GODS MIDDLE NAME IS COMPASSION

(Luke 13:34-35)
November 29, 2015
Read Lu 13:31-35 Ive told before of the rowdy little boy, running home
after his 1st day of school, bursting thru the door shouting, Mom, Mom!
Guess what? They want me back! Thats the message of our text today. God
loves His rebellious creation and wants us back. Tragically, many of us are not
nearly as excited about that as the little boy was.
Here Jesus draws a sharp contrast between human will and Gods will. Mid v.
34, How often would I have (literally, I willed to) gathered your children
together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing
(literally you will not)! I will; you will not. Human history is the story of
mans will vs. Gods will. The paradise of Eden was the result of Gods will
and mans will being in perfect harmony. The Lords prayer calls for a return:
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Mt 6:10). Thats perfection!
The question for all of us is whose will are we operating under? To move us
Gods direction, Jesus gives us a glimpse into the very heart of God here. Then
He shows us Israels I wont response to Gods I will. The results are
challenging.
I.

Gods Will -- Redemption

When Jesus says, How often would I have gathered your children together as
a hen gathers her brood under her wings, He is giving expression to Gods
perfect will. What does He will? Redemption for His creation. Gathering
chicks under the wings of the hen is a beautiful picture of Gods great, loving
heart. Ever been in barnyard when danger approaches? Chicks are wandering
all over the place, seeking food and doing whatever baby chicks do. Then a
snake slithers in. Mom signals and all the chicks come running seeking
shelter under the wings of the mother hen. And Jesus is saying, Thats just
how I feel about rebellious Israel. Does He hate them for refusing? No. It
breaks His heart to see them reject.
No one will ever be able to stand before God and say, You didnt care! It
will not happen. Gods heart has always reached out to His fallen creation.
Even John Calvin, who emphasized election and Gods holiness said this:
"Your idea of God's nature is not clear unless you acknowledge him to be
the origin and fountain of all goodness". Scripture is filled with declarations
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of Gods patient desire that all men everywhere would be saved. II Chron
30:9, For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away
his face from you, if you return to him. Mt 9:36, When he saw the crowds,
he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like
sheep without a shepherd. Ezek 33:11: As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his
way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die,
O house of Israel? Ezek 18:32: For I have no pleasure in the death of
anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live. Gods will is crystal clear,
isnt it? Turn and live. Repent and be renewed. The problem isnt God. The
problem is we who will not who set our will against His.
And His reaction is in Jer 13:17: But if you will not listen, my soul will
weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with
tears. Listen, make no mistake, it is devastating to God to see people set their
will against His. Gods will is clear in I Tim 2:4, 3 This is good, and it is
pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved
and to come to the knowledge of the truth. II Pet 3:9 adds: The Lord is not
slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,
not wishing [literally willing] that any should perish, but that all should
reach repentance. God wills the repentance of everyone because He wills the
redemption of everyone. God sees us as we really are and wills our cleansing.
Chuck Swindoll tells of performing with a Marine band at a leprosarium while
serving in the Marines in Okinawa in 1958. He says that nothing prepared him
for what he saw. I saw stumps instead of hands. I saw clumps instead of
fingers. I saw half faces. I saw one ear instead of two. I saw the dregs of
humanity unable even to applaud our performance. I saw in the faces of
men, women, and even some teenagers and anguish crying out. We could
play music for them, but we could not cleanse them of the disease. Then he
goes on: In Scripture leprosy is a picture of sin. And we see that it is
cleansed rather than healed. Only Jesuss blood has the power to cleanse us
from our condition of sinful corruption. Now I understand what Scripture
says, "He was moved with compassion." Beloved, Gods middle name is
compassion. No one will ever be able to stand before God having rejected
Jesus and say, You didnt care. All the Father will have to do is point to the
nail prints in the hands of His Son and say, I beg your pardon. I loved you;
you didnt care for me. God wills all people, everywhere to be saved.
II.

