Book of Luke - Ch. 13, Vs. 10-35 (08/09/2020)

about verse 10. But first I'd like to pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and thank you for all the many blessings that you have given us.

Thank you for giving us the technology that we can reach out and touch one another, even though we're miles apart.

Thank you for allowing us to come together as a church, as a single unity, even though we are miles apart.

Bless us and keep us, go through the services today. We understand that we are living in an occupied territory, a world that is not our own, but will belong to us one day.

Bless us and keep us, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Okay, so we are in Luke 13, starting at verse 10.

And he, and that's Jesus, and he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the

Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bowed together and could in no wise lift herself up.

This is the last time that Luke records Jesus teaching in a synagogue.

And that's significant. Jesus needed to be in this synagogue at this time because that's where the woman was.

And what was she doing there? She was worshiping. And why was

Jesus there? Well, for two reasons. He was there to heal her and he was there to teach us a lesson.

Spurgeon said this about the woman. She was in this condition for 18 years.

For 18 years, she had not gazed upon the sun. For 18 years, no star of the night had gladdened her eye.

Her face was grown downward toward the dust and all the light of her life was dim.

And she walked about as if she were searching for a grave. And I do not doubt she often felt that it would have been gladness to have found one.

So now we're back to Luke. And now at verse 12. And when

Jesus saw her, now, it doesn't say this, I just added this on my own.

He had compassion on her. I know that because of what he says next.

And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said, woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

And he lay his hand upon her and immediately she was made straight and glorified

God. Chuck Missler in his commentary said this.

Here was a graphic example of Jesus's touch bringing the woman to a position of uprightness.

Jesus healed her by his words when he said, woman, you are set free from your infirmity.

And by touching her, immediately she straightened up and praised God. This act of praising

God was the proper response to the work of Jesus. Now, at least 16 times,

I'm sorry, at least six times in the book of Luke, people are shown giving the correct response to the work of Jesus.

The shepherds after the birth of Jesus, after they saw all the things surrounding his birth, left praising

Jesus in chapter two, verse 20. The man with palsy that was lowered through the roof to be healed when the crowd was so great that they couldn't go in through the door.

And they lowered him to Jesus in the room and Jesus healed him, returned, praising

God in chapter five of Luke, verses 25 and 26. Those who witnessed the son raised from the dead in chapter seven, in verse 16, left praising him.

One and only one of the 10 lepers that Jesus cleansed in chapter 17, returned to thank the

Lord and left in verse 15, praising him. The blind man whose sight was restored in chapter 18, in verse 43, left praising the

Lord. And the centurion who witnessed Jesus's death and the things that occurred at the death recognized that Jesus must have been the son of God and he left in verse 47, praising

God. Chuck Missler said this, it showed that people were understanding that mission.

But I added this, but not all the people. Not everyone responded in the proper way.

In fact, in the very next verse, we see a totally different response.

Before we see that response, let's review what the woman did. What her response was.

This is verse 13, chapter 13 of Luke. And he lays hands on her and immediately she was made straight and glorified

God. Now we have a different response, verse 14. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation because Jesus had healed on the

Sabbath. And he said unto the people, there are six days in which men ought to work.

In them, therefore, come and be healed on the Sabbath. Missler again said this, in contrast to the proper response which the woman evidenced, the synagogue ruler was indignant because Jesus had not followed the law as that ruler interpreted it.

And he appealed to the crowd to reject Jesus's miracles. This attitude,

Missler says, supports what Jesus had already said about religious leaders keeping others from entering the kingdom.

If you recall from chapter 11, verse 52, woe be unto you, lawyers, for you have taken away the key to the kingdom.

Ye entered not in yourself and them that were entering ye hindered.

Missler adds this, the bondage of the ruler of the synagogue was worse than that of the woman.

Her bondage was limited to her body. His had shackled his mind and his heart.

And now we're back to what the Lord says, verse 15. The Lord then answered him, that's the leader of the synagogue, the

Lord then answered him and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the

Sabbath lose his oxen or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering?

