Luke Week 18 • Luke 19:45-21:4

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Thanks for listening.

Well, good morning.

Glad that y'all are here with us.

If you've got your Bibles, open up to Luke chapter 19 is where we're going to be as we

Luke 19 · chapter mention

continue our study in the Gospel of Luke.

As you turn there, I just want a couple of other things.

If you are a first-time guest, here's what I'd love for you to do.

Find me before you leave here.

I'd love to meet you, learn your name, have a conversation with you.

If you've got any questions about Willow Ridge Church, I would love to answer those.

And so please take the time to do that.

If you are a visitor, I would love to introduce myself and have you introduce yourself to me

today.

Now, as we get into Luke 19, I want to lead off in this.

All right, I'm going to be brief today.

I know some of you are thinking, yeah, right, but I'm going to do my best.

All right, I'm going to do my best to be brief.

And here's the reason why.

We've got Hans and Brandy Ostrom and their family with us.

In fact, if you'll notice on the seats around you, there's a prayer card, hopefully on all

of them, and even some stickers that are there.

And they are missionaries, missionary family that we support as at Willow Ridge Church.

And Hans sent me a message about a month ago where they were going to be here in South

Carolina, which is their home state where they're from.

They were going to be here and wanted to be able to spend some time worshiping with our

congregation and give just some encouragement, some thank yous, some updates on what ministry

is looking like in Canada right now.

I know this last year has been a crazy year for all of us, but when you really look outside

of a lot of where other people were having to go through and deal with in other countries,

we really see that a lot of places are handling this in a harsher way than we are.

The Ostrom family has had to walk through that, not only in ministry, but just in day-to-day

life as they raise their family.

And so we are blessed to have him here, to have them here.

So Hans will be up at the very end.

So, all right, so here's some instructions for you, all right?

So stick with me on this.

I'll preach, close up, we'll sing two songs.

I know that you're thinking at the end of that second song, like, I got to get to San

Jose, all right?

Pause.

Hans is going to come up at the end of that, and then there will be plenty of chips and

salsa for everybody at San Jose's afterwards, I promise.

So just patiently, patiently wait.

So Luke 19, I'll tell a story last night.

Those of you who know me and know me well, you know I love my South Carolina Gamecocks.

And you know that that relationship with my South Carolina Gamecocks is troubled at times.

And I love all things South Carolina sports.

I love all things Gamecocks.

And so right now, if you're not a big sports fan or you're not a big college baseball fan,

you might not realize that right now is the opening weekend of college baseball's postseason.

And so South Carolina is hosting a regional, even though we're not a one seed.

We can get into that later.

All right, but we are hosting.

And last night, we were playing Old Dominion, who is the number one seed in the Columbia Regional.

And it's a tight game.

The score's tied one to one.

Old Dominion lost two to one.

They won two to one, broke my heart.

But in the sixth inning, the game is tied one to one.

And a pop fly is hit.

And a pop fly is hit to the third baseman for South Carolina.

And you can tell the moment that the ball comes off the bat that it is a high pop fly.

Like, this isn't a pop fly that looks like your dad kind of underhanded to you, you know.

Like, this is a pop fly that has just caught the top portion of those metal bats.

And it is shot straight up in the air.

And you see the third baseman.

You see him immediately call it, this is mine.

And then you begin to see him move around and stumble and almost look like he's going to fall.

And then at the very last second, he kind of regathers his base for his feet underneath him.

And then the ball falls about two feet away from his glove before he could grab it.

In my heart, right, as a guy who invests way too much time, energy, and passion into this athletic ability of 18 to 22-year-olds fell apart in that moment, right?

I absolutely lost it because it's a pop fly and he missed it.

He missed it.

He is a D1 college athlete and he missed it.

Now, he didn't miss it because his glove faltered.

I don't know if you've ever had that happen, but sometimes the webbing in your glove can stretch out and literally a baseball can fall right through your glove.

But that didn't happen to him.