Israels Will -- Rejection

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V. 34: How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen
gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! What a tragic
ending to the gracious will of Jesus. I willed to gather you under my wings,
to forgive, redeem and cleanse you; but you willed not. The sentence ought
to read, I willed, and you willed, too. Instead it reads, You willed not.
Incredibly, they rejected their own Messiah. Its a fatal rejection.
He came to His own and His own and His own people did not receive Him
(Jn 1:11). God came from heaven, became a man to live and die for the
salvation of these people, and they rejected Him. Amazing. How could that
happen? Jesus knew. He says in Jn 3:19, And this is the judgment: the light
has come into the world (in the person of Jesus), and people loved the
darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. Why did these
highly religious, devout, moral people reject the Savior? Because they loved
their sin more than they love Jesus. Paul described it similarly in Eph 4:18,
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
Rejecters are blind to spiritual truth preferring their way to Gods.
They are like the man who sent $100 to enroll in a correspondence course on
mental telepathy. A month went by and nothing arrived, so he called to
inquire. He was told, We dont send that course by mail. We send it by
mental telepathy. He said, Well, I havent received anything yet. To which
the receptionist replied, I know. So far, youre flunking the course.
Rejecters are flunking! The things of God are spiritually discerned (I Cor
2:14). Those who set their will against the will of God are flunking the course.
They turn a blind eye to His truth; they do not want to be accountable. So they
reject their only hope of salvation. God allows us to use our human will to do
that but there are consequences, Beloved. And thats why Jesus goes on.
III.

Israels Result -- Ruination

Rejection always results in ruin sooner or later. You cant pit your will
against Gods and win. V. 35, Behold, your house is forsaken. House here
symbolizes not only the Temple, but Jerusalem and the nation as a whole.
Jesus is saying, Youve rejected me, and now I will reject you. You will be
abandoned and your house left desolate empty of either me or you!

This was not a first for Israel. Often God delivered them to enemies as a result
of the disobedience. The greatest of these captivities in the past was when
Babylon swept in in 606 BC and held sway for the next 70 years. God spoke
thru Jeremiah in 12:7, I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my
heritage; I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies.
You can hear the compassion in Gods voice even as He executes judgment.
Gods love does not preclude Gods judgment. That captivity cured Israel of
outward idolatry. Israel never went that direction again. But they still failed to
realize that true salvation is a heart issue. It is about a relationship, not
religion; it is about repentance, not ritual. And their failure to realize that led
to rejection of their own Messiah. Now they would face the consequences.
Jesus talked about this coming judgment again in Luke 21:5-6: And while
some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and
offerings, he said, 6 As for these things that you see, the days will come when
there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown
down. It all happened in AD 70 when Rome ended a long siege by sacking
Jerusalem and destroying the temple. [Show picture of stones]. Gold fixtures
melted during the process, and Romans literally dug up the stones to get the
gold. Jewish historian, Josephus, said more than a million people died during
the revolt and another 100,000 were taken captive. He describes how the city
was starved into submission. Roofs were thronged with famished women with
babies in their arms. Alleys were filled with corpses. He comments, Children
and young people swollen from starvation roamed like phantoms thru the
market-places and collapsed wherever their doom overtook them. Israel
finally had no choice but to surrender and ceased to be as a nation.
The Jews became the most hated people in the world. By AD 630, the
Emperor Herclius banished all Jews from Jerusalem, thus leaving their house
desolate not only of their Messiah but of themselves. Anti-Semitism became
fashionable worldwide. And we all know of the atrocities of the Holocaust of
the 20th century. In Gods providence this led to the creation of the modern
state of Israel in 1948 an unprecedented event of prophetic significance.
But the worst is yet to come, Beloved. Israel is being regathered in fulfillment
of Gods ancient promises to Abraham, but as a nation, they remain today in
rebellion against the will of their God. And so Rev 6-19 describes a time of
unprecedented persecution yet future to us that will finally result in Israels
turning to Him. But what suffering it will take to get to that point.
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Gods love does not preclude Gods judgment. His compassion is staggering.
He sent His own Son to pay the penalty for our sin. But if we will not repent
and turn to Him, our house, too, will be left desolate. People outside of Christ
are like the 2 guys in parking lot trying to unlock the door of their car with a
coat hanger. One said, I cant seem to get this door unlocked! The other
replied, Well, youd better hurry up and try harder! Its starting to rain
and the top is down! Thats how foolish it is to pit our will against Gods.
Rejecters think the way to avoid judgment is to try harder! Do better. Give
more. All the time the top is down. The way is open. The solution is bought
and paid for by the death of Jesus. But they will not accept what God offers. It
is their will against Gods and it is a losing proposition, just like for Israel.
IV.

