Intro>In the 1972 Presidential Primary race, Edmund Muskie seemed well on his way to becoming the Democrats’ nominee for President. However, the Manchester Union Leader published what came to be known as “the Canuck Letter,” which stated that Muskie had made disparaging remarks about Canadians, and that his wife, Jane, was a heavy drinker and used filthy language during the campaign. In an emotional speech, given during a snow storm, Muskie shed some tears when defending his wife. Those tears became his downfall as voters believed his former reputation of being a calm, cool, and collected and “above emotions” leader was forever shattered. Tears, the voters believed, were inappropriate for a President.
---Ironically, in this year’s Presidential Primary experts credit Hillary Clinton’s emotional, tearful speech given prior to the Massachusetts Democratic Primary for saving her candidacy. Tears, in her case, showed that she is not the “machine” many thought she was, that she had real emotions, a softer side to her personality, which made her more someone who could be trusted as a Presidential candidate.
<>Obviously, it seems we’re a little confused as to whether tears are appropriate or not in our leaders.
--But the Bible helps us in understanding the important place of tears as we look at Jesus’ example.
-We’ve already looked at Luke 19:32-41, but now I’d like you to open a Bible to Romans, chapter 8.
-Today we’re beginning a new Sermon Series I’ve entitled, “From Palms to Paradise,” which will lead us up to Easter Sunday.
--Each week we’ll be looking at an event which occurred during the final Passover of Jesus’ earthly life, and look at lessons we can learn from the event.
-It is important to know that Passover is an 8-day Jewish celebration, beginning on a Sunday and concluding the following Sunday.
--The concluding Sunday we call Easter.
---Before 30 a.d. it was known primarily as a celebration of the Spring Harvest.
---However, after 30 a.d. we celebrate Easter as Resurrection Sunday, for it was on Easter Sunday that Jesus rose from the dead.
--The first Sunday, first day of Passover, we now call Palm Sunday, because in 30 a.d. when Jesus entered, as we read earlier in Luke 19, the people greeted him with cheers and waved palm branches, welcoming into Jerusalem as a conquering hero, as a king.
<>But, as seen in our text today, an important event occurred just before Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem...
--He wept over the lostness of the citizens of Jerusalem.
Today, I want us to look at
FIVE IMPORTANT TRUTHS JESUS’ WEEPING TEACHES US...
1) IT’S OKAY TO CRY.
--Lk.19:41 - "When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it."
<>There is a false notion that “big boys don’t cry.”
--It may be true that big boys don’t cry, but real men do.
->On two occasions Scripture records Jesus weeping...in public.
->The second of those cases is our text today, and we’ll look at it further in the moments to follow.
->However, the first time was when Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus, as recorded in John 11.
---This event resulted in the shortest verse in the Bible, but one of the most powerful, when it simply states, ”Jesus wept.”
-->Notice, Jesus didn’t chastise the people who were crying at the tomb...instead He joined them and wept WITH them.
--In fact, Scripture instructs us that we, as believers, are to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.
-APP>In other words, we’re not to suppress our emotions, but learn how to rightly express them.**
->You see, God designed us as multi-dimensional beings: physical, spiritual, with souls and emotions.
--In Scripture we see the early church praising God, rejoicing, weeping, expressing sorrow, even acknowledging their fears.
--It’s normal to cry for happiness at a birth, or at a wedding, or when celebrating a victory of some kind.
--And it’s not a lack of faith to be sad at the loss of a loved one.
---Remember...Jesus wept too!
<>A relationship with Jesus brings into our lives a whole gamut of emotions.
-And, our emotions are actually heightened because the passion He brings into our lives.
-So, yes, we experience sorrow, but we also experience joy, peace and celebration.
<>Tears can also be a sign that we truly care...and people need to know we care before they will ever care what we know.
2) HOW JESUS FEELS ABOUT US IS NOT DEPENDENT UPON HOW WE TREAT HIM.
--Jn.13:1 -- "Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end."
->On that first Sunday of Passover the crowd was shouting His praises... “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
--But Jesus knew that by Friday morning the crowd would be shouting a different message... “Crucify Him!”
->And yet, He didn’t love them any less on Friday than He did on Sunday.
--He wept over them on Sunday.
