work. Now, all of this being true, then you may be somewhat puzzled by the Lord Jesus's reaction in verse 41.

[7:55] As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it. The sovereign God, creator and sustainer of the heavens and the earth, the ruler of the universe, wept over Jerusalem.

[8:19] In the midst of great joy surrounding his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as a whole crowd of disciples joyfully praise God in loud voices.

[8:31] We see that in verse 37. People spreading their clothing on the road before him. Verse 36. In the midst of all this rejoicing and praising God, the Lord Jesus himself seems to have no heart for joy.

[8:47] It appears that his heart is filled with sorrow rather than with joy. He doesn't join in the crowd in joyful praise, but rather he weeps.

[9:02] He cries tears because he's painfully aware, painfully aware of the horrors that will be coming upon the city and its people some 37 years later.

[9:14] As I've already said, the Lord is absolutely sovereign over all people and all events. And we see his sovereignty in chapters 42 to 44 in our text.

[9:28] We see it as the Lord actively works to destroy the city, hiding from its inhabitants what would bring peace. Nevertheless, he places all the blame for their destruction upon they themselves.

[9:48] Verse 44. I'll read it. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you.

[10:05] God is sovereign. He acts and events come to pass. They are his works. He gives sight and makes men blind.

[10:18] He reveals and he conceals. Verse 42. If you, if you, and said, if you, even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes.

[10:34] He reveals and he conceals. Yes, God is sovereign, sovereign. Yet at the same time, man is responsible.

[10:45] They will be dashed to the ground because of their own rejection of Jesus Christ. Their failure, their failure to recognize him.

[11:00] Though they have rejected the sovereign, though they have rejected the sovereign Lord of the universe, Jesus' reaction is to have compassion upon them. Even though they've rejected him, he shows compassion upon them, compassion to the point of tears.

[11:21] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Our attitude should be the same as his. Philippians 2. If we are Christians, followers of Christ, we are, by his spirit, being conformed to his image.

[11:40] We are becoming like Christ, Christ-like. We are striving to do not only what he says, but also what he does.

[11:51] We know very little of true Christianity if we, like Christ, don't feel a deep, deep concern for the souls of unconverted people.

[12:05] Some of you may have heard of Henry Martin. Henry Martin, the early 19th century missionary to the Hindus and Muslims of India and Persia of our day, of that day, let me never, said, he said, let me never fancy I have zeal until my heart overflows with love toward every man living.

[12:28] Wow. That's something. Certainly he never reached that, but he was striving for it. And I might add that zeal or passion without compassion is not biblical zeal.

[12:44] King David had such compassionate zeal. He said to God, he said to God, streams of tears from my eyes for men do not obey your law.

[12:56] For those of his own race, Jews scattered throughout the known world, the apostle Paul cried out, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart for them.

[13:12] A little later in that same letter to the church in Rome, Paul said, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. Yet for all of this, it is written that he should go to the Gentiles, the heathen, and that's just what he did.

[13:34] Paul obeyed the Lord Jesus' commission and went into the world and preached the gospel. Brothers and sisters, you and I do well to follow the examples of Henry Martin, King David, and the apostle Paul, but I'll remind you of the words of Paul himself from 1 Corinthians 11, 1, follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.

[14:01] That was what Paul had to say. As Christ approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it. If the Lord Jesus had such tenderhearted compassion for the lost, all of his followers to some degree should as well.

[14:23] Brothers and sisters, I must ask you, I must ask myself, do I have to some degree the mind and heart of Christ in this matter?

[14:36] We need to ask ourselves that question. Let every man examine himself carefully. We don't know one another's hearts, but we do know that it is out of abundance of the mouth that the heart's, excuse me, out of abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.

[14:56] We do know that a tree is known by its fruit. True compassion is known by its fruit. True compassion is sympathy plus action.

[15:10] You and I will not begin to experience such Christ-like compassion until we see the multitude and mass of lost humanity as the Lord Jesus saw it.

[15:24] As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it. Jesus wept because he knew the horror that was coming upon the people in Jerusalem.

[15:42] Let me read beginning at verse 43. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.

[15:56] They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another.

[16:09] Josephus, who was an eyewitness of the destruction of Jerusalem, wrote, he was an eyewitness, wrote in his book, History of the Jewish War, while the sanctuary was burning, neither pity for age nor respect for rank was shown.

[16:27] On the contrary, old people and children, laity and priests alike, were massacred. No wonder that Jesus said, daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

[16:46] For the time will come when you will say, blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed. Luke 23, 28, and 29.

[17:00] It's believed that more than a million Jews perished, dashed to the ground by the army of the Roman Emperor Titus in 70 AD. The Lord Jesus foresaw an awesomely terrifying day coming upon the city and his people and he wept over it.