Gods Result -- Restoration

But now the good news. Theres a formula here. Mans will yields ruination.
Gods will yields restoration. V. 35, And I tell you, you will not see me until
you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! That hope is not
going to be of help to the generation of Israel that was rejecting Christ. Not
only would they suffer physical desolation, but that would represent the far
great spiritual devastation that awaits those who are outside of Jesus Christ.
But God was not and is not done with Israel as a nation. He made promises to
Abraham 4,000 years ago unconditional promises and He will keep them.
In the end God will bring Israel to bow before Him just as He does every
single person that He chose before the world began. Jesus says, And I tell
you, you will not see me UNTIL you say, Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord! That implies Hes going away. This most privileged
generation in history to see Jesus face-to-face is at the end of its rope. Their
privilege expires when they kill Him. Even in His resurrected body, He will
not appear again to these unbelievers. Their privileged opportunity is over.
He rejects those who have rejected Him. But the end of the story awaits a
generation of Israel that pronounce blessing on Him whom these are rejecting.
Some argue that with this judgment God was finished with Israel. But that is
not true. God made promises and God keeps promises at great price.
So when will all this happen? When will Israel say, Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord! At the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ. Just as He came
once, He will come again this time to rule and to reign. Jesus anticipates this
in Mt 24:29-31: 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days [a
reference to Rev 6-9] the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its
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light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will
be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then
all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming
on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out
his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four
winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Hes coming again! And listen to what will happen to that generation of Israel
that survives the Great Tribulation. Unprecedented grace will be poured out
upon them: Zech 12:10: And I will pour out on the house of David and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when
they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him,
as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps
over a firstborn. John picks up this same theme in Rev 1:5-7, To him who
loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom,
priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
Amen. 7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him [the Jews], and all tribes of the earth will wail on
account of him. Even so. Amen. This is the result of following Gods will.
What did He instruct Adam and Eve in Eden? Be fruitful and multiply and
fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion (Gen 1:28). What is the result
for those who follow Gods will? They will rule and reign with Him forever,
restored to the dominion they were intended to have in the first place.
This can be your future. But you must trust Christ. To provide the possibility
of salvation cost Him His life. And to accept the invitation will cost you your
life. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross daily and follow me (Lu 9:23). You must exchange your life for His;
your will for His will. But I hope you see that it is way worth it. Its a decision
you will never regret. Its a move from the losing side to the winning side.
Your will = ruin. His will regeneration, renewal and restoration.
Conc Ronald Pinkerton was a skilled hang-glider. But one day at 4200 feet
he was hit by a powerful downdraft which sent his glider plummeting toward
the ground. An airborne riptide. Nothing he tried was helping. Suddenly off to
his right he saw a red-tailed hawk. He was fighting the same downdraft, but as
Pinkerton watched the hawk suddenly banked and flew straight down,
yielding to the winds insistent will. It looked like suicide. But the thought
suddenly entered Pinkertons mind follow the hawk! It went against
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everything he knew about flying, but his knowledge wasnt helping anyway.
He was at the mercy of the wind. So he followed the hawk into a death spiral
downward. 400 feet. 300 feet. 200 feet. But suddenly at 100 feet, the hawk
started to gain altitude. And shortly, Pinkerton found himself suspended
motionless as a warm source of air started pushing his glider upward until he
could regain control. He was saved giving up his will to a greater will.
Thats faith, Beloved. And thats Gods will versus ours. Choose His. It makes
an eternal difference. Lets pray.