Transcript
With me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 19 and verse 41.
Luke chapter 19 and verse 41.
Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground. And they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.’
It seemed like a perfect night for a mugging. The street was dark. The hour was late. The neighborhood was the tough Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. The date was November the 14th, 1993.
Out of the corner store came forty-one-year-old Arthur Boone. As he walked up the street he was stalked by two teenagers. One of these teenagers was fifteen-year-old Carl James, known as B-Boy, and the other teenager was nineteen-year-old Matas Pell, known as Tap.
Now Arthur Boone had already been mugged three times in this crime-ridden neighborhood. And he was about to be mugged again. When the boys caught up with him, B-Boy put a BB gun to his head. Boone did not know that it was unloaded. And it looked dangerous because it was a replica of a .45.
As they relieved Boone of his wallet, now who knows how many other muggings these two young fellows had committed. But this mugging was destined to be their very last mugging. Suddenly and without warning Boone pulled out of his belt a .44 caliber magnum pistol. He fired three shots. One shot hit B-Boy in the head and killed him. The other two shots hit Tap in the chest and killed him.
Boone waited patiently until the police arrived. He explained to them that he had been the victim of previous muggings. And he surrendered to the police without complaint. Because his magnum pistol was not registered he was charged with criminal possession of a weapon. But he was released without bail.
Many people thought that he was a hero. In fact a local gun club sent him a five-hundred-dollar “courageous victim” award. The president of the gun club, speaking of the teenagers, said, “I think they got what they deserved.” Speaking to the media a neighbor of his said about Arthur Boone, “He was a very mild-mannered man. He was never violent.” Never, that is, until this particular night. And that was just too bad for B-Boy and Tap.
Now this little slice of life from crime-ridden America, it seems to me, carries its own obvious message with it. It is a message that is written in big bold letters. And the message is this: sooner or later you pay.
Now this morning I am not going to talk to you about violent crime in America. You can find out all you need about that in the media. I am not even going to talk to you about all of the unsaved people who are headed for an eternal hell unless they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for the absolutely free gift of everlasting life.
Instead I want to talk to you about a biblical principle that applies to each and every person that is sitting in this auditorium this morning. You see the Bible says, “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” And that is the principle that is embodied in the words that I used just a few moments ago. Words that will serve me as the title of my message to you this morning.
Here are those words again: sooner or later you pay.
A number of years ago someone wrote a book entitled Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche. Well that book did not bother me particularly because I have never been very fond of quiche. Now if somebody had written a book that said real men do not eat fried chicken that would have disturbed me in those days. Although now I do not eat fried chicken either and I guess it would not bother me at all.
But you know every once in a while somebody says or somebody thinks real men do not cry. Real men do not cry. But that is not true, is it? And the greatest proof that it is not true is found in the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Do you realize that the passage of Scripture that we have read is one of two passages in the Word of God where we are told that Jesus cried, that Jesus wept? The other one, of course, is the familiar passage in the Gospel of John. The occasion was the death of Lazarus, a good friend of Jesus who lived in the little village of Bethany. And on that occasion Jesus was visiting the grieving sisters and He was surrounded by mourners. And it seemed perfectly natural. It seemed perfectly reasonable that Jesus should cry. The Bible tells us that He did, that Jesus wept.
But when we look at the passage of Scripture that we have just read it is almost surprising. It is almost shocking to discover that Jesus wept. You see this was a very joyful occasion. In fact this was the occasion that we refer to as Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry.
And just prior to this two of Jesus’ disciples had brought Him a donkey. And they had spread some of their clothes over the back of the donkey. And Jesus had mounted the donkey. And as He began to travel down the road toward Jerusalem others of His great crowd of disciples, more than just the twelve, began to spread their garments into the pathway before Jesus.
And then as they approached the city of Jerusalem they burst forth in a spirit of tremendous joy, giving praise to God for all of the wonderful mighty miracles that they had seen Jesus do. And with loud and triumphant voices they shouted, “Blessed be the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Do you not see that on this occasion Jesus was surrounded by praise, by adoration, and by worship? And yet, and yet, when He approached that city, when He looked out upon the city of Jerusalem, His eyes filled with tears. Tears began to roll down His cheeks. And Jesus wept.
Now please remember that Jerusalem was the most highly privileged city on the face of the earth. It was the city that God had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel that His name should be there. It was the city in which Solomon had built that splendid and wonderful temple. It was the city that was not only the capital of Israel but was destined to be the capital of the entire world.
And yet the history of that city was a history of rebellion. It was a history of disobedience. It was a history of sin against the God who had so highly favored it. And as Jesus sat on that donkey and looked at the city these are the words that He said: “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”
Oh, says Jesus, if only you had known the things that would have brought peace to you. But you did not know them. And now they are concealed from you.
May I suggest that one of the things that is most frequently overlooked by human beings, by you and by me, are the things that make for our peace, the things that would bring peace into our lives and into our experiences.