You'll recall over the past few weeks, we have commented several times about the apparent desire of the

Pharisees to appear to the world to be clean. So much so that they added their own extra laws.

Laws designed in such a way that they could conform to them and thus appear to the world as clean, but all the while being filthy on the inside.

The Pharisees were not really concerned about what God could or would do in their lives.

They were more interested in how well their additional rules were followed. Again, so they could always appear more clean than their followers.

And that was their main concern. Jesus goes on to tell the leader of the synagogue, and ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, that's the euphemism for a

Jew, and ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham, whom

Satan hath bound lo these 18 years, be released from this bond on the

Sabbath? She's been bound 18 years. You let your animals loose every

Sabbath for water, she's been bound for 18 years. Isn't it right that she be loosened on the same, in the same manner?

In fact, by their, allowed to loosen their animals to allow them water on the

Sabbath. Jesus is simply stating that loosening this woman from her bonds is more important than that.

John MacArthur adds this to the conversation. This woman had apparently been permitted to suffer, not because of any evil she had done, but so that the glory of God might be manifest in her, much like Job in the

Old Testament. Verse 17, and when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed, and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

But the Pharisees didn't rejoice, and they didn't show that they were ashamed.

So Jesus directs the following parable, in fact, the following two parables, to them and to the church, which is soon to follow them.

Paul told us in Galatians 3, verse 7, you don't need to go there, it's just one sentence.

Know ye therefore that which are of the faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

What he's saying is the church is going to also be adopted into the faith.

And Jesus recognizes the issues of corruption, both in the

Jewish faith and in the church faith, which is to follow.

Keep this in mind. As Jesus goes on to illustrate in parables what the kingdom of God is like, that is to say what the

Jewish worship is like and what the church will be like. So here is a proverb, or not proverb, it's parable.

Then said he, this is verse 18, Then said he, unto what is the kingdom of God like?

And where unto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into his garden, and it grew and waxed a great tree, and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches.

Now, remember, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and their corruption of the law.

And to us as the church, he is speaking to us and to our corruption of the gospel.

David Jusich, whose commentaries we can find in the Blue Letter Bible, said this.

The traditional and often more familiar explanation of this parable is that it describes the growth and spreading influence of the church.

Yet in light of both the parable itself and the context of the parables both before and after, this should be regarded as another description of corruption in the kingdom community.

That is for us, corruption in the church. Now, I'm gonna give you an example of the more traditional understanding of that parable.

This is from Matthew Henry, whose work can also be found in the Blue Letter Bible. Church, you expect it will appear great and will arrive at its perfection all of a sudden, but you're mistaken.

It's like a grain of mustard seed. A little thing takes up but little room, makes but a little figure, and promises but little.

Yet when sown in soil proper to receive it, it waxes a great tree. Many perhaps were prejudiced against the gospel and loathed to come in to the obedience of it because its beginning was so small.

They were ready to say of Christ, can this man save us? And if his gospel is this likely ever to come from anything?

Now, Christ would remove this prejudice by assuring them that though its beginning was small, its latter end should greatly increase so that many should come, should come upon the wing, should fly like a cloud to lodge in the branches of it with more safety and satisfaction than in the branches of Nebuchadnezzar's temple,

Daniel chapter four, verse 21. And we'll read more about this tree in just a moment. Now, even though I have great confidence in Matthew Henry and agree with almost everything he says, here

I find that I must agree with Gussage. First of all, birds almost always represent ministers of the evil one.

I'm gonna give you an example of birds and an explanation by Jesus himself.

This is in Matthew 13, in verse four, Matthew 13, verse four, if you want to go there.

And when he sowed, this is the parable of the sower and the seeds and the soil, actually the sower and the soils, all the seeds were the same.

And he sowed seeds and the fowls came and devoured them up. Now, a little later, let me say this, then he's gonna go on and describe four kinds of soil, some which received the seed and grew and bore fruit and some which for various reasons didn't.