He didn't miss it because his glove faltered.

He didn't miss it because another player came up and tripped him up.

If you've ever played baseball or softball, like you know that happens sometimes, right?

You're saying I got it, the other player's saying that they got it, and all of a sudden you collide and you run into each other and the ball falls right there.

That didn't happen either.

He didn't miss it because he had to run a great distance.

This wasn't a dead sprint to shallow left field.

This wasn't a sprint over to the opposing team's dugout and try to stretch at the last moment.

He literally, from the positioning that he started out into the positioning where he was when he missed it, was only a couple feet.

If he'd have done this from the very beginning, he'd have caught it.

So what happened?

I've been watching this team all year.

This third baseman has phenomenal discipline.

He's got phenomenal footwork.

Everything about what he does shows great discipline.

He is a trained Division I athlete.

And as I'm going through all of this within five seconds and trying for God to redeem the moment for me, right?

I heard the announcer come across and say that ball went so high up into the lights that what he was having was a hard time seeing it.

And because he couldn't see the ball clearly, he missed it.

You know, it wasn't because he was lazy.

It wasn't because he didn't want to catch the ball.

It wasn't because he hadn't been trained and people hadn't poured into him.

It's just that in the moment when his eyes were trying to be fixed on the ball, they got lost in something else that consumed him, that took his eyes there.

And then that which he was told, that which he was instructed to have his eyes locked in on, he just simply missed it.

He made an error.

And it ended up not being the reason that South Carolina lost the game, but in the moment, he missed it.

But what in the world does this have to do with anything, right?

I think that there's many people, many people who may be here today, many people who may call themselves Christians,

many people for thousands of years, that when it comes to Jesus and the gospel, they've heard, they've been instructed, they've been taught,

they've been given God's word, but they've missed it.

They've missed it.

I've shared with you guys this so many times, that's the burden of my heart.

We're going to hear a lot about international missions and what God calls us to do and to go out.

Dealing with lost people and sharing the gospel is always complicated and context matters, okay?

And so I've been to places like India and shared the gospel with people who have never heard the name of Jesus before.

And I love that.

And that's filled with its own difficulties in trying to understand and communicate the gospel.

But then I also come back into a culture that if you've never lived outside of South Carolina or Lexington or even the greater part of the area of the United States,

what we refer to as the Bible Belt, that there are people who would culturally align as Christians.

There are people who within surface level behaviors would align themselves with saying that they are a follower of Jesus Christ or I love God or something just in a general statement with that.

But when it comes to Jesus and the gospel, their eyes have been distracted by something else.

And in that moment, they miss it.

They miss it.

And for so many people, I had a conversation with a young man who was visiting our church after the 930 service.

And he came up to me and he was sharing a little bit about who he is and getting to meet him.

And it's a wonderful time to meet him.

And he asked me a question about myself.

And it led me to tell him the journey of me, of being raised in church and for 22 years of my life completely missing it.

Doing the things, going to the camps, making decisions, filling out cards, but yet missing it.

And here's why I think so many people miss it.

And this is what I want us to really work through this morning.

And I'll get going, I promise.

But here's what I mean.

That for so many people, Jesus simply becomes a means to an end.

They're told that hell is terrible and you don't want to go there.

And that's true.

And they're told that Jesus is the way for not going there, which is true.

And then their response, their reaction to that is, well then, if that's bad, if he's the way out of the bad, then I'll take Jesus.

If that's the option, then just give that to me.

And then we walk away from there missing the fullness of the truth of the gospel.

Yes, it is true that hell is not where you want to go.

That hell is eternal punishment within there and destruction.

And that Jesus is the only way to be not there.

That's the truth of it all.

But there's so much more of what the gospel wants to do in our life, of what the gospel wants to transform in us.

And so what I want us to begin to wrap our minds around is we're going to look at a couple things this morning.

Is that the gospel, yes, it changes our eternity.

But the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of men and women who are found in Christ, it changes our today.

