Jesus' Heart for People - Life of Christ Part 47

Now, did you know that Jimmy Stewart is dying of a broken heart? Did you know that Glen Campbell was addicted to cocaine and alcohol? Did you know that Whoopi Goldberg's future mother-in-law doesn't like her and when Whoopi invited her out wouldn't even go at Whoopi's expense? Did you know that little Richard once had the chance to own 50% of the Beatles and turned it down?

Big mistake. Did you know that Roseanne Barr has shingles and is considering suicide? Did you know Paul McCartney just had a facelift?

And did you know that Burt Reynolds collapse on the set of his movie was really a sign that he wants Lonnie Anderson to come back and save him from self-destruction? He said, Lon, where did you find out all these things? Well, I found them all out in the National Enquirer right here. Now, why does any educated human being go buy this thing? I mean, how can these things sell in Washington, D.C.?

Most of us have high school educations. How can this thing sell in Washington, D.C.? Say, well, you bought one. Well, that's different. I bought it for the message. I needed for the message.

But I wouldn't. That's the first time my whole life I ever bought one of these things because I say, well, what possibly motivates people to buy a stupid magazine like that? It's that we in America, through TV and the movie screen and the radio, we create people who are bigger than life. And then we get obsessed with trying to figure out what makes these people tick behind the scenes that are bigger than life.

And so when you get a magazine like this that's all about the behind-the-scenes lives of all these bigger-than-life people, humans become obsessed with finding out this kind of information. Now, the reason I bring all this up is because this morning we're going to be looking at the life of Jesus Christ. And what really is going on in his heart, what's really going on in his mind is very important because Jesus said, the person who's seen me has seen the Father. Whatever I'm feeling is what God's feeling. Whatever I'm thinking is what God's thinking. However, I react to a situation is how God reacts.

So seeing behind the scenes in the life of Burt Reynolds or Jimmy Stewart or Little Richard doesn't make a whole lot of difference really. But understanding what is in the heart of Jesus Christ makes an enormous difference because it's the heart of God. And this morning, what we want to look at is the heart of Jesus Christ when it comes to people. The Bible is full of telling us what Jesus Christ did for people. But this passage this morning is going to tell us how Jesus feels about people, even when people don't feel very nice about him. So let's look and see.

And I think that what we're going to find is that what we learn today is not only going to be comforting, but challenging. So let's look beginning in verse 31. Luke chapter 13, beginning in verse 31. At that time, some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod is out to kill you. Now, Jesus was traveling from Galilee south to Jerusalem for the very last time when he gets to Jerusalem, they're going to kill him this time. And he's going through on the east side of the Jordan, what we think of today is the country of Jordan, Herod Antipas is ruling this country, and the rabbis come to him and say, Herod's gonna try to kill you, you need to get out of town. Jesus replied, verse 32, go tell that fox, I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow. And on the third day, I'll reach my goal.

In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day, for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem. Now, you know, Jesus called this guy a fox. Now friends, when you call a woman a fox, that's a compliment. You understand what I'm saying?

When you go, wow, she's a fox. That's a compliment. Don't you think?

No. You know what, in none of the three services that anybody liked that. I think that's great, but nobody likes that. I think maybe it offends people, ladies don't want to be called foxes. But when we call you a fox lady, we're trying to say you're gorgeous. I mean, all right. You say, well, say it that way. Okay, from now on, we'll say it that way. But you know, when you call a man a fox, that's not a compliment.

Although the way our world's changing, you know, I don't know how things are going anymore, but usually that's not a compliment. And when Jesus called this guy a fox, that was not a compliment. He was calling him low down, treacherous, sneaky, destructive, and predatory. Today, if we had to do it, we would say Jesus called him a rat. Jesus wasn't intimidated by this guy, Herod at all, even though he was the king. And the reason is that Jesus had a big view of God and he had a big view of the sovereignty of God.

And there's something here that Jesus tells us about his worldview that's real important. He said, I have to go to Jerusalem. No prophet can die outside of Jerusalem. The will of God is for me to go to Jerusalem. And Herod, if the will of God is for me to go to Jerusalem, there's no way, pal, you're going to stop it. I don't care who you think you are, how much power you think you have, or how big a king you think you might be. You're not going to stop me from going to Jerusalem if the will and the plan of God says I've got to go there.