--He asked the Father to forgive them on Friday.
<>The good news for us is that His love toward us is unconditional, unlimited, and sacrificial.
<>It also means that nothing we’ve ever done, and nothing we’ve ever said about Jesus is too evil for Him to love us.
->He wept over the lostness of Jerusalem even though they had rejected Him.
3) SALVATION INVOLVES A PERSONAL CHOICE.
-In the companion passage in Matthew referring to this event, Matthew records Jesus’ words as follows...
--Mt.23:37 -- "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling."
<>Some declare that God decided FOR you, ahead of your birth, whether you would be saved or not.
--It’s a belief based on several verses in Scripture that refer to believers as being “the elect,” or “the chosen.”
--It’s called predestination...and is advocated by many well-meaning and loving people, but they’re wrong in taking as far as some take it.
<>The truth is God chose those He knew would, BY THEIR OWN CHOICE, EXERCISING FREE WILL, choose Him.
-Look at Romans 8:29-30....
--"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."
-Let me ask a question:
--Is there anyone God doesn’t know?
--Of course not, so the phrase “foreknew” clearly means more than just knowing who the person was or that he/she would be born.
<>He foreknew who would choose to receive Him by faith.
<>Notice, first He KNEW who would choose Him, and THEN He predestined them.
<>Notice also, what it is He predestined them to is to become conformed to the image of Jesus.
--In other words, what He predestined is that every believer would devote his/her life to growing in Christ-likeness here on earth.
--He predestined believers to follow the example of Jesus, the first-born, “older brother,” and become co-heirs with Jesus of the birthright afforded to the first born by the Father.
--It’s more than just “fire insurance” from hell...it involves a lifetime commitment to serving the Lord here on earth.
<>After knowing who WOULD receive Him, He then called them...”wooed” them, if you will, by His Holy Spirit revealing to them their need for Christ...to which they would respond in faith.
<>Then, once they have responded, received Jesus by faith, He then justifies them...cleansed them and declared them forgiven, “just-as-if-I’d” never sinned.
<>Then, still to come, He will glorify, meaning bring these called, justified, saints to heaven to spend eternity with Him.
->There are many verses, many passages in Scripture that refute the incorrect notion of God choosing FOR us our eternal destiny:
--2 Pet.3:9 -- "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."
---Did you catch that? -- It’s NOT God’s desire that anyone perish, that anyone would spend eternity separated from Him.
---However, if God only decided that SOME would be saved, and made that decision FOR them...it means that God had to have created SOME people that He never gave them any option but to spend eternity in hell!
--Does that sound like God’s character to you?
--No, just as this verse tells us, it’s NOT GOD who decides that some will spend eternity in hell....He doesn’t wish that ANY, ANY, ANY would perish, but that ALL, ALL, ALL would come to repentance.
<>So, the fact that ALL do NOT come to repentance, means something has happened OUTSIDE of God’s desire.
--That something is man’s free will.
---It’s the same free will that led Eve and Adam to eat from the forbidden tree...and leads each of us to sin and come short of the glory of God.
--Jn 3:16 -- "...for WHOEVER believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
-->“whoever” means there’s a choice made available to any and all...to whoever.
--Jn.1:11-12 -- "He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believed in His name."
-->Clearly there’s a distinction here...some folks rejected Him, some chose to receive Him.
-->And again, those who receive Him, become co-heirs with Jesus, children of God.
--2 Cor.5:15 -- "and He died for ALL, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."
->There are many more verses, but these we’ve already mentioned state the case clearly enough.
<>However, this event in itself is one of the clearest passages that tell us that salvation does require a personal choice.
<>Question: If God chose ahead of time to create some people whom He wouldn’t choose to save, then why did Jesus stop and cry outside of Jerusalem over their lostness? Why did He cry with a broken heart?
--Is He schizophrenic?
--Did He not remember His fatal choice of their destiny?
<>You see, if those people didn’t have any choice in the matter, it would make no sense for Jesus to be weeping outside the gates of Jerusalem!
-->If God was the One who made the decision for them, their lostness would have been His decision alone!
<>So, the real question today is not whether or not Jesus decided FOR you because He didn’t.
<>The real question today is this: Have you chosen to receive Jesus by faith as God the Father’s one and only way for salvation?