Everything about of who we are.

When we are saved by the gospel, our eternal destination is changed.

But also our current lives are transformed and the purpose of what God gives us is changed as well.

Because when men and women and children are changed or saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ,

our eyes and our hearts are open to the fact that we are a sinner who is incapable.

Not who can't figure it out, but who's incapable of saving ourselves.

So what we need is Jesus who saves us, who restores us, who redeems us,

who brings us into relationship with God, who sends us the Holy Spirit, who indwells in us.

I heard a pastor say one time, and I love this and repeat this so many times in my mind,

that God loves you too much to save you from your sin and then leave you in it.

And he wants to restore us so that the person that we were is no longer the person that we are.

And so things in who we are and what we're about begin to change.

Before we get into Luke 19, I just want to read a couple passages to you.

Galatians 2.20.

I've been crucified with Christ as no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me in the life.

I now live in the flesh.

I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

2 Corinthians 5.17.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is the same person that he was before.

No.

If anyone is in Christ, Scripture says he is a new creation.

The old has passed away.

Behold, the new has come.

And so here's my concern for those of us who would culturally just align ourselves and say,

yeah, I'm Christian, right?

Is that if we miss who Jesus is, if we miss what Jesus came to do,

if we miss the commands and not the suggestions of the gospel,

then we ignore all of this, and then Jesus just becomes the means to the end for us.

And our lives are not submitted and surrendered to him in our life, and we miss it.

So I want to ask you this question as we get into this.

Are you missing it?

Are you missing it?

And there's been people who have surrounded themselves around Jesus for thousands of years

who have missed it.

Look at verse 37.

As he was drawing near already on the way down the Mount of Olives,

the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice

for all the mighty works they had seen, saying,

Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him,

Teacher, rebuke your disciples.

Verse 40.

And he answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.

So I want us to look at one thing, because we've got to work through this,

but just one thing within this.

So the picture that we see is Jesus and the whole multitude of the disciples.

So this is all of them.

And they're walking and they're journeying with Jesus,

and they're celebrating him, what Luke's gospel says,

because of the works they'd seen.

So as they're talking around, they're praising God,

because did you see what Jesus did when he healed that man?

Did you see what Jesus did when he called the dead girl back to life?

Did you see what Jesus did when he cast out the demons?

Do you remember what it's like to see Jesus when he fed the thousands?

Like you've got all of these conversations that are happening and that are taking place,

and the people are celebrating all that God has done.

And this is like this joyous time within him of this.

This is exciting.

They can't believe that this is all going on.

Now let's put this in the context of what is happening.

This is the Passion Week of Jesus headed to the cross.

And so when I read this, it seems a little weird to me.

Because Jesus is headed to die.

And they've been told that.

Jesus has said, I'm going to go die and be buried for three days and we'll rise again.

And he's on his journey to the cross.

And they miss it.

In spite of what Jesus had been clearly telling him, they miss it.

And for many in that crowd, Judas included,

in spite of what Jesus has said,

in spite of what they understand,

in spite of what they've been taught,

in spite of what they've been exposed to,

they think that their journey in Jerusalem is going to be this earthly kingdom

that's going to kick out Rome and reestablish what was there

and go back to the time of David.

And as different members, including Judas,

begin to realize, like, this ain't what's going on,

they're like, well, then we're going to tap out.

And so Judas sees this and realizes this.

He's like, no, 30 pieces of silver, here we go.

Right?

And they miss it.

Because for so many,

Jesus is just a means to their end.

They've missed, take up your cross and follow me.

They've missed, if you love me, then you'll obey me.

They've missed it.

And so for so many of us,

what we want to look at and examine our hearts

when understanding these next two encounters with Christ

is asking that question, have we missed it?

Is Jesus not the daily, the moment,

the second, the very power that we live in,

that we worship, of who we are?

Or is Jesus simply a means to the end?

I filled out a card, I checked a box,

and I did that, and now my eternity's secure.

