04 06 2020 HALL Wesleyan Church Message for the Day
Yesterday, for our Message,
we talked some about ‘Jesus’ Triumphant Entry’.
This is recorded in the Gospel
of Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44 and in John 12:12-19.
This is when Jesus
descends from the Mount of Olives towards Jerusalem, and the crowds laid down
their clothes on the ground to welcome Him as He Triumphantly entered into
Jerusalem.
On that day, Jesus
entered into Jerusalem and by the time He visited the Temple, it was closed for
that day.
But before we go into what
happened on Day Two, I would like to go back and take a look at the Gospel of
Luke. Luke 19:41-44.
“But as He came
closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, He began to weep. How I wish today
that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too
late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. Before long, your enemies will build
ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every
side. They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your
enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not accept your
opportunity for salvation.”
Jesus “Wept”. This could
have easily been written with using the word: “Jesus wailed”. We also could
have used the words: that He ‘moaned’ or even He ‘howled’. At any case,
sometimes “Wept” just doesn’t carry the full weight of Jesus expression. We
seem to down play Jesus’ weeping to the point of just saying that He was sad.
BUT - Jesus actually - busted into sobbing - as He grieved of His people’s lost
opportunity.
This cry of Christ was because
He was frustrated with a desire to have His Peace accepted so that the
destruction of sin would not enslave His People. But because His people had spiritual
blindness, they would not escape this destruction.
But what does this have
to do with us and here today?
A Lot! The Bible is never
written only for that one moment otherwise we could not say that the Scriptures
are Alive! It is written for all time.
So, when we chalk these
versus up and say that they Only reflected the Jews at during those days, we
are so mistaken.
Ø How do we reject Jesus Today?
Ø In what ways do we go a
different direction than the direction of God Today?
Ø In what ways have we
missed the Opportunity of having God’s Peace and we have selected and embraced
the opposite, sin, darkness, and death?
DO YOU Hear Jesus’ Weeping,
His Wailing, His Moaning, His Howling because YOU have missed the opportunity
of having God’s Peace and Salvation?
Tell me, Today, what does
your street look like today.
Ø Does it only lack a wind of dust
flowing down the road and tumble weeds wheeling past?
Ø Does it remind you of the movies of
showing an old ghost town of the years gone by within the west?
Ø It is pretty empty, isn’t it?
Do you think, even with
everyone running and singing on that Day of Jesus Triumphant Entry into the
City; Even as packed as it was on that day; Do you think, through Jesus Eyes,
He really only saw empty streets? Empty of True Believers? Empty of True
Followers?
So, tell me - What would
Jesus Eyes see as He walks down your street today?
Would it be a street
filled with believers? Would it be a street filled with God’s Peace? Or would we
find Our Lord Jesus Christ, Weeping, Wailing, Moaning, and even Howling in despair
because we have missed the opportunity to be of Him?
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Today – We have the Reading
of the Gospel of Matthew, 21:12-17.
This is when Jesus Clears
the Temple.
Matthew 21:12-17 New
Living Translation (nlt)
Jesus Clears the Temple
“12 Jesus entered the Temple
and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice.
He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those
selling doves. 13 He said to them, “The
Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have
turned it into a den of thieves!”
14 The blind and the lame
came to Him in the Temple, and He healed them. 15 The leading priests and
the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the
children in the Temple shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David.”
But the leaders
were indignant. 16 They asked Jesus, “Do you
hear what these children are saying?”
“Yes,” Jesus
replied. “Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught
children and infants to give you praise.’” 17 Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed
overnight.
This event is recorded in
the Gospel of Matthew (as we have it above) and well as in the Books of Mark (11:15-19),
Luke (19:45-48) and in the Book of John (2:13-16). Some scholars believe that
there was actual two separate incidents of Jesus clearing the Temple because of
the location where John records his version and because John records more than one
Passover. However, John did not always record events in chronological order.
But the part that I would
like to focus upon is that Jesus cleansed the Temple BEFORE He began to do His
healing.
So, what can we gain from
understanding this?
When we come to the Lord,
in prayer, in spirit, in communion, we need to be made fresh. We need to cleanse
our bodies; Our Temples; Our Souls.
God can not be around sin
so if we come to God within our dirty sins, how do we expect for God to be with
us in that Prayer? We need to first, come to God in confession. We need to
cleanse our bodies, our Souls. And part of that cleansing is forgiving all others
of their wrongs which we hold them accountable of. It is only then, when we are
made clean. It is only then, when we can stand before God. It is only then,
when our Prayers will be heard by God.
He desires that
closeness. He desires that type of bounding with us. He desires to have that
type of Peace with us.
It breaks my heart as I
am sure it does the same to you, to know at times, more times than I want to
remember, when I have rejected God’s offer of His Peace, of His Closeness, of
His Love.
Let us not have it become
“too late, and (have God’s) peace (become) hidden from (our)
eyes.”
Amen.
