How often would I have gathered you ... and you would not ...

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 16 AUGUST 2020 pm

MATTHEW 23 VERSES 37 – 39

The Lord in this passage is looking over Jerusalem.  His heart is grieved for what was about to take place on that city.  The Lord is the Lord of the second chance.  Maybe tonight someone is listening – you have rejected the Lord the first time, even the second time and perhaps even now a third time.  The Lord is a God of grace and he comes afresh to you once more tonight.

 

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not!”

 

This verse reveals a great promise.  “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”  God is saying “I would have gathered you from all danger, you would have found safety with me.”  That is your promise tonight.  That is why Jesus left heaven, left the praise of the angels behind him, to come into this world to die for your sins and my sins.  In Genesis 3 when Adam sinned and rebelled against God that sin came into every living person.  If you are not saved you are still in that condition.  A broken relationship with the Lord.  That promise is for the young and old, for the rich and the poor.  When I go back into the wilderness in the Old Testament and see how the children of Israel were bitten by serpents and died as a result.  Moses was instructed to make a brazen serpent and everyone who looked to that serpent would cure them.  Just one look.  Think of the woman in the New Testament with the ailment for 12 years.  She had tried every doctor.  Just as Jesus passed by she touched the hem and she was immediately healed.  Have you heard the call of the Lord on your soul?  Have you sat under the gospel being preached and when the invitation came you have turned your back and rejected Christ?  The Lord comes again and gives you another opportunity to respond to his call.  Maybe the Lord is giving you your final opportunity.

 

There is a symbol here of patience.  The text says “how often”.  After 40 years of tending the sheep in the wilderness Moses had that failure in the back of his mind but God comes again in the burning bush.  Maybe there is a failure in your life.  You have grown cold but the Lord comes afresh tonight.  In Mark 16 verse 7 when Jesus rose again he told the disciples to make sure Peter knew, even after 3 rejections.  In Mark 6 verse 3 after Jesus had taught in the synagogue, the people asked “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses and of Judah and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.”  In Luke 4 verses 28 and 29 we read that the people in the synagogue were filled with wrath when they heard Jesus, so much so that they cast Jesus out of the city and led him to the brow of a hill to cast him down.  Jesus continued to persevere, he wanted to win them for himself.  If the record is kept in heaven of how often the Lord has spoken to you, every time you have heard the invitation coming afresh but you dug in.  In Revelation 3 verse 20 the patience of the Lord is evident.  He is pleading, knocking at your hearts door.  He wants to come in.  Maybe the door is still firmly closed.  He waits for you to open it from the inside and let him in.  Would you acknowledge you need the Saviour, the one who died for your sins.  In Acts 9 we read of Saul of Tarsus and how the Lord spoke to him as he travelled, brought him to his knees.  Saul asked “who art thou Lord.”  The Lord replied “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”  He was using a farming illustration.  It was the picture of a farmer out ploughing.  The farmer had in his hand a stick with pins on the end.  It was used to prod the animals to keep on ploughing. The animals would kick back every time they were prodded.  Just like that Saul had kicked back every time God had spoken to him.  He refused to listen.

 

The text reveals the problem.  “I have given you every opportunity, what has stopped you listening to me?”  Your stubborn will has stopped you.  The rich young ruler wouldn’t come, not that he couldn’t come.  The thief on the cross asked to be remembered when Jesus came into his kingdom.  What stops you getting saved?  It comes to a decision.  Remember the rich man and the poor man Lazarus in the gospels.  When the poor man Lazarus died he was carried into the heavens by the angels.  He was saved by the grace of God.  The rich man in hell opened up his eyes, lost for eternity.  Balaam said “let me die the death of the righteous.”  Paul said “it is absent from the body and present with the Lord.”

 

This text reveals a great error.  Some 40 years later Jerusalem was overrun by the enemy and the temple pulled apart.  This is an opportunity God has given to you.  Rejection follows judgment.  “It is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment.”  The Lord has taken that judgment on himself.  He offers you a free pardon.  It means repenting and turning from your sin.  Come and trust the Lord with all your heart and believe in him.