Sermon for Lord's Day May 15, 2021 "Your house is left to you desolate"

Verse 34 and verse 35, these are the words of the living God.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.

Behold, your house is forsaken, and I tell you, you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Our Heavenly Father, as we approach your throne, once again we come with a grateful heart, thankful for the privilege to pray, thankful for the privilege and the joy of knowing that when we pray, that you hear our prayers.

And we know that this is not something self-deserved, this is not something that we have earned. We know that prayer is the blood-bought privilege of the saints of God, that we can come boldly to find mercy and grace to help us in time of need.

And Lord, I want to thank you and praise you for the power, for the truth, and for the life in your word. We ask today, O God, that you show us Christ from your word, convict the sinner's heart, regenerate and make new, bring to life, give new birth today.

And dear Lord, for those who may just be tired and weary, give them comfort, grace, and peace according to your word, for it is in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Two verses here, 34 and 35. We're not able to get to them in depth last week because we're going to be looking at context so much in Matthew chapter 23, in 2 Chronicles 24, and in 1 Samuel chapter 4 today.

It's a lot of scripture, but it is so very important. It really is going to enrich us, enrich our understanding of the truth and the knowledge of the scriptures themselves. So J .C. Ryle said, most Christians see nothing beyond the surface of the Bible when they.

Read it.

Ryle went on to say, we want a more clear knowledge of Christ as a living person, as a living priest, a living physician, a living friend, a living advocate at the right hand of God, and a living savior soon to come.

What we have, church, in the whole of the whole Bible is the divine inspiration and word of God preserved for us here in the text. This is why we say these are the words of the living God. This is not the words of a newspaper.

This is not the words of a novel book. These are the words of the living God. They are quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It is by and through the preaching and proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the word of God himself, that men, women, boys, and girls can be saved by God's amazing grace.

So, J .I. Packer in his book, Concise Theology, said this, nobody would know the truth about God or be able to relate to him in a personal way had not God first acted to make himself known. This is how we can know God.

Two forms of revelation, general revelation, seeing God in nature. We can see God in nature. You can't look around you and not understand or you can deny it, but you're a liar if you look around and you deny the existence of the true and the living God, the creator of the heavens and the earth.

He alone is the eternal self-existent God. But what we see here in Luke's gospel, by way of recap, we see in Luke's gospel how that by one event on top of another, it testifies to the glory and to the majesty of God Almighty.

We see God's preeminence. We see his providential intervention in the affairs of men. We see the powerful, omnipotent, holy one condescending to become a flesh and blood man. Now it is a great mystery and likely never to be understood how that God became man and yet remained fully God.

In theological terminology, this mystery is called the hypostatic union. Nevertheless, remember this, that God in Christ became a man to suffer in our place the wrath.

Of Almighty God.

And were he not truly man, his life nor his death would have been an acceptable sacrifice. And were he not truly God, he could not have borne the wrath of God in our place. And throughout Luke's gospel here, we're going to see the biblical doctrine, biblical doctrines plural of God's sovereignty.

We see the doctrine of God's providence. We see the doctrines of grace, the radical depravity of man, the unconditional election of God's people, men and women alike by God and for God's glory. We see in Luke's gospel, the biblical doctrine of definite atonement.

We see the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints of God. Amongst other doctrines, we see the doctrine of heaven and hell. We see the biblical doctrine of angels. We see the biblical doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture itself.

And so from our text here in Luke and the greater context in Matthew's gospel, and as we broaden the scope of context to Samuel and to Chronicles, what we're going to do today, we're going to be examining the significance of two things.

If you're taking notes, two things. We're going to examine the significance of the mention of the prophet Zechariah in Matthew's account. Now, the significance of the mention of the prophet Zechariah, as well, we will be answering the question today, why Jesus must go to Jerusalem?

This is very important. Now you remember, if you look back in the 13th chapter to verse 22, we've mentioned this numerous times over the past several months, but it's so very important. He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching, journeying toward Jerusalem.

