COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY 16 FERUARY 2025 – MR IAN GILKINSON
MATTHEW 23 VERSES 34 – 39
Now these verses that we have read together
as far as the gospel of Matthew is concerned are the last words of our Lord in
a public setting. He said many other things of course but these are the last in
a public setting. They contain a lament, a poignant lament. They express the
sorrow in the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ over his rejection by the nation
of Israel as their promised Messiah. It is his lament that I want us to
consider lest there should be any in this meeting who by their continual
rejection of Christ should land themselves in the same boat as this generation,
that generation of the nation of Israel who rejected the Lord Jesus as their
great promised Messiah.
I want you to note first of all what weeping
there is in this lament. In this lament our Lord mourns over the fate of Jerusalem.
He knows it will be soon left desolated because it rejected him as its promised
Messiah. They were waiting for God to send their promised Messiah. They
rejected him, despite his word and his works. He mourns over the fate of the
whole nation of Israel, Jerusalem here being representative of the nation of Israel
for he knows it will be destroyed when God abandons her house. Jesus knows what
is coming. When he speaks these words he knows what will befall Jerusalem in the
coming years. He mourns on their behalf. They have rejected him, the one who
came to save them. The one who their promised Messiah mournfully cried verse 37
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem.” The “O” signifying the depth of his sorrow. What
other word could you use except O? Notice the repetition of Jerusalem identifying
the emotion of what he felt for the Holy City Jerusalem. When I think of
ourselves today as the sinner, the Lord knows what awaits the sinner who dies
in his sin, whether that be a man or woman. He knows what will befall them and
he mourns for them. If we were to apply those words to ourselves, to add our names
instead, he mourns for you. He knows what is before you. He knows your fate and
he doesn’t want you to die in your sins. Put your own name in there. What
weeping we have in this lament. Think of that for a moment. Here we have the creator
of the universe, the one who created the sun, moon and stars. He created all
things by the word of his power. The one who created you and created me, he
mourns for the man and woman who dies in their sin because he knows what awaits
them. Trying to convey here his sorrow, his love for you. What weeping.
Secondly, what wickedness is spoken
of here. The Lord charges the holy city Jerusalem and nation of Israel of what –
killing the prophets and stoned them which were sent unto them. They killed the
prophets of God, stoned his messengers. Put it another way he charges them of
trying to silence the voice of God by eliminating the messengers of God. Men
that God sent with a message they got rid of, disposed of by killing. The cup
of their iniquity was almost full. Further murderers attempted to silence the
voice of God would culminate in the crucifixion of the Son of God who would crucify
him in a short time. In the persecution of those later sent to them, the
apostles, the early Christians bear witness to the life and death of the Lord but
also his glorious resurrection from the dead. The cup of their iniquity was
almost full. They were wicked people, guilty of the shedding of innocent blood
in the city including the Son of God. Such guilt. They would pay for such wickedness.
When I think of the man still without God, the bible makes it clear they are
sinners through and through. Their heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.
They might never have killed any prophets or stoned them but are equally wicked
in God’s sight. The bible mentions we have all sinned and come short of his
glory. He will not hold any of us guiltless, he will judge us for our sins. For
some of us conscious of our sin through his word, through his gospel, we too
have sought to silence his voice. Maybe in the pub, at home, in different ways,
to stop our ears to his voice for we know what we must do it. We don’t want to
do it. We want to continue in our own way, to continue in our sin. Maybe we never
drove the nails into Christ’s hands and feet or physically scourged him but we are
guilty of his blood, for the Son of God died for us. We put him there
ultimately. It was God himself for he came to die for our sins. In this land we
have great weeping and wickedness.
We also have wistfulness in this
land. The Lord expressed how often he longed to save Jerusalem, the nation of
Israel for he could see the storm of judgment of God coming. He longed that she
would repent and trust in him. As the promised Messiah he longed that her
children, the nation of Israel would awaken to his call. He wanted to protect Israel from the coming
storm under his wings metaphorically. He longed to protect them under his wings
even as a hen gathers her chicks together by calling onto them, clicking unto
them lovingly when she senses an approaching storm, that she would protect them
with her outstretched wings. As I think of the sinner without God, dead in
trespasses and sin, going on the way to death and destruction, the Lord longs
that you might turn from your sin, from your wicked ways. Turn to him in
repentance and faith. That you might find safety, security and salvation under
his wings from the wrath that is to come. He has longed for her. He is not
willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. He longs
that you might long to turn from your sins and turn to him. He longs for you to
do that. He knows what is ahead. He knows the storm that is about to break over
her. What weeping there is in this land. What wickedness there is in this land.