There was a little boy one time who said to his father, “Dad,” he said, “how do wars start?” And his dad said, “Well take the First World War for example. It started when Germany invaded Belgium.” And his wife was right there and she spoke up and she said, “Why don’t you tell him the truth? It started when somebody was assassinated.” Of course she was referring to Archduke Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne.
And her husband drew himself up in righteous indignation. You know how husbands can do that, ladies. And he said to his wife, “Are you answering this question or am I?” And his wife turned around and she walked out of the room and she slammed the door behind her as loudly as she could. Bam! And when the dishes in the cupboard stopped rattling an awkward silence descended upon the room.
And finally the little boy spoke up and he said, “Dad, you do not need to tell me how wars start. I know now.” Smart kid. Smart, observant kid.
But you know what? For every smart kid there is a dumb adult. There are adults who are doing things and saying things that destroy their peace, that destroy the peace of the home, that destroy the peace of the workplace, that destroy the peace of their own personal lives. Because they do not know the things that make for their peace.
When World War One broke out the War Ministry in Britain sent an urgent coded message to a British outpost in a difficult-to-reach section of Africa. And the coded message said this: “War declared. Arrest all enemy aliens in your district.”
After a while they got a message back from their outpost. And the message said this: “Have arrested ten Germans, six Belgians, four Frenchmen, two Italians, three Austrians, and one American. Please advise immediately who are we at war with?”
You know oftentimes adults do not know who they are at war with. They think they are at war with their spouse. They think they are at war with their kids. They think they are at war with their boss at work or with their fellow workers. And more often than not the person they are really at war with is the person who looks back at them when they look into the mirror. And they are living the kind of lives that are destructive to their peace.
You know I really do not know whether the Lord Jesus Christ cries at the right hand of God. I do not know. But if He does I suspect that one of the things He cries about is the foolishness, the ignorance, the blindness of His people who do not know the things that make for their peace.
Now I really do not know what kind of weather day it was that we are reading about here. Maybe it was a bright sunshiny day. And maybe as Jesus looked out over the city of Jerusalem He could see the sunlight shining down on the roofs and buildings of that city and bouncing off in sparkling rays. I would like to think it was that kind of a day.
But as Jesus looked at that city He was able to see something that no human eye could see. Jesus could see the coming of a storm, the coming of a storm. He could see the Roman legions who would one day advance and surround that city. He could see the earthworks and the embankments that they would throw up around the city. And He could see them firing arrows and missiles into the city.
And Jesus goes on in His words to Jerusalem. And He says, “The days will come when your enemies will build embankments around you and shut you in, surround you and enclose you.” In other words, my friends, on this wonderful day Jesus could see into the future. And He could see Jerusalem under siege. He could see Jerusalem under siege.
Does it ever seem to you that you are under siege? Are there times when you look all around you and almost everywhere you look there is a problem? There is a problem with your spouse. There is a problem with your kids. There is a problem with your job. There is a problem with finances. There is a problem with health.
Does it ever seem that you are under siege that way? And if it does, do you know that it is possible that these things are happening to you as part of the discipline of God?
Do I need to tell this audience, an audience many of you have been here for many years, that even though we have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for the free gift of eternal life, even though we know with certainty on the basis of God’s Word that we are going to heaven, even though we know He can never lose us because He promised never to lose us, do we understand that even though those things are true we are part of God’s family? And that He is our Father? And that He disciplines His children?
The Bible says, “Whom the Lord loves He disciplines. Whom the Lord loves He chastens. And He whips every son whom He receives.”
A newspaper reported about an angry mother who appeared in traffic court one day and paid a fifty-dollar fine for her eighteen-year-old son. And as soon as she paid the fine she turned to her son and she gave him a loud resounding smack. The judge in the court was a little surprised by that. But then he allowed his face to relax into a grin. And he said, “Madam,” he said, “that calls for a ten-dollar reduction in the fine.”
And the mother said, “That is nothing. Wait till I get him home.”
Now folks, when we follow our own pathway and are not listening to the Lord, every once in a while maybe He smacks us. And maybe if we have ignored that, here is a piece of advice: do not let Him get you home. Do not force Him to put you through the serious, serious trouble that our stubbornness and self-will can bring to pass.
There was an American one time who became acquainted with a Syrian shepherd. And he noticed that every morning the Syrian shepherd took something to his sheep. And so one morning he followed him. And he found that the Syrian shepherd was taking food to a sheep that had a broken leg.
And so the American asked the shepherd, he said, “How did this sheep break its leg? Did he have an accident? Did he fall into a pit? Did an animal attack him?”
And the shepherd said, “No,” he said, “I broke his leg.”
“What?” said the American. “You broke its leg?”
“Yes,” said the Syrian shepherd. “You see this is a wayward sheep. He was constantly wandering away from the flock and he was leading other sheep astray. And finally he would not even let me come near him. Finally he would not even let me approach him. So I broke his leg so I could feed him, so he could learn that I was his shepherd, and so that he could learn to trust me.”