But a little bit later, one of the disciples is gonna ask Jesus to explain the parable.

And so Jesus does. You'll find Jesus's explanation in verse 18,

Matthew 13, verse 18. Here you therefore, the parable of the sower.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and understand it not, then cometh the wicked one, represented by fowls in the parable and catches away that which was sown in his heart.

This is he which received seed by the wayside. So in this parable, birds represent the wicked one and his minions.

Secondly, Nebuchadnezzar's tree in Daniel four represents an earthly kingdom.

We're gonna go to Daniel four. We're gonna stay there for a couple of minutes. So I would advise you to go to chapter four and look beginning at verse 20.

Chapter four, verse 20. Daniel is in the midst of explaining to Nebuchadnezzar his dream of the tree.

The tree which thou sawest, which grew and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven and the sight thereof to all the earth, whose leaves were fair and fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all, under which the beasts of the fields dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of heaven had their habitation.

It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong, for thy greatness is grown and reacheth unto the heaven.

And thy dominion to the ends of the earth. So this tree does not represent the kingdom of God.

What does it represent? It represents the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. The third thing, that tree, the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar was destroyed.

And I can ask you, where is that kingdom? And you'll have to say, now it's totally gone forever.

Babylon is not, but the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar is. Now go down to the next verse.

Daniel chapter four, verse 23. And we'll continue reading this passage from Daniel.

And whereas the king saw a watcher and a holy one coming down from heaven and saying, hew the tree down and destroy it.

Yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field.

And let it be wet with the dew of heaven. And let his portion be with the beast of the field till seven times pass over him.

That's what the king saw. Now here's what Daniel tells him. This is the interpretation,

O king. And this is the decree of the most time. That's to say the decree of God.

The decree of the most time, which has come upon my Lord, the king, that they shall drive thee from men and thy dwelling shall be with the beast of the field.

And they shall make thee to eat grass as an oxen. And they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven.

And seven times, that's seven years. Seven years shall pass over thee till thou know the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

But he's not through. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots, thy kingdom will be sure unto thee.

After that, thou shall have known that the heavens do rule.

What he's saying to the king is, you'll be restored to power and your kingdom will survive after you, but not long.

In fact, Daniel himself will still be alive when Babylon falls to Syria and becomes part of the

Medo -Persian empire. Verse 27, wherefore

O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee and break off thy sins by righteousness and thine iniquity by showing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility.

Now we might consider what would have happened had Nebuchadnezzar heeded

Daniel's warning, but we're not gonna do that. In fact, he may have heeded it for just a few days.

We'll know in just a second. Verse 28, all this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar at the end of 12 months.

He walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. One year later, had he remembered

Daniel's warning, he apparently has now forgotten it or maybe just slipped his mind for a second.

But in any case, here's what the king said. The king spoke and said, is not this great

Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?

My brother commented when we practiced this that he was a little bit full of himself, wasn't he?

And I said, yes. And I think the Lord did too, because here's what he said.

While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying,

O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from.

So I believe if we take the traditional understanding of the kingdom of heaven, being the church, we're left with the problem of the influence of that church being due to emissaries of Satan represented by birds.

Well, if that's not enough of a parable, Jesus goes on and asks the same question again in verse 20.

And he said, whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like the leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened.

If you had trouble with a previous parable, maybe this one will help. Leaven is almost always used to portray sin.

And a little sin will pollute everything. And a little sin allowed to remain in the church will ultimately destroy the church.

And that was his warning to the leader of the

Pharisees and to us. Verse 22, and he went through the cities and the villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.

And then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved?

Now, I was a little startled last week when Brother David took my topic.

John MacArthur said this, that question may have been prompted by a number of factors.

The great multitudes that had once followed Jesus were subsiding to a fateful end.