He would not be sidetracked. He would not be cast aside. He would not put his attention anywhere else because it was to Jerusalem that he must go. Now, what was it that Christ came to accomplish? Do you remember that question last week?

What was it Christ came to accomplish? The scripture tells us in Luke chapter 19, verse 10, the son of man came to seek and to save that which is lost. Jesus came to accomplish what could not be accomplished by the temporal sacrifices, by the temporary shedding of blood of bulls and of goats.

What Christ came to do was to provide eternal redemption by the sacrifice of himself, by the shedding of his own blood, by the dying to death that only he himself could die, and by raising to life again on the third day, which no one has ever done before that time or since.

Jesus told Pilate when he stood before him, and Pilate said to you, do you not know that I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you? To which Jesus responded to Pilate by saying this, you can have no power at all against me unless it has been given to you from above.

That is the truth. So but when Jesus said in another place, I have power to lay down my life and to take it up again. This is the Christ that we proclaim to you today. This is our Lord and our Savior, and in this text we see the great love, we see the mercy, we see the compassion, we see the concern, we see the care of the great shepherd for the sheep of his pasture, and we see the great wrath of Almighty God on those who disdain his truth.

Very very important. Oh Jerusalem, Jesus said, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. Remember Spurgeon wrote concerning Jerusalem, her mountain was illustrious in history.

It was one of her pinnacles that Abraham drew the knife to slay his son, and on the spot where the plague was stayed in David's day, when the outstretched hand of the angel was arrested at the threshing floor of Arum, the temple was built here, stone upon stone where God delighted to dwell.

It was the source, Spurgeon said, it was the source when light went streaming through the land as from the sun. And at the same time, it was the great lake into which the rivers of sacred prayer and praise constantly flowed, gleaming in their fullness.

But on the other hand, Spurgeon said Jerusalem was the worst of cities, and yet the most religious, it was the most profane because it was the most sanctimonious, its piety being a mere empty profession.

Oh friends today, make sure, make certain today that you are not an empty professor of faith in Jesus Christ, for it is truly one thing to say, I have been saved, I've done this and I've done that, and for you to be an empty husk and a shell of a man or.

A woman.

But it is a completely other thing to know that you have been born from above, that your sins have been forgiven, and that not only you claim to know Christ, but Christ claims to know you. Spurgeon went on to say, in offering oblations and burning incense, Jerusalem was preeminent.

Still, no other city had such renown for stoning the prophets. So let's answer this question first. What was the importance, what was the significance of Jesus going to Jerusalem? Very very important here.

John Gill, in his commentary on Luke 13, said this, it cannot be that a prophet perished out of Jerusalem, quoting the text, because, and here's why, because the great Sanhedrin only sat at Jerusalem to whom it belonged to try and to judge a prophet.

And if found false, to condemn him and to put him to death, the rule is this, quote, they do not judge, neither a tribe, nor a false prophet, nor a high priest, but by the Sanhedrin of 70 and 1. Not but that prophet sometimes perished elsewhere, as John the Baptist did in Galilee, but not according to a judicial process.

Here's the key here. In which way Christ the prophet was to be cut off, nor was it common. Christ must go to Jerusalem, because it is in Jerusalem where, quote, unquote, prophets were tried and condemned to death.

John Gill went on to say this, Christ the prophet was to be cut off, nor was it common instances of this kind were rare, and they were always in a violent way, and we know the violent death that our Lord died.

And even such as were sentenced to death by the lesser Sanhedrins around about, they were always brought to Jerusalem and publicly executed there, whose crimes were of another sort. For as Gill said, so runs the canon, quote, they do not put anyone to death by the Sanhedrin, which is in his city, nor by the Sanhedrin in Javana, but they bring him to the great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, and they keep him, this is history, till the feast, and they put him to death on a feast day, and all the people shall hear and fear.