You know one of the most wonderful statements in the Bible, one that we all love, is “The Lord is my shepherd.” But have we forgotten that the shepherd has a rod and a staff? And that He disciplines, He chastens His sheep?
And do you not see, my friends, if we forget the longsuffering of God, if we go on in our own way and pretend that He is not there, sooner or later the principle always works. Sooner or later we pay.
So there the Lord was looking out into the future of Jerusalem. And I have to feel, my friends, that the final words that He said to Jerusalem were the words that grieved Him the most. Yes, He sees the Roman soldiers gathering around that city and setting siege to the city. But then He says of these enemies, “They shall level you and your children within you to the ground. They shall not leave one stone upon another, because you did not know the day of your visitation.”
Do you see that the city of Jerusalem is being presented as a mother? And that her citizens are being presented as her children? And the Lord is saying you and your children will be leveled to the ground by your enemies.
Before this week was over, though Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah that their King would come to them sitting on a donkey, before this very week was over a mob of people in Jerusalem would be standing before the Roman governor. They would be crying out against Jesus. And they would be crying out, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
And the Roman governor would say, “Shall I crucify your King?” And the mob would cry out, “We have no king but Caesar!”
And then the Roman governor would take a basin of water and he would wash his hands in front of the crowd. And he would say to the crowd, “I am innocent of the blood of this just man. You see to it.”
And the crowd in Jerusalem, my friends, uttered the most chilling, chilling words I think found anywhere in the Bible. The crowd cried out, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
You see the city of Jerusalem could not protect her children from the judgment of God because she did not know her day of opportunity. She did not know the day of her visitation.
And mark it well, my friends, if you are a disobedient parent you cannot protect yourself and you cannot protect your children from the consequences of disobedience in your life.
Tell me, do you know the day of your visitation? Is it possible that this morning as I have been talking to you that God has been speaking to you about some thing that you were doing in your life that you ought not to be doing? Or perhaps He has been speaking to you about something that you are not doing that you ought to be doing?
Will you take the opportunity that is given to you this morning to repent of that sin, to confess it to God, and to ask God with His help and His grace to turn you away from it completely? Do you know the day of your visitation?
But if you do not, let me remind you the principle always works. Sooner or later you pay.
Ira Sankey was probably the greatest gospel singer of the nineteenth century. He sang frequently at the evangelistic campaigns of the evangelist Dwight L. Moody. On one occasion he was on a steamboat traveling the Delaware River. And as very often happened the other passengers on the steamboat requested that he should sing for them. And so he did.
And he sang the shepherd song, a song that is kind of familiar to us: “Savior, like a shepherd lead us, much we need Thy tender care.” And when he had finished singing the song a man with a very weather-beaten face approached him. And the man said to Ira Sankey, “Were you by any chance in the Union Army during the Civil War?”
“Why yes,” said Sankey. “As a matter of fact I joined in the spring of 1860.”
And then the weather-beaten-faced man said, “Were you by any chance on picket duty, on guard duty, in the spring of 1862?”
And somewhat surprised Sankey said, “Why yes, I was.”
And then the man told him this story. He said, “You know I was on picket duty too. But I was in the Confederate Army.” He said, “I saw you standing there. And I raised my musket and I aimed at you. And I knew that I could not miss because I was in the shadows and you were out under the moonlight.”
He said, “Just as I was about to pull the trigger you lifted up your face and you began to sing.” And he said, “Singing has always been meaningful to me. And so I said to myself, ‘I am going to let this man finish his song. And then when he is finished with his song I am going to kill him. And there is no way he can get away.’”
And then he said, “You sang that night the very song that you sung just now on this boat: ‘We are Thine, do Thou befriend us, be the guardian of our way.’” And he said, “You know my mother used to sing me that song over and over again. I had a very godly mother. But she died too young. And I feel like if she had not died so young my life would have been different.”
And he said, “When you finished your song I could not take aim at you again.” He said, “My arm fell almost automatically to my side. And I said to myself, ‘The God who has preserved this man from death must be truly great and wonderful indeed.’”
And do you not see that because the musket did not fire, Ira Sankey was preserved for a life of gospel singing which he subsequently lived?
And listen to me, my friends. If you do not want the musket to fire, if you do not want the explosion to occur, you must let your Savior lead you. “Savior, like a shepherd lead us, much we need Thy tender care. In Thy pleasant pastures feed us, for our use Thy folds prepare. We are Thine, do Thou befriend us, be the guardian of our way. Keep Thy flock, from sin defend us, seek us when we go astray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, hear Thy people when they pray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, hear Thy people when they pray.”
Shall we pray?
Thank You, Father, for so wonderful a Shepherd as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For every born-again person in this audience we pray that they may truly, truly learn to follow Him. And we ask this in His name. Amen.