So this moment has happened,

and that moment will be good,

so I can just kind of live my life,

however I mean through here.

And maybe, if that's the way you think,

maybe we just missed it.

Maybe you just missed it.

And you're going to understand the missing,

and I think by the way that we not only view Christ,

but by the way we view Christ and the way we view sin.

So look at verse 41.

And when he drew near and saw the city,

he wept over it.

I want to pause for a second.

There's been one time in my life

that I've had the opportunity

to have my feet on the ground

and look out over a city.

And it was in Jaipur in India.

And Jaipur is a massive city,

millions of people,

and there's a mountain range that surrounds Jaipur.

And on our very last day,

we drove up to the top of the mountains,

and we stood on the top of the mountain.

There was a palace behind us,

a fortress behind us,

and there was the city out there.

And we stood there,

and we looked out.

And at first,

you're looking at the 5,000-foot view

of the chaos of millions of people.

But then in that moment,

you begin to realize

the vast amounts of lostness that's there.

There's no part of India

that's greater than 2% saved.

No part.

And so you're seeing millions and millions of people

of lostness.

And I remember the impact of that moment.

And then I look here,

and Jesus draws near the city,

and he looks out over it,

and he weeps.

And in a little glimmer of a way

that God gives my heart grace,

I can understand that.

Verse 42, saying,

Would that you,

even you,

have known on this day

the things that make for peace.

But now they are hidden from your eyes,

for the days will come upon you

when your enemies will set up a barricade

around you

and surround you

and hem you in on every side

and tear you down to the ground,

you and your children within you.

And they will not leave

one stone upon another in you

because you did not know

the time of your visitation.

So here's what I want us to get there.

There's so much,

and we can't do it justice this morning,

but so much that I want us to see

and understand is this,

that the first aspect

that we begin to understand

about Christ and sin

and our sin to understand

is the mercy of Jesus.

Jesus looks out over Jerusalem

and the vast lostness that's there

and begins to weep.

He begins to weep

because the fulfillment of Scripture

which will happen,

the physical destruction of Jerusalem

that will come,

and in 70 A.D.,

Rome comes and sacks Jerusalem

and destroys it,

but also within here

is the spiritual destruction

of all those

who didn't see Jesus

for who he was

and what he came to do

because they missed it.

As he walked

and as he talked,

their own agendas

were filled their brains

and consumed them

and they missed who he was

and as Jesus stands over the city

and looks down

and begins to weep

because he's like,

as you're chasing this

and as you're chasing this,

and you're chasing this,

you're missing it

because it's me.

It's me.

It's me.

And I'm here.

And we see the mercy of Jesus.

I don't know.

Jesus had every right

to stand over Jerusalem

and say,

you fools.

Jesus had every right

to stand over Jerusalem

and lavish in the destruction

that would come

because of their disobedience

and the wrath of God

that would happen.

but instead,

he wept.

He wept.

He wept.

And he continued

his journey

to the cross

where he would die.

I think so many of us

miss

Jesus

because we feel

that Jesus

is just this God

waiting to punish us,

to catch us in the bad,

to get,

I knew you were going to do it.

Punishment.

But what we see here

from the heart of the Savior

who would bear the burden

of the sins of the world

is that when he looks out

over the people

who one day say,

Hosanna,

and another say,

crucifying,

he weeps.

And we understand

the mercy of God.

Next thing,

let's look at verses 45 and 46.

It says,

and he entered the temple

and began to drive out

those who sold

saying to them,

it is written,

my house shall be

a house of prayer

but you

made it

a den

of robbers.

So we're going to see

two

what seem to be

contradictory

pieces of Jesus

but they're not.

They're not.

These play

into each other

so we see

the mercy of Jesus

but also we're going to see

the judgment of Jesus

and as we look

and we unpack

scripture

and we understand

that there's

the mercy of God

and the judgment of God

and that the goodness of God

is found in both of those

that I don't want a God

who doesn't bring judgment

because his goodness

and his holiness

is found in it.