And since Jerusalem was the place where the prophets were usually put to death, it follows accordingly. So according to Jewish custom, if a death sentence was pronounced, it had to be tried, and it had to be carried out in Jerusalem.

Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, he makes his way, knowing full well what lie ahead of him, praise be unto God for our sakes, he knew what lay ahead of him, he knew that the agony, the torment, and the suffering of his physical body, but my friend, he knew full well the suffering of his own soul for our sin.

Matthew Henry commented on this sad state of Jerusalem at this time by saying this, those that enjoy great plenty of the means of grace, if they are not profited by them, they are often prejudiced against them.

And this is true for folks today as well. If you are not profited by the means of grace, by the proclamation and the preaching of the word and the teaching of the word of God, then my friend, it might very well be that you are prejudiced against them.

And if you are prejudiced against them, he went on to say, if men's corruptions are not conquered, they will be provoked. You cannot be neutral in the face of the preaching of the word of God. You will love it as a believer, or you will hate it as an unbeliever.

You will rejoice as an unbeliever. But my friend, the word is true, and it is pure, and it is life-giving to those who call upon the name of the living God. So no one will be standing with the Lord. So my question to you is this here as we pause for just a moment.

Where do you stand today? Where do you stand today? Are you profited by grace, or does the gospel provoke in you anger? Do you love the things of God, or does your rebellious spirit hate the things of God?

Do you know today that there are people throughout time, history, who have been faced with this very same question that you are being asked today? The good news, my friends, is this, that Christ died for our sins, even while we are yet sinners, according to the word of God.

Men and women, boys and girls today are at war with God because our sins separate us.

From God.

But here's some more good news. When Jesus died on the cross in the sinner's place, the war between God and man was won by Jesus Christ. He brought an end to the war and He reconciled us. He made peace with God on our behalf through the blood of His cross.

Jesus' journey to Jerusalem. And we hear and we see the great compassion and the great fervor and the great love and the great concern for His people. Jesus cried again in verse 34, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and those who are sent to it.

This is why Jesus must journey to Jerusalem. J .C. Ryle said this, let us learn for another thing from these verses. How great is the compassion of our Lord. Ryle said, we see this brought out in a most forcible manner by our Lord's language about.

Jerusalem.

He knew well the wickedness of that city. He knew what crimes had been committed there in times past. He knew what was coming on himself at the time of his crucifixion. Yet even to Jerusalem, he says, how often I would have gathered you as a hen does her chicks under her wing.

But you were not willing. And Ryle says something that many, I believe, are afraid to say today, but I will say it. It grieves the Lord Jesus Christ to see sinners going on still in their wickedness. For in the book of Ezekiel, the Lord states, as I live, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but because he is holy and he is righteous and he is just, there must be a sentence carried out.

And remember, zooming out for just a second here, big picture, what we're seeing is the destruction soon coming on Jerusalem within that generation. So now, as we turn back over to Matthew chapter 23, Matthew chapter 23, and we'll pick up reading from verse 27, but just so that we give you a little bit of context where we're picking up here, Jesus is giving this, this is Matthew's account of Jesus scathing rebuke against the scribes and the Pharisees and the people of Jerusalem.

And he says in verse 27, where we pick up, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.

So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites. You build, now listen, you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous saying, if we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.

Stinking liars. Thus you witness against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then, Jesus said, the measure of your fathers. You good folks, you kindly fashioned folks, you sweet folks, no, you serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

Therefore, Christ said, I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of them of whom you will kill and crucify and some you will flog in your synagogues and you will persecute from town to town so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the.

Earth.

Big statement here. Big statement. He's stating to them that they are accountable for their sin. You need to recognize this today, folks. You need to know that you're accountable for your sin before a holy God.

No one will answer for you when it comes to standing before the throne of God. You and you alone will answer. Good news here is this. If you can say when you stand before the throne of God, I trust in Jesus.