So I'm just going to keep going right on through your land and I'm not worrying about a thing. Now, this is a really crucial truth for us as Christians to grasp and for us to hold on to and know and believe. This isn't the first time Jesus said this. If you remember when he stands in front of Pontius Pilate on trial, Pilate says to him, how dare you not answer me? Don't you know that I'm the one who has the power either to set you free or to crucify you? You remember what Jesus said? He said, Pilate, you don't have any power over me at all except whatever power God gave you from above.

That's all you've got. No more, no less. You see in Jesus' mind, nobody, not Herod, not Pilate, no one else was able to interrupt the flow of the will of God in his life. Nobody.

He didn't have to worry about these people. And friends, as Christians, we need to believe this about our lives because the Bible says it's true. Many of us have bosses and these bosses are convinced that they have the power to run our lives, ruin our lives, ruin our reputation, fire us, make our life miserable, wreck our careers. They don't.

They don't. That boss has no more power over you than God grants that boss. And if God doesn't want that boss doing something that boss can't do it whether he wants to do it, whether she wants to do it or not. You don't need to be afraid of them. You need to say to them, hey, look, you don't have any more power over me than God gave you. You understand now you may not want to say that to their face, but you need to say that in your own mind because it's true. And there may be people out in the world who are out to injure you and out to hurt you and out to damage you. The truth is people have only the power over us as Christians that God grants them. And sometimes God grants them a certain measure of power. Sometimes people hurt us.

Sometimes people change our career path. Sometimes people throw all kinds of curve balls in our direction, but that's only that those curve balls that God allows to advance the plan and the will of God anyway. And it doesn't matter whether they're trying to do that or not.

It doesn't matter whether they're trying to help the will of God in our life or not. What boss have you ever met who said, I think I'll be mean to you so I can advance the will of God in your life. No boss says that.

He's being mean to you because he's a rotten guy maybe. But the point is if God's letting that happen, God's out to work on your character. God's out to work on your future. God's out to direct your path. And God's only using your boss as a tool.

It doesn't matter whether your boss understands it or not. Friends, this was the life view, the worldview of Jesus Christ. These people aren't running the universe. God is. And as a result of that, Jesus didn't have to be afraid of Herod. God was running the world.

And you know what? I believe for us to have a healthy worldview and to have a healthy Christian life, we have to have that same outlook on people. God's running the world, not these people. They can only do with us what God lets them and whatever God lets them just advances the will of God. It's okay.

Now let's go on. All of this discussion has turned Jesus's mind and his heart to Jerusalem and to the temple and to the Jewish high council who live there and have rejected his claim to be Messiah and to all the rabbis who live there that are talking everybody out of believing in him and to the thousands and thousands of innocent souls that are there who are hanging in the balance between heaven and hell trying to decide, is he the Messiah? Isn't he the Messiah? Should I follow him?

Should I not follow him? And in light of that, Jesus makes a comment that reveals an incredible depth about his heart. Look what he says. Verse 34. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those that are sent to you, how often I long to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her little chicks under her wings to protect them and provide for them. But you were not willing.

Look, your house is being left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. How do you think Jesus said these words? You know, the Bible doesn't tell us what inflection he used. Do you think he said them in anger?

Do you think he said, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you bunch of bums? How dare you guys spurn me? How dare you guys reject me?

How dare you guys not believe in me? You think that's how he said it? I don't think so. Think he said it with revenge on his mind. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I wanted to gather you like a hen gathers her chicks, but no, you wouldn't do it. Okay, well, you just wait till I get to town because when I get to town, man, boom, you're going to get it. Think that's how he said it?

I don't think so. I think Jesus said these words, not with revenge and not with anger, but I think he said them with sadness. I think Jesus said Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

So many times I wanted to take you in my arms and you just wouldn't let me. Sadness that so many people driven by their own willfulness influenced by the rabbi's arrogance had turned their backs on the mercy that God was offering and were rushing, rushing into eternal ruin headlong. I think Jesus was sad. Jesus said, you're not going to see my face again until you're willing to say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord until you're willing to confess me as Messiah.