[17:23] Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I must tell you, even as Pastor Jason has already done this morning, I must tell you there is a far, far more awesomely terrible day coming upon a world of sinners than that which Jesus was speaking of.

[17:47] That great and terrible day of the Lord, that day when the unbeliever passes out of this world into eternity.

[18:01] Eternity is an awesomely terrifying word to many, awesomely terrifying. In the first volume of the works of the Puritan John Flavill, he tells about an English woman of his day in the 17th century, returning from a night on the town as she entered her house late that evening.

[18:24] As she entered her house late that evening, she found her maid reading. She looked over her shoulder upon the book and said, Oh, you poor melancholy soul, why dost thou sit here pouring so long upon thy book?

[18:41] That same night, the woman could not sleep but lay awake sighing and crying. Her servant came to her and asked what ailed her. She burst into tears and said, Oh, it was one word that I cast my eye upon in your book that troubles me.

[18:59] There I saw that word eternity. The word eternity ought to be troublesome to unbelievers. It ought to strike terror in their hearts.

[19:12] Brothers and sisters, in order for you and I to be able to grasp to some degree the magnitude of the terror, the torment, and the agony coming upon a world of sinners, we need to stop and ponder for a moment upon this awesome word eternity, to try to some degree to fathom the unfathomable, to comprehend the incomprehensible.

[19:39] eternity, eternal punishment without end.

[19:50] When the lost have been there ten trillion years, ten trillion billion years, the fire shall never be quenched.

[20:02] Never. The sinners in Zion are terrified, trembling grips the hypocrite. Who of us can dwell with consuming fire?

[20:12] Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning? Isaiah asks in Isaiah 33, verse 14. Hell is eternal.

[20:24] Hell is without end. What an awesomely terrible word for the lost. Brothers and sisters, if our Lord Jesus should weep over the destruction and temporary suffering of Jerusalem and the death of a million Jews, how much more should you and I weep over the eternal suffering of a lost world and the eternal death and damnation of over a million lost souls, a million lost souls every week.

[21:04] Every week. 52 weeks a year, approximately 150,000 lost souls every day. Every day.

[21:17] 150,000 people are cast into hell and that's being, I'm stretching it a little bit. hard. Listen to the words of Charles Bridges, the 19th century Anglican writer, he happens to be my favorite writer.

[21:36] Could we witness a house on fire without speedy and practical evidence of our compassion for the inhabitants? And yet alas, how often do we witness souls on the brink of destruction, unconscious of danger orbiting defiance to it with comparative indifference?

[21:56] How are we Christians if we believe not the scripture warnings of their danger? Or if believing them we don't bestir ourselves to their help? What hypocrisy is it to pray for their conversion while we're making no effort to promote it?

[22:17] I am the heart arrow pierces my heart. Well then brethren, how are we to help those on the brink of eternal destruction?

[22:28] What are we to do? We are to do as the Lord Jesus has done. He has set us an example. We are to weep with those who weep.

[22:41] We are to go to them, approach them as Jesus did. We are to have compassion upon them as Jesus did. The scriptures in Matthew 9 say that when the Lord Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion upon them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

[23:01] Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers into his harvest field.

[23:16] Dear brothers and sisters, we can each one do this. we can pray diligently and ask the Lord to raise up and send forth into the world, to send men forth into the world.

[23:34] We can always pray for those workers who are already in his harvest fields and thankfully we make it a habit to do that, continue to do so. Ponder the awful end of the vast majority of the people of this world unless the Lord intervenes.

[23:50] Eternal damnation, ponder it often, perhaps it will fan the flame within you, perhaps it will fan the flame within me.

[24:04] The Apostle Paul following the example of the Lord Jesus Christ had great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart for his countrymen.

[24:15] Men and women, boys and girls who were on their way to a far, far greater sorrow and unceasing, never-ending, everlasting anguish and torment unless the Lord God intervenes and in wrath remembers mercy, just as he has done for many of us here this afternoon.

[24:45] We were all brands, all burning sticks, snatched from the fire. Will we not then do all that we can to see that our fellow human beings will be snatched from the fire as well?

[25:02] Let's do everything we can do to see that that happens. Oh, that our great and gracious God would give us something of the heart of our blessed Lord Jesus, Jesus, who has given us an example that we should do as he has done.

[25:19] As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it. I'll close with two verses of scripture from the 126th Psalm.

[25:32] If we'll do as Christ has done in this Psalm, we'll have this tremendous promise. Psalm 126, verses 5 and 6. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

[25:47] He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

[25:57] What a wonderful promise. Let's pray. Lord God, let us not soon forget what we have heard this afternoon.

[26:10] O please put within us a Christ-like zeal and compassion for the lost around us. Make us, each one of us, weepers for souls, sowing in tears that we might reap with songs of joy.

[26:31]  We ask it in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.