I trust in the work that Christ has done for my sins on his cross. I trust in the blood that he shed for my sin so that I may have the forgiveness of my sin. I trust in his life. I trust in his death.

I trust in his burial and I trust, praise God, in his resurrection from the dead because he is our great high priest who now intercedes for us. Praise be unto the Lord. But he said, know this, fill up the measure of your fathers, these prophets who you persecuted in verse 35 there in Matthew, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel.

Abel was killed by Cain, right? From the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered. This is pointed language that our Lord is using here. Now, certainly they wasn't there, right?

They wasn't there when Zechariah was murdered. That's what we're going to read about. But my friends, they are guilty of the same things because they are still the stoning and killing the prophets whom God has sent to them repeatedly time and time and time and time again throughout the years.

And so Christ says who you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Again, in other words, in the temple. Truly I say to you, Jesus said all these things will come upon this generation. So let's go back over into the Old Testament now to 2 Chronicles.

2 Chronicles chapter 24. Give you a little bit of context on this. Joash, we have the history of Joash the king, seven years old when he began to reign. He reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibioth Beersheba.

Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and all the days of Jehoiada the priest. Jehoiada got for him two wives and he had sons and daughters. After this, Joash the king decided to restore the house of the Lord.

So he gathered the priests, the scripture says, and the Levites and he said to them, go out to the cities of Judah and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year and to see to it that you act quickly.

But the Levites did not act quickly. So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levy? So we see who's involved here, Judah and Jerusalem, right?

The tax levy by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the congregation of Israel for the tent of testimony, the tabernacle of testimony. For the sons of Adaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God and had used the dedicated things of the house of the Lord for the Baals.

So the king commanded, they made a chest, set it outside the great gate of the house of the God, and proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord the tax that Moses required, the servant of God, had laid on Israel in the wilderness.

And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it in the chest until they had finished. And whenever the chest was brought to the king's officers by the Levites, they saw that there was so much money in it, the king's secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come, they would empty the chest and they would return it to the place every day.

And the king and Jehoiada the priest gave it to those who had charge of the work of the house of the Lord and the hired masons. So verse 13, so those who were engaged in the work labored and the repairing went forward in their hands and they restored the house of God to its proper condition and they strengthened it.

And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada the priest and with it were made utensils for the house of the Lord. Now let's move to verse 15. But Jehoiada grew old and full of days and he died.

He was 130 years old when he died, the scripture says, at his death. And they buried him in the city of David among the kings because he had done good in Israel and toward God and toward his house. Now, after the death of Jehoiada the priest, remember, Joash did what was right in the sight of God, the scripture tells us here at the beginning, all the days that Jehoiada the priest lived.

But as soon as Jehoiada the priest died, this is what the scripture says. After the death of Jehoiada, the princess of Judah came and they paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them and they abandoned the house of the Lord.

They abandoned the God of their fathers and they served the ashram and the idols and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs, for their sin. Yet he sent prophets among them. Notice the text, how specific it is.

He sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. Why do we need a prophet? Because we are ignorant. What is the job of a function, the function of a prophet to mediate from God to man?

Right?

So God, the scripture says, God sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord and these prophets testified against them, but they would not pay attention. As it was in the past, so it was in the immediate present context of Luke.

And so it is today. There are still people who refuse to heed the word of God. To which the message still hasn't changed. Repent and be saved today. The scripture goes on. Then this verse 20 there, then the spirit of God clothed Zachariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest.

And he stood above the people and he said to them, thus says God, why do you break the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord. He has forsaken you. Plain words, but they conspired against him.

Sound familiar? Sound much like what we're reading in Luke's gospel there. They conspired against him. They conspired against him. And by command of the king, they stoned him with stones. Where? In the court of the house of the Lord.

Now, there are some who will deny this being the Zechariah that's being spoken of, because in Matthew's account, it refers to him as Zechariah, the son of Barakaya. And in this account, we see we see Zechariah being the son of.

I'm sorry.