And if you pass out of this world and you've never agreed to do that, you will never see my face again. These are words of judgment. Jesus was sad. You know, this is not the only time we see Jesus with this kind of heart for people. Flip back with me a couple of pages to Luke 19.

It's page 744 in our copy. Luke 19. Here Jesus was riding in the triumphal entry. I mean, you know, let me know he's riding on the donkey.

The people are throwing the palm leaves down. Everybody's saying, yeah, yeah, Jesus is in town. Should have been a happy moment, right? But I want you to see what happens. Luke chapter 19 verse 41. And as he approached Jerusalem, he came over the Mount of Olives and he saw the city, gorgeous panorama. He wept over the city and he said, if you, even you Jerusalem had known on this day, what would bring you peace? But now it's hidden from your eyes and the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.

They will dash you to the ground. You and the children within your walls, they will not leave one stone on top of another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. I looked it up this week. Do you know there's only two times in the Bible where the New Testament ever says Jesus cried? You realize that?

One of them is right here. And the other one was in front of the tomb of Lazarus, right? You know that in John chapter 11, where it says Jesus wept. Now what's really interesting is if you go back to John 11 and you look up the word there in Greek that says Jesus wept, the word there means to kind of get filled up, to kind of get weepy eyed, to kind of tear up, to get, you know, kind of moist around the eyes.

You understand what I'm saying? Kind of like you do when you go to a movie, you know, and the music swells up and it gets real emotional and you feel your eyes getting all teary eyed and then you feel this little tear start rolling down your cheek and you want to look cool. I mean, you don't want people to move, you know, you're crying. So you bend down, pretend like eating popcorn, you know, like, you know what I'm saying? Cause you want to be cool about it, you know? Now that's the word in John chapter 11.

Jesus was kind of choked up with emotion as he saw all the pain that was there. When was the last time you went to the movie and did that? Do you remember? You know, last time I did it, know the movie? I went to Mighty Ducks 2 and I did that. I did, I sat at Mighty Ducks 2 and I was, my kids are looking at me like, what is your problem?

Well, it's sad. I can't help it. I do that in a lot of movies. I'm bad.

When was the last time you did that? Now, you know, you can do that in a movie, walk out in the world's fine and you know, everything's over. You know, you just got a little choked up. That's the word in John chapter 11. That is not the same word that's used in Luke chapter 19 right here. Different Greek word. The Greek word that's used here means to sob. It means to fall apart. It means to be wracked with weeping so bad that you just lose control.

You know, you've seen people like this. It's a totally different word. Folks, the word here says Jesus fell to pieces as he rode over the hill, as he looked on the city, as he thought about all the innocent little people down in there, the men, the women, the children who had rejected him, who were going to end up going to hell because of that, and their refusal to accept the mercy of God. Jesus fell apart.

That's what the Greek word says. He fell apart. When was the last time you fell apart?

I can remember when it was for me because it doesn't happen very often. Eighteen months ago, roughly, my little girl whom you know has a real bad seizure disorder, but 18 months ago, she was only six or eight months old and she was terrible, absolutely terrible. She was having seizures. She'd stop breathing. We'd have to do CPR. We'd have to call the rescue squad. She'd go into the intensive care for a couple of days, come home. A week later, we'd be doing the same thing. This went on for months. The rescue squad knew us by first name.

This is true. And I honestly doubted, this is honest to God truth, I honestly doubted whether my little girl was going to live to see a year. I just didn't see how she was going to keep going like this. And so we asked the elders of our church to come over and to anoint my little girl with oil and pray for her. And so they came over my house.

It was a Sunday afternoon and they came in our living room and they anointed my little girl and they all gathered around and laid hands on her and started to pray for her. And they prayed and I fell apart. I mean, just completely went to pieces.

And I'll never forget one of the elders taking me in his arms and almost literally having to hold me up. I mean, I just fell apart. When was the last time you fell apart?

I'll bet you it wasn't at a movie because, you know, movies aren't real life. And when people fall apart, they don't fall apart about things that aren't real life. They fall apart about things that are real life.

They grip them so deeply that it tears their heart out. Now, Jesus only fell apart one time in the entire Bible and he fell apart over the issue of the lost condition of men and women and children. Does this tell us something about the heart of God? Does this tell us something about the heart of Jesus Christ?