Brother David dealt with this passage very well last Sunday. I'm gonna go back and read a little bit of it, but his lesson is much, better than mine on this.

John chapter six, I'm gonna pick it up in verse 60. Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it?

Now, I didn't read what was before, so I'm gonna tell you what was up there. Basically, Jesus said this, I am the bread of life.

No one can come to God except through me. Now, that's the one thing that the world can't forgive.

That's the one unforgivable sin. God's sovereignty and his exclusivity.

We can't believe, the world can't believe that God is in control of everything.

And the world can't believe that there is an exclusivity about those who can reach

God and how you can reach it. They want to say that there's many paths that lead to God.

There's only one. Jesus has told us many times. There's only one way to reach

God, and that's through him. And we talked about that last week.

If you look further down in John six, go down to verse 65.

And Jesus will say it way more clear than I did. And he said, therefore

I said unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my father.

What he's saying is, you can't decide whether or not to follow God. You can only decide to follow

God if God called you to him already. And you can only get to God if you go to him through Jesus Christ.

And from that time on, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.

However, and this is still Dr. MacArthur speaking, great crowds still came to hear him.

If you'll go to Luke chapter 14, verse 25, the next chapter over, you'll see that there were, you'll see this, and there were great multitudes with him.

And he turned and said to him, before I read what he says,

I'm gonna make MacArthur's comment, but committed followers were increasingly scarce.

Moreover, Christ's messages often seems designed to discourage the half -hearted.

So here's what he said. And there were, and there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them, if any man come to me and hate not his father, his mother, his wife, his children, his brethren and sisters, yea, his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he hath sufficient to finish it?

And he himself had stated that the way to him, the way to God, is so narrow that few find it.

Now, I don't think that the Lord is saying you have to hate your father and your mother and your brother and sister.

I think what the Lord is saying is, you have to love Jesus and to love

God first. And if you can love Jesus, and if you love God, you will love your husband and your wife and your mother and your father and your brother and your sister and your friends, and you'll even love your enemies.

Because that is in obedience to God. But you can't be in obedience to God unless you are first his disciple.

In Matthew 7, verse 13, Jesus said this. Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to instruction.

Instruction, destruction. Enter ye at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction.

And many there be which go in there at. If you look around and you're in a crowd and there's a multitude of people walking with you, you might need to check your

GPS and see if you're going to the right place. Because wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction.

Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth to life, and few there be that find it.

Now back to John MacArthur and what he said. I didn't realize this until preparing this time.

This contradicted the Jewish belief that all Jews except for tax collectors and other notorious sinners would be saved.

They held a special hatred in their heart for tax collectors, and I guess you could sin bad enough that you wouldn't be brought into the kingdom.

But the Jewish belief was that all Jews except for tax collectors and other notorious sinners would be saved.

Jesus's reply, once again, underscores the difficulty of entering at the narrow gate.

After the resurrection, only 120 disciples gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem.

That may have been due to space limitations, I don't know. This is all I know in Acts chapter one, verse 15.

In those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, and then it says, the number of the names together were about 120.

So only 120 in the upper room and only about 500 in Galilee.

First Corinthians 15, verse six says this.

After that, he was seen of above 500 brethren all at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

That's when he went to the Mount of Olives and ascended after his resurrection.

120, 500. Verse 23,

Luke, verse 23. Then one said unto him,

Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,

I'm gonna give you my short answer first. My short answer is, yes, there's only a few that'll be saved, but you, this is

Jesus's answer, strive to enter at the straight gate, for many,

I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. Now John MacArthur straightens that up for me a little bit.

Strive to enter in at the straight gate. This signifies a great struggle against conflict.

Christ was not, I'm gonna repeat that. Christ was not suggesting that anyone could merit heaven by striving for it.

No matter how rigorously they labored, sinners could never save themselves.

Salvation is solely by grace and not by works, unless you include the works of Jesus.

And if you include the works of Jesus, then what I would say is, that was MacArthur saying that, what

I would say is, yes, the works of Jesus and only the works of Jesus are what saves you.

