How Often I Would, But You Would Not

HOW OFTEN I WOULD, BUT YOU WOULD NOT

Matt. 23:37-38

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. Here’s an early Mother’s Day joke. A pastor was talking to a teenage boy; “I want to teach you about a higher power.”

2. The teen answered, “You mean, my Dad?” The pastor laughed, “Haha! No! Much higher than that!”

3. The boy said, “Oh, I know. You’re talking about my MOM!”

B. TEXT

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate.” Mt. 23:37-38.

C. THESIS

1. This is not and could not be the language of a mere man. It expresses God’s efforts, for many centuries, to persuade the Israelites to do the right thing and walk with Him. He sent the prophets, signs and wonders, and many other warnings. God would often have gathered the Israelites together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but they would not.

2. Tonight we’re going to examine how God deals with us and check out whether we are appropriately responding to Him.

3. The title if this message is, “How Often I Would, But You Would Not.”

I. GOD’S GOAL FOR THOSE WHO COME TO HIM

He gathers us, “as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings.” It’s an amazing thing that God would condescend to compare Himself to a hen! There must be some very important truth He wishes to convey, that He uses such a metaphor. How are God’s actions similar to a hens?

A. TO IMPART LOVE & BLESSING

A hen gathers her chicks to her to love and bless them; God does so to impart good to us. Listen to God’s heart:

1. Jer. 32:40, “I will never stop doing them good.”

2. Deut. 5:29, “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!”

3. Deut. 7:12-15, “If you pay attention...follow....He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land...your flocks....You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless....The Lord will keep you free from every disease.”

4. Ps. 81:13-14, “If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!”

B. TO PUT US INTO FAMILIES “God sets the lonely in families” Ps. 68:6.

1. The chicks, beneath the wings of the hen, look very happy all crowded together. What a sweet little family they are! Those outside of a church family, don’t know the joy of its companionship.

2. When I came to Christ, I lost 3 or 4 friends, and was alienated from my mother. But I found that I gained hundreds of friends, and found I had new mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers. (My own family did get saved too!)

3. My heart goes out to all the lonely sinners, who say, “Nobody seems to care about me.” if they would just come to Christ & to church, they would soon find happy fellowship!

C. TO GIVE THE COVER OF SAFETY

1. If there’s a hawk in the sky, the mother hen gives her peculiar cluck of warning, and they scurry beneath her wings. On cold nights the chicks might freeze if they remained exposed, but under the hen’s wings, they are warm.

2. ILLUS. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers...found a bird literally petrified in ashes. Startled by the eerie sight, they knocked over the bird with a stick, and three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother’s wings. She could have flown to safety but refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze arrived, the mother had remained steadfast, being willing to die so that those under her wings would live. [James Botts]

3. God, in Christ, is the Giver of safety. He will preserve you from old sins, future temptations, and a thousand snares of the enemy.

D. GOD WILL FIGHT FOR YOU

1. Chickens are timid animals most of the time, but when it comes to their baby chicks, they lose their timidity and become positively feisty!

2. God too gets upset when His children are mistreated; God will defend His own. “The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes” Deut. 1:30. God will take care of you!

E. HE WILL ASSIST WITH GROWTH