What wistfulness there is in this land.
What wilfulness there is in this
land. Our Lord exclaimed that and put his longings to save Jerusalem, the
nation of Israel from the coming storm of judgement, the storm of God. The
nation of Israel and Jerusalem had stubbornly refused to repent despite all the
opportunities to do so. Jerusalem and the nation of Israel had outrightly rejected
him as their promised Messiah. Worse still she would still clamour for his
death for she did not want him to run over her. So again, apply that to
ourselves, thinking of the sinner who is still in their sin. God is calling,
beckoning, wooing, seeking to bring him to himself. So many of us have wilfully
resisted him. Wouldn’t it be a shame, more a tragedy to think that on the day
of your death if we were to chisel onto your tombstone “and ye would not”.
Despite the gracious call of God, despite the striving of the spirit. If you
were to die in your sin that is all we could write on your tombstone. Your
family could put lovely things on it but the best would be “and ye would not”.
As we think of this lament we noted what weeping, wickedness, wistfulness,
wilfulness there is. Note what woe there is in this lament. In this lament our
Lord spoke of the desolation of her house, namely the temple that was in
Jerusalem. He foretold that the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed because
it would be abandoned by God. He told his disciples this in chapter 24 verse 2.
That is exactly what happened in AD70 when the Romans overthrew Jerusalem and demolished
the temple. The inhabitants were carried into captivity. Josephus tells us
about a million people were killed at that time. Also told that when the temple
was destroyed and raised to the ground by fire that they took apart the stone
blocks in order to get gold. Fulfilled the prophecy. Not one stone was left on
another in their greed for gold. They demolished the temple. That generation
suffered all those things because they didn’t heed him. He suffered without
cause, nailed him to a tree. The man or woman who rejects Christ wilfully,
resists him, who will not come, even those he has graciously called strive with
them and are convicted of their sin by the Holy Spirit. There is nothing but
destruction for them. They died in their sin and experienced the second death
after judgement for their sins. They were cast into the lake of fire when the
smoke of their torment will ascend for ever and ever. What woe there is for the
sinner who dies in their sin.
What wisdom there is. Thankfully
there were those in Jerusalem and the nation of Israel who did believe in
Christ. They obeyed the command of Jesus who at the beginning of his ministry cried
repent and believe the gospel. The majority did not but those who did there
were those who fled to Jesus to save them from the death there was to come, the
judgement of God that would have broken on their souls. Thankfully there were those
who found wisdom under his wings. Is there anyone here who might exercise the
same judgement that some of you did in that day and as countless millions have done
ever since? What about you? Have you ever been conscious of God speaking,
striving within? Have you ever come and put your trust in him as Saviour? Have
you found shelter under his wings?
The story is told of a homesteader in the
Canadian prairies in 1850 who set up his home in an area that was prone to
fire. In order to safeguard himself from fires in the autumn and spring he
ploughed a couple of furrows around the estate. He burnt off the scrubland that
it might be a firebreak. One morning he awoke to the smell of fire. He realised
there was a fire in the distance. He started to soak the ground around his
home. He went to bed but couldn’t sleep. The next morning the fire was closer.
He watched for the sparks coming onto the land and beat them out. He poured
water and endeavoured to save his farm. He did everything that he could. A
little red hen was so conscious of the danger of the fire and when she realised
that the chicks might perish began to cluck loudly. The little chicks came
running to her to find shelter under her wings. One wilful little chick thought
it knew better. Rather than coming to the mother hen and finding shelter he ran
off and perished in the fire. When the fire had passed by the farmer had saved
his homestead. As he looked around his property for any sparks he saw a mound
in the distance smouldering away. This intrigued him so he went over to the
mound. As he kicked the mound these tiny chicks came out from beneath the mound
chirping. The homesteader realised that the little red hen gave her life for
her chicks. They listened to her call but one didn’t and he perished. Jesus
gave his life and those who come to him as he calls will be saved from the
wrath that is to come. He will shelter them under his wings but the man or
woman who wilfully resists, goes their own way, they will perish in their sin.
Don’t be like that little chick. When Jesus calls run, run from the wrath that
is to come. Run to Jesus and find shelter under his wings even as Israel could
have done in that day. If they had believed him and received him they would have
been saved. Will you?
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