That, part of that is your being elect. Part of that is his dying on the cross. Part of that is his resurrection.

Part of that is his ascension to heaven. Part of that is his intervention for us now in heaven. All of the things that save you are done by the work of God and nothing is done by you.

If that's not clear enough, Ephesians chapter two, beginning at verse eight, is,

I'm sure, convincing enough. Ephesians two, verse eight.

For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself, it is a gift of God.

That's verse eight. Verse nine, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Eight and nine are what we always recite and memorize and most

Christians have those two verses memorized. Here's the part that they don't usually add, but I always add it, the responsibility of the believer.

David, Pastor David always says, every time you see grace, a link to the work that we should do because we're saved.

So here's what, I don't like that. I got a message.

This is my mess, my internet is unstable, so I'm gonna pop off now.

From his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

We don't walk in them to get saved. We walk in them because we're saved. We do good works, not because we want to be saved.

We do good works because we're saved. Dr. MacArthur says this, but entering the narrow gate is nonetheless difficult because of its cost in terms of human pride, because the sinner's noble and Satan's opposition to the truth.

I went next to Matthew chapter seven, verse 21.

I'll give you a second to get there. Hopefully that little message that I got was just a glitch.

Matthew seven, verse 21. Not everyone that saith unto me,

Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my

Father, which is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, that day is at the judgment, when many will protest that they deserve entrance into heaven,

Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name cast out devils?

And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess to them,

I never knew you. Depart from me ye that, verse 25.

When once the master of the house is risen up and hath shut the door, ye begin to stand without and to knock at the door saying,

Lord, Lord, open unto us. And he shall answer and say unto you, I know not which you are.

Then shall ye begin to say, we have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou has taught in our streets.

But he shall say, I tell you, I know ye not which you are.

Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity. And there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you shall see

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of heaven.

And you yourselves thrust out. By the way, you can't be doers of iniquity and belong to the

Lord. And they shall come from the East and from the

West and from the North and from the South and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.

John MacArthur adds this, by including people from the four corners of the earth,

Jesus made it clear that even Gentiles will be invited to the heavenly banquet table.

This is contrary to the prevailing rabbinical thought, but perfectly consistent with Old Testament scriptures.

I'm gonna read a couple of scriptures and it'll make it clear that the Gentiles are welcome.

Psalms 107, verse two. Psalms 107, verse two.

Let the redeemed of the Lord, I'm gonna read that again. Let the redeemed of the

Lord say so. Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

Where were they redeemed before the Lord redeemed them? They were in the hands of Satan.

They were in the hands of the enemy. And gathered them out of lands from East and from West, from the

North and from the South. That was Psalm seven, verse two. I'm gonna read it straight through without any hindrance for me.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy and hath gathered them out of the lands from the

East and from the West, from the North and from the South. Okay. That doesn't specifically say

Gentiles. Isaiah 66, verse 18 is another reference in the

Old Testament to the redeemed coming partly from the

Gentiles. This is Isaiah 66, verse 18. For I know their works and their thoughts.

It shall come and I will gather all nations and tongues and they shall come and see my glory.

That's pretty clear, but there's one even more clear than that. And that's

Malachi chapter one, picking up at verse 11.

Malachi chapter one, verse 11. For from the rising of the sun, even to the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the

Gentiles. And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, a pure offering, and my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the

Lord of hosts. I'm gonna go back and read that one again all the way through. For from the rising of the sun, even to the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the

Gentiles. And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, a pure offering, for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the

Lord of hosts. Now back to Luke chapter 13, and we're now down to verse 30.

And behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.

The same day there came certain of the Pharisees saying unto him, get thee out and depart hence, for Herod will kill you.

That's a warning from a strange place, but maybe not all of the Pharisees were blinded.