And then here

we see the judgment

of Jesus.

And just a little side note

but I think this points

to something else

that we're going to see

in a few weeks.

Sometimes I think

we get wrong

are the physical impression

that we get of Jesus.

I don't know about you

but I grew up in a church

that had like

really pretty

white,

blonde haired,

blue eyed Jesus

in pictures

in their buildings.

You know?

Like I saw that.

And we get this

picture of Jesus

that it always looked like

I mean his hair

was brushed out

perfect, right?

He was this soft,

delicate,

little man.

But I don't think

that's who Jesus was

at all.

And I think

scripture here

points to that.

Jesus walks

into a space,

his space

that others

have claimed

for their own.

He walks over,

he flips over tables,

he drives out people

and no one

does a thing.

Now let somebody

come to your house

and you're sitting

down for dinner

and come up

and turn

your table

up.

Let somebody

show up

to your office

tomorrow

and come

into your

workspace

and clean

your desk

off.

Let somebody

go into

your bank

account

and take

from you

what you

think is

theirs.

How are you

going to react?

And Jesus

walks into

this space

in the fullness

physically

of who he is

and not

through the

power of

a miracle

walking in

the power

of God

though in

this moment

and flips

over the

tables

and everyone

who's in

there,

every person

who sat

there and sold,

every person

who felt like

that was a claim

for themselves,

every person

who lost

money that day,

they just

scattered

because of

the physical

presence of

Jesus

in that

moment.

Now,

here's what I

want to connect

with this

for just a

second.

In just a few

weeks,

here's why I

think this

matters.

Jesus is going

to go out

into the

garden

and Judas

is going to

approach him

and he could

have laid

him down

but he

didn't.

Instead,

he allowed

Judas

to kiss

him on the

cheek

in the

betrayal

and then to

be handed

over

and led

away.

And as I

look through

this,

I think we

begin to see

is more

and more

of God

pointing to

what Jesus

is doing

as Jesus

is living

over obedience

and the

will of

God

as he's

led to

the cross.

But we

see the

judgment of

Jesus.

Jesus comes

in and

attacks three

things in

this moment.

Jesus

attacks

false

religion.

Jesus

steps into

a situation

that is now

religiously

acceptable

by the

leaders who

are there

and we

don't have

the time

to get

into

everything

that is

taking

place

but that

those who

are in

charge

are saying

yeah,

it's

alright,

we can

do this,

we can

live

in

this

and

Jesus

says no,

no,

no,

no,

because it

walks away

from the

standard

because these

aren't

suggestions,

these are

commands.

So stop

living in

what you

want it

to be

and start

living in

what it

is.

And Jesus

attacks the

religion.

And I

think for

some of

us,

the tables

are being

overturned in

our heart

is kind

of asking

us like

are we

walking in

here with

the expectations

of what

we want

trying to

live in

the suggestions

and Jesus

saying no,

no,

no,

no,

it's the

commands

that I

bring before

you.

Jesus

steps in

and attacks

reputation.

You know,

these men

that are in

there,

this is their

business.

This is what

they're known

for.

Jesus says

right here

that they're

a den

of robbers.

I see some

small business

owners in

here.

What if

one of us

got on

social media

and said

your business

is a,

you're a

thief.

You're a

thief.

How would

you respond

to that?

Jesus

steps into

that moment

in their

sin and

attacks the

reputation

that they

have that

have been

built on

their sin

and what it

causes in

that moment

of who

they are.

But also

maybe in a

way that

hits home

for all

of us.

Jesus

jumps in

and takes

out some

financial

standing

and begins

to deal

with the

hearts of

the things

of those

who have

pursued.

And I

don't know

about you

but I

want to

ask you

in your

heart

and your

obedience

and your

drive toward

the Lord

are you

willing to

be a

little

unethical

right?

For

financial

purposes.

financial

gain.