Being the son of Jehoiada. But remember, in a lineage, there are times when the word son of will be used when it's speaking of maybe the grandson of or the great grandson of so on and so forth. So really, there's no conflict here.

Zechariah was stoned and killed in the temple of the house of the Lord. And Jesus is pointing back to this very account. And then verse 22. Thus, Joash, the king, did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but he killed his son.

And when he died, when Zechariah died, he said, May the Lord see. And may the Lord avenge. Jumping back very quickly to Matthew again. Very quickly before we go over to 1 Samuel and close. In verse 36 of chapter 23 in Matthew.

Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. Again, we see immediate context within that generation. And then in verse 37 in Matthew, we see Matthew's accounting of the same speech, the same cry that Jesus gives.

Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. And you were not willing.

And what does Christ say here? See your house. Behold, your house is left to you desolate. And behold, you will not see me again until you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Desolate.

The desolation, the destruction that was soon coming within that generation on Jerusalem itself. By Roman attack was a literal reference that Christ made. And what Christ said that it will be left to you desolate.

Let's go back now to 1st Samuel. 1st Samuel.

I'm sorry.

2nd Samuel chapter 4. 2nd Samuel. 1st Samuel chapter 4.

I was right. I apologize.

1st Samuel chapter 4. And I say this respectfully, but my goodness, my goodness. I encourage you to take time this week to read context before chapters and after chapters of all this Scripture that we're sharing with you today.

But chapter 4 here might be one of the saddest and at the same time funniest accounts that we will read if you've got a sense of humor. Because what we see in chapter 4, to give you the brief context.

What we see here is Israel going to battle against the Philistines. Israel being whooped and put to flight. About 4 ,000 men killed on the field of battle, the Scripture says in verse 2. And so in verse 3, the people came to the camp of the children of Israel and they said, why has the Lord defeated us today?

Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from shallow that it may come among us and it may save us from the power of our enemies. So the people sent to shallow and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim.

Again, as we stated to you in our topic sentence today. Very few Christians, very few people in general, see beyond the surface of the Scripture. And my friends, certainly they recognize that they needed the Lord.

And they thought and they assumed that the ark of the covenant being among them would be like a good luck charm to them. If you, my friends today are looking to Christianity as a good luck charm, it will not help you.

Christianity is not a good luck charm. It is not a superstition. Christianity is the religion of faith in the living and the true God. We think about superstition. Nobody does it today because we live in the days of PETA, right?

Rabbit's foot, you remember, you older folks probably, I don't know if the younger folks remember rabbit's foot. Scooby, did you ever have a lucky rabbit's foot? Kira, did you ever have a lucky rabbit's foot?

Have you ever heard of a lucky rabbit's foot? You have. Well, it didn't do the rabbit any good, did it? Christianity is not a superstitious good luck charm to get you out of hell free or to make your life better.

Matter of fact, if the gospel is proclaimed rightly, your life likely may not always get better. You may endure and suffer persecution for the cause of Christ. But if so, hallelujah anyhow for the glory of God.

But we see, they said, bring the ark of God here to us. The ark of God came. Soon as the ark of God came into the camp, verse 5, all Israel gave a mighty shout so that the earth resounded. Man, they rejoiced.

When the Philistines heard the noise of shouting, they said, what is this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean? And when they learned that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp, the Philistines were afraid.

For they said, a God has come into the camp, a little G God. And they said, woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us. Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods?

A little G.

These are the gods, little G, who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague. They refer to him as a little G God, but he is the big G God. He is Yahweh, the eternal self-existent God. The God who spoke to Moses from the midst of the burning bush.

And he said, I heard my people's cry by reason of their taskmasters, and I am come down to deliver them. He is God. But we see in verse 9, the Philistines begin to encourage themselves. They begin to muster courage.

They said, take courage and be men, oh Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you. Be men and fight. So they roused themselves up. The Philistines fought, and guess what?