Maybe some of them could see. And in fact, I'm sure some of them did. Here's what I know. Jesus was in Galilee, which was ruled at this time by Herod Antipas, son of Herod the

Great. Apparently, the Pharisees wanted to get Jesus back into Judea, where the religious leaders could watch him and ultimately trap him.

So they tried to frighten him away. I said, that's what I knew. That's not what

I know. That's what I believe. I believe that the bulk of the Pharisees, they warned

Jesus to get out of Galilee into Judea so they could keep a better eye on him.

So they've tried to frighten him away. And Jesus is going to quickly show how terrified he was about Herod.

Verse 32. And he said unto them, go ye and tell that fox, behold,

I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow. And on the third day,

I shall be perfected. Nevertheless, I must walk today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.

Now, what Jesus is not saying is he's gonna finish all of his work in three days. That in three days, all of his work will be done.

What he is saying is that he'll finish his work and he will go to Jerusalem.

And part of his going to Jerusalem is included in his work.

And nothing that Herod nor anyone else can do can stop him. He's saying,

I'll be in Jerusalem at the proper time to meet the commitment that I have made to the

Holy Trinity before time began to redeem the lost.

So he's going there and nothing can stop him. But then he takes a second to mourn over Jerusalem.

Verse 34. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets and stoneth them that are sent unto thee.

How often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings.

And you would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

And verily I say unto you, you shall not see me until the time come when you shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the

Lord. Now, Chuck Missler said this. He is, and he's talking about Jesus.

His entire ministry up until this point had been to offer the kingdom to the nation, that is

Israel. But since that nation, which had even killed the prophets had rejected his word, verse 34.

Now, Jesus stated, your house is left to you desolate, abandoned.

Now that house refers to both the family of Jacob, Israel, and to the temple, the house of God.

Both would be destroyed and scattered. Daniel prophesied that way back in chapter nine.

Chapter nine, verse 26 of Daniel. The way back is way back to Daniel.

Chapter nine, verse 26. I'm gonna read that passage in just a second after I give you time to get there.

Daniel nine, verse 26. And after three score and two weeks, that's 69 weeks.

Those are 69 weeks of years that Daniel is talking about.

That's just short, that's 483 years.

And there's seven years yet to remain. After three score and two weeks shall

Messiah be cut off. That means killed. After three score and two weeks shall

Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

And the end thereof shall be with a flood. And until the end of the war, desolations are determined.

Okay. Now, that was Daniel. We're going back to Missler's comments.

And he simply said this. Jesus noted by quoting Psalms 18, 26, that the people of the city would not see him again till they said he was the

Messiah. Now, of what they were to say, this is Luke. This is

Luke. This is Psalms 118, Psalm 118, 26. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the

Lord. Now, it turns out that the people did actually quote that verse.

When Jesus enters the city in his triumphant entry in Luke chapter 19, verse 37.

We've got time, so I'm gonna read that. And then after I read that, we'll stop because I'm further later than I thought.

And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise

God with a loud voice, saying with a mighty voice that they had seen. They began to praise.

The whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the

Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. But the religious leaders disapproved.

And in fact, some of the Pharisees from among the multitude had in fact rebuked the disciple.

And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.

And Jesus said to them, were I to rebuke them, I can make disciples of the stones that surround us.

We all remember that. The nation has indeed been left desolate. The nation has no king, no priest, no temple, and no sacrifice.

Hosea said this in Hosea 3, chapter four, for the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, without a prince, without sacrifice, without an image, and without a therapist.

Afterwards, shall the children of Israel return and seek God and David their king and shall fear the

Lord and his goodness in the latter days. This nation has not been forsaken.

Its blindness will be lifted when the fullness of the Gentiles become in.

We see that in Romans 11, verse 45. Let us pray.

Most gracious heavenly Father, thank you for this day and thank you for all our many blessings. Bless us and keep us, protect us from this coronavirus, protect us from the world and from all of the evil because we are indeed living in occupied territory.

But it will be ours soon. And as for me, the sooner, the better.

and keep us, go through the services today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.