People don't sob unless they're gripped by something precious to them. What's this tell you about how Jesus feels about people? You say, well, Lon, why is this important?

I'll tell you why. Because you know that non-Christian friends you've been praying for that parent you've been praying for that mom, that dad or that spouse or that child that you've been praying for. They come to know Christ praying for that, that they'd recognize their need for Christ. Friends, what this tells us is that Jesus Christ loves them and that Jesus Christ is far more concerned about them than you are. What this tells us is that you don't have to convince God to care about these people. He cares about these people more than you do.

And by the way, may I say that if you're here and you've never embraced Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, this passage tells us where Jesus Christ stands when it comes to you. Tells us how he feels about you. He's not angry with you. He's not mad at you. He doesn't want to hurt you. He doesn't want to punish you. He loves you. It breaks his heart to see you throwing your life away.

What he wants is to take you in his arms and love you and forgive your sin and wipe away your guilt and grant you eternal life and give you a life that's worth living. That's what he wants to do. The only thing stopping him is you.

That's the only thing stopping him. This is the heart of Jesus Christ for people. Now that's the end of our passage, but it leaves us with the question, so what?

What differences make to us today? Well, let me see if I can give you some insight of that in the next couple of minutes. You know, I had a young gal who came into my office to see me a while back and she sat down and I said, well, what can I help you with? What's the problem? She said, well, I've been dating a guy, she said, and you know, I've been dating him a long time, years, years, years. And she said, I got a real problem.

I said, well, tell me about it. She said, you know, I give and I give and I give and I give and I give to this guy and it seems like no matter how much I give, he just keeps taking. He never gives back. He takes advantage of my love. He treats me with disrespect. He kicks it back in my teeth. He bosses me around.

He never reciprocates the love and concern that I'm giving. He just takes, takes, takes, takes, takes, and this has gone on for years and I'm sick of it and I'm tired of it, but I don't want to do something God didn't want me to do. So I'm coming to see you because you're a pastor and I know you'll give me good biblical advice. What do I do now? And I said, it's my turn.

She said, your turn. I said, okay, here's my advice. You need to dump that clown. That's my advice. You need to dump that clown.

Tell that joker to take a hike. That's what you need to do. And you need to throw your line back out in the ocean and you need to catch yourself another fish that's going to treat you right.

That's what you need to do. And I said, honey, let me tell you something. You're a young gal and you need to do it right now while the bait still fresh. Cause when you get to be old like I am, when you get to be old like I am, let me tell you something.

There's still a lot of fish in the sea, but the bait ain't what it used to be. So you need to do it right now. You understand? Now, do you think I gave that girl good advice? I think I did dump that chump.

Get rid of him and find somebody that's going to love you the way you want to be loved. Now that's under normal circumstances. That's good advice. The way I see it. I mean, look, there's a limit to how much a person should take when they keep giving love and it keeps getting kicked back in their teeth. But there are some relationships where that advice doesn't work. For example, a parent with a child, that's not the advice you give them. No, I don't care how much a child kicks it back in your teeth as a parent, you keep loving. Or a child to their parents or a husband to a wife or a wife to a husband.

I wouldn't give that advice to them because those are special situations that don't come under normal situation. Now, friend, this kind of special situation that Jesus Christ has with every human being on the face of the earth. I don't care how bad you kick it back in his teeth. He's going to keep on loving, keep on giving, keep on trying to reach you.

And you can't kick it back bad enough that you can make him go away and stop loving you. That's why Jesus wept over this city. Was there ever a city that kicked it back in his face more than they did?

No. But he kept loving. It used to be an old song. Percy Sledge did it.

You remember it? Michael Bolton's done it more recently. It's called When a Man What? Loves a Woman.

That's right. That's a good song. You know, it says when a man's really got it bad. I mean bad.

It says what? He'll sleep out in the rain for her. Now, there's not many women I can think of I got it that bad for. You understand what I'm saying?

No, sir. It says if she's bad, he can't see it. If she'll play him for a fool, he'll turn his back on his best friend.

He's known for 20 years if his best friend says anything bad about her. He'll just keep coming back for more punishment when he's got it bad for that woman. Now, folks, what the Bible's telling us is Jesus Christ has it bad for every human being alive.