-->It’s the most important decision you’ll ever make....and a decision only you can make for yourself.
---QUOTE: William James once said it well: “When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.”
---QUOTE: Martin Luther has noted that Christianity consists of possessive pronouns. He said, “It is one thing to say, ‘Christ is a Savior;’ It is quite another thing to say, ‘Jesus is my Savior and Lord.’ The devil can say the first; the true Christian alone can say the second.”
<>How you make the choice is just to turn from trying to save yourself and ask Jesus to come into your life as Lord, forgiving you, saving you.
---ILL>During the Spanish American War, Clara Barton was overseeing the work of the Red Cross in Cuba. One day Colonel Theodore Roosevelt came to her, wanted to buy food for his sick and wounded Rough Riders. But she refused to sell him any. Roosevelt was perplexed. His men needed the help and he was prepared to pay out of his own funds. When he asked someone why he could not buy the supplies, he was told, “Colonel, just ask for it!” A smile broke over Roosevelt’s face. Now he understood...the provisions were not for sale. All he had to do was simply ask and they would be given freely.
4) WHEN OUR FOCUS IS ON OTHERS, WE HURT FOR THEM...Even if they don’t realize their condition.
--Lk.19:41 -- "When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, if you had known this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes."
-->Jesus’ tears were because He did know what’s ahead for those who reject Him.
-->They were oblivious to their own condition, but Jesus knew it very well...and He hurt for them.
<>In the same way, our pillows should be wet with tears, and our hearts should ache because of the lostness of our neighbors.
-->Here’s some homework for this week:
---This week, really look at your neighbors (don’t be goofy and stare at them, but really look at them).
---Let God help you “see” their condition, their future, their eternal destination at this point.
5) AS BELIEVERS, OUR COMPASSION FOR OTHERS LEADS US TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT...Even if they don’t immediately appreciate what we’re doing.
--Lk.23:34 -- "But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
---ILL>I will never forget watching the man on the Bay Bridge between San Francisco and Oakland immediately following the earthquake that occurred a few years ago during the World Series and caused the upper section to collapse on the lower one. The man was frantically waving his arms, trying to get oncoming traffic’s attention...trying to alert them to the impending accident ahead if they kept on driving. Some of the drivers were rude to man, gesturing to him, yelling at him, but as they went past him, their cars went off the edge of the bridge to their peril. Some of the people, however, heeded the man’s warning, not understanding at first what the man was doing, but then, once they saw what the man had already seen, they understood and were forever grateful.
<>In the same way, there will be some of our neighbors and work acquaintances who will never understand our concern for them, but some might come to faith in Christ...and they will understand it all later.
---ILL>I heard a fellow Promise Keeper one time recently talk of how he used to be embarrassed by his mom’s appearance when he was growing up...how she only wore two dresses, never spent money on herself for new shoes, “make-overs,” etc. Later, though, he learned she did what she died, wore what she wore, put up with the teasing and ridicule she experienced, so that HE could wear new clothes, have the latest toys, so that HE might not be made fun of at school. Once he understood that, he found her appearance something he was very proud of, because now he “got it.” She did what she did because she loved him...even when he didn’t appreciate her love.
-APP>Our goal, in thinking about others, is not worrying about what others might think of us right now, but where these others will spend eternity....and how we can be God’s instruments of peace in bringing them to faith in Christ.
-->If we do focus on what others think about us, let it be what they will think of us once they’re in heaven and understand why we’ve done what we’ve done for their sakes.
---LYR>As Ray Boltz’ song, “Thank You,” presents, there can become a day when people up in heaven will be there as a result of little things we’ve done, our faithfulness in serving the Lord. And that is our greatest “reward,” knowing we’ve served the Lord as a good and faithful servant, serving others, even when they might not have appreciated it at the time.
Bringing It Home...
<>Today, we need to remember:
->It’s okay to cry.
---God gave us emotions, and He doesn’t mind us expressing them.
->Jesus is on our side, no matter what we might have done to Him.
->Salvation is our choice to make.
---And our friends and neighbors can still choose to receive Jesus.
->When we care about others, sometimes it will hurt.
->When we care about others, it will lead us to doing what is right, what is best for them, regardless of whether they appreciate it right now or not.
