Jesus Wept

Marcus Peters

Midland SDA Church

February 19, 2011

Intro

- Read Luke 19:37-41

- Prayer

- Background (Passover → Celebration → Triumphal Entry in Jerusalem)

Divine Sorrow (vs 41)

- Paradox (Jesus is crying while others are celebrating)

- Jesus wept. Other occurrences (Grave of Lazarus & Crucifixion)

- Significance of His tears. Luke 15:7, 10. Joy in heaven over sinner repents. Converse is also true.

- God will eventually wipe away all tears. Rev 21:1-4 Who will wipe away the tears of Jesus? 

- God desires a repentant heart much more than our worship. See Matt 15:7-8 & Isaiah 1:10-18

- Were Jesus to come to Midland today, would he weep over us?

Human Ignorance (vs 42)                                                  

- Constant theme throughout scripture. Jeremiah 8:7, 20

- Creation - Romans 8:22

- Weather - AP Report: 260,000 killed in natural disasters in 2010 alone. The deadliest year in more than a generation. Earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides, droughts.

- Financial (4 million foreclosures in 2009 on track for the same amount in 2010)

- Health Crisis – prevalence of cancer, heart disease, diabetes etc

- Political turmoil (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain etc)

- What we've failed to do in times of peace we will be compelled to do in time of adversity.

Divine Judgment (vs 43-44)

- Time of probation was fast closing - 70 week prophecy (Daniel 9:24)

- Some things never change. Story of the antediluvians. Luke 17:26-30

- Wickedness a common theme. Gen 6:5 & Gen 13:13

- Notice he does not cite their wickedness but their business as usual attitude.

- They ate, drank, built, planted… they did everything except secure their own salvation.

- Many in Noah's day helped build the ark but they did not enter in. No different today. Busy with church work but not busy with searching our own hearts.

- Lot’s failure resulted in the loss of his wife and children.

- The call for Revival

“A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work. There must be earnest effort to obtain the blessing of the Lord, not because God is not willing to bestow His blessing upon us, but because we are unprepared to receive it.” LDE pg 189

- No revival is genuine that does not work reformation

- We need to put away sin especially in the light of the pre-advent judgment

- Anti-typical day of Atonement…time for afflicting our souls… time for soul searching

- I’ve been in the church for 10 years, how many souls have I led to Christ? Matt 25 vs 28:19-20

- Missionary vs mission field either you’re winning souls or you need to be one yourself

- Can’t wait on the church

- The “I’m too old” excuse is irrelevant. See Abraham’s example Rom 4:17-21.

- J. N. Andrews wrote tracts on his deathbed.

- Reforms needed: Entertainment Rom 1:32; Dress & adornment 1 Pet 3:3 & 1 Tim 2:9

- We need to be more concerned with holding to the standards of the bible than maintaining a higher standard than the world. This is critical since the world’s standards are always falling.

- Religious devotion

- Some of us are more zealous about the Constitution then we are about the bible

- Every time Obama coughs we get worked up. Do we show the same zeal for the Spirit of God?

- No time for reflection. Seed sown by the wayside

- General prayer requests vs those that are needed.

- Sabbath observance

- Cherished sins

- Am I living up to all the light that I've been given? Prov 4:18

Don't neglect the gift (Heb 2:3). Notice it's not an outright rejection. Putting off for tomorrow the work that we should be doing today.