You know

like

what if

Jesus

not what

if

let me

rephrase

that

what if

we

acknowledged

that God

is with

us while

we did

our taxes?

Would we

do them

a little

different?

Would we

be the

person of

integrity

and Jesus

steps in

and brings

the judgment

out?

Jesus

steps in

at these

areas

and says

I'm

going to

examine

this

and this

and this

and flipping

these

over

and we

see the

judgment

of Christ

so in

these two

areas

Jesus

weeps

over the

sin that

has blinded

them

to who

he is

Jesus

attacks

the sin

that is

in your

life

that is

preventing

you from

obedience

and following

him in a

day to day

life

and my

concern is

my prayer

for us

as a

church

my prayer

for us

as a

body

of

people

who

claim

to be

believers

is that

within

this

are there

things

in this

world

that are

causing

us

to not

see

Jesus

for clearly

who he

is

to only

see

Jesus

as a

means

to the

end

and when

Jesus

steps

into

these

small

compartments

of our

life

and says

but I'm

not king

there

and I'm

not king

there

and I'm

not king

there

what is

our

response

to him

is our

response

you're not

going to

tell me

who I

am

as he

weeps

over the

sin

and the

broken

hardness

of the

blindness

that we've

sold ourselves

to

and my

fear is

we miss

Jesus

and close

don't miss

Jesus

don't miss

the joy

of knowing

of eternity

with him

hell is

real

forever

is a

long

time

Jesus

is the

only

way

don't

miss

him

but also

this

if

Jesus

is a

means

to an

end

you

will

miss

the

beauty

of

seeing

your

life

live

through

the

power

of

the

spirit

if

Jesus

is

a

means

to

an

end

you

will

miss

the

old

life

that

has

passed

away

and

experience

the

new

life

that

comes

to

the

gospel

and

then

really

if

Jesus

is

simply

a

means

to

the

end

are

you

even

saved

anyways

let's

pray

Lord we

thank you

for this

opportunity

and time

we could

be here

Lord

thank you

for the

picture

of

what you

show

us

as you

reveal your

heart

more and

more to

us

Lord may

we be

people

say

like Jesus

you're

you're not

just here

for

religious

ritual

we're

not just

here

for what

we can

get out

of it

at the

end

of the

journey

but we're

here

Lord

so that

we can

know you

more

that we

can be

transformed

more

and we

can be

more like

you

and then

Lord what

we have

in that

moment

Lord

is we

can weep

over

cities

as we

look at

the

lostness

of our

friends

and our

neighbors

and our

family members

that we

can weep

over the

lostness

Lord

of those

who are

all over

this world

who don't

have the

hope of

the gospel

many

of whom

Lord

do not

even have

access

to the

gospel

so Lord

may we

be like

Christ

and weep

over them

Lord

before we

walk into

a room

and think

we need to

start turning

over tables

Lord

may we

see the

tables

that

you've

turned

over

may we

Lord

repent

and stop

trying to

put the

pieces of

the table

back together

but instead

walk

toward you

Lord

the beauty

of the

judgment

of what

you bring

us

is your

judgment

comes with

warning

what you're

calling us

to

the life

with you

transformed

by you

so Lord

I thank you

that we

are saved

by grace

through

faith

not something

we deserve

it's not

something that

we earn

but it

comes freely

to us

by you

but Lord

our response

to your

grace

doesn't

end when

we check

a box

or say

a prayer

but Lord

through the

power of

your spirit

may we

respond to

your grace

daily

being

transformed

and made

in your

likeness

it's in

Jesus

name we

pray

amen

church

don't miss

it

don't miss

Jesus

you stand

as we

worship

him

thanks again

for listening

to the

Willow Ridge

Church

weekly

podcast

we hope

that you

enjoyed

listening

to this

week's

message

if you'd

like to

learn more

about who

we are

or explore

additional

resources

visit us

online

at

www.willowridgechurch.com

or by searching

for Willow Ridge

Church on

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