Israel was defeated. The ark of God was with them, but they were defeated. And the scripture says, every man fled to his home, and there was a great slaughter for 30 ,000 foot soldiers of Israel fell.

4 ,000 at first, now 30 ,000. If you do math, that's 34 ,000 dead men. And the ark of God was captured by the Philistines. The funny part is here, that no matter what they did, they brought the ark of God to themselves.

Now, this has everything to do with the text where Jesus said, left them desolate. We're getting there. But my friend, they brought the ark of God into their camp, the Philistines did.

And they had a temple made to a God named Dagon.

They bring the ark of God into the temple of Dagon. And the next day, they come to worship Dagon, and they find that Dagon has fell over flat on his face, and he's bowed before the ark of God. Oh, there must have been an earthquake.

The wind must have blew too hard or something. Let's stand him back up. The next day, they come in, and on the threshold, they find not only the statue falling over, but the hands and the head of that statue broken off.

And they hallowed that place, and nobody stepped foot in that place after that. And it got so bad that with the ark of God in their midst, that God sent boils upon them. Tumors caused them to have tumors that grow, and they shuffled off the ark of God, to make a long story short, from one town to the other town, until they finally had to beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, and call and say, Would you all please come and get the ark of God?

We can't handle this.

So, verse 12.

A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day, and with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head, when he arrived, the priest Eli was sitting on his seat by the road, watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God.

And when the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried out. And when Eli heard the sound, and when Eli heard the outcry, the scripture says, What is this uproar? Then the man hurried and came and told Eli.

Now, Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes were so set that he could not see. And the man said to Eli, I am he who has come from the battle. I fled from the battle today. And he said, How did it go, my son?

And he brought the news, answered, and said, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great defeat among the people. Your two sons, Hothni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.

And as soon as he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell over backward from his seat on the side of the gate, and his neck was broken, and he died. For the man was old and heavy. He judged Israel for 40 years.

Now, his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, about to give birth. And when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, this was good news, right? There was about to be a grandbaby.

There was about to be a new child brought into this world. When she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed and she gave birth, for her pains came upon her.

And about the time of her death, the woman attending her said to her, Do not be afraid, for you have born a son. There will be somebody to carry on the name. Take heart, be of courage. But the Bible says, she did not answer or pay attention to her.

And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory has departed from Israel. Because the ark of God has been captured, and because of her father-in-law and her husband, and she said, The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.

Jesus, what did Jesus say? In a close, if you want to jump back over to Matthew 23. He said, Your city is left to you desolate.

The glory has departed.

What a word is this. What a word, both of encouragement and a word of warning to them and to us today. Because of this, our God is faithful. He is faithful to do exactly what he says he will do. We see it throughout history time and time and time again.

This is why we can be certain.

We can be hopeful.

We can be in eager anticipation for the Lord's return. We do not know when, but we can live in anticipation and with joy in the light of his coming. When these folks here had nothing to do but fear and dread because judgment was coming upon them.

Your city shall be left to you desolate. James Stanley, in the hymn 1909, and I thought how fitting this hymn is for this passage of scripture. How fitting this hymn itself is to cause us to be reminded of the fear and the dread of almighty God.

The song, careless soul, why will you linger? Wondering from the fold of God, hear you not the invitation? Oh, prepare to meet thy God. Why so thoughtless are you standing while the fleeting years go by?

And your life is spent in folly. Oh, prepare to meet thy God. Hear you not the earnest pleadings of your friends that wish you well? And perhaps before tomorrow you'll be called to meet your God. If you spurn the invitation till the spirit shall depart, then you'll see your sad condition unprepared to meet thy God.

Careless soul, oh heed the warning or your life will soon be gone. Oh, how sad to face the judgment unprepared to meet thy God. Stand with us if you would this morning, please. I exhort and encourage you today.

While it is called today, trust in the name of the living God. Christ died for your sin to make atonement and be the propitiation for your sin. He died in our place. He was buried and on the third day he arose again.