Every one of us. That's the kind of love he had for that city. It's the kind of love he has for you and me.

It's the kind of love he has for everybody in this world. People can reject him, ignore him, hurt him. They can curse him. They can be unfaithful to him.

They can defy him. But he'll love them. As long as there's breath in their body, Jesus Christ will love them. And the Bible says that that's why he's delayed coming back because when he comes back, he's going to have to judge the people who don't know him. Second Peter three says God is putting it off and putting it off because he wants to give people time to accept his mercy.

He loves them that much. That God's will, 1 Timothy 2, is for all people to be saved, all people to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. You say, well, now, Lon, I got a question. If this is what Jesus Christ really wants, I mean, he's God, right? Right. Okay.

So if this is what he really wants, he wants everybody to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Right? Right. Okay. And if he's infinitely patient with people, right? Right.

And if he's actively out there trying to convince people to do that, right? Right. Okay. Well, if all of that's right, then how come everybody doesn't do it? Well, that's a very good question. That's an excellent question. The passage for this morning answers it.

Let's go back. Luke 13. Let me show you the answer.

How come everybody doesn't do it? Look right here. It's in verse 34, four little words. Give you the answer.

Jesus said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I long to gather your children together like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. Here come the four words, but here they are. You were not willing. Uh-huh.

There's the problem. You were not willing. God says, I was willing. I was anxious. I was frantic about it, but you were not willing.

You vetoed the whole deal. You say, well, how could God let this happen, Lon? Listen, friends, when God made man, he gave man a free will. That's part of what it means to be made in the image of God and God without violating his creation cannot and will not violate the free will of man. Theologians have argued for centuries about the election of God and the free will of man, and I'm not smart enough to give you the answer. All I can tell you is if you need a passage that proves man has free will, you got it right here in front of you because Jesus said, what I wanted to do was gather you like little chickens under my wings, but I couldn't do it, and I wasn't able to do it because you vetoed it. You wouldn't do it.

You didn't want it. Free will is why everybody in Jesus's day didn't give their life to Christ, and it's the same reason today why everybody doesn't. Friends, don't you ever underestimate the intensity and the tenacity of the free will of man. Man will look God right in the eye and say no.

It's incredible. I mean, I think of Pharaoh. Do you think of Pharaoh? Ten plagues? I mean, come on now.

Charlton Heston was laying those babies all over Yul Brenner, and Yul Brenner was like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. I mean, come on. One plague is enough, right?

Maybe two for you to say hello, McFly. Get real here. This is going to happen. Don't push God, but look at Pharaoh. You saw what he did, and let me tell you something, friends.

People in our world do the very same thing. They look right in God's face and go, forget it. Get out of here. Leave me alone.

Forget it. I'm not interested, and I don't care how much pressure God puts on them. They're not interested. Friends, the very fact that hell exists proves man has free will because if it was up to God, nobody would ever go there, but it's not up to God 100%. Man's free will is a part of the formula, and it's bad, and it's tragic, and it breaks the heart of God, but people really go there. Not because God didn't provide them a way out, but because in their free will, they weren't willing to take it. And you say, Alon, how does this affect all of us today as Christians in the 20th century?

Listen, folks. What about all the people that we pray for? You know, people we love, our moms or our dads or our brothers or our sisters or our children or friends at work that we pray for and we talk to and we plead with to come to know Christ. Most of us here are old enough to have had somebody in that boat who died and they didn't come to know Christ, at least not that we know of.

Now, what about those people? What happened? You know, most of us as Christians are not honest enough that we will admit it really shook our faith. We prayed for my mother. We prayed for my father. We prayed for my child, and they died, and God didn't answer my prayers. What happened?

And it really challenges us. But you know what, friends? Did God let you down? Did God fail you? Did God fail to do his part? Wasn't God strong enough to reach them?

Is that what the problem was? Are you judging and impugning and blaming God correctly? You know, when I came to know Christ, since then my mother's come to know Christ. She's in heaven. My father came to know Christ. He's in heaven. My brother's come to know Christ.

He's still living. But I had a grandfather and a grandmother. We used to call my grandfather Papa. Papa. He ruled the roost, man. I don't care how many generations there were under him. He believed they all belonged to him.

Understand what I'm saying? You know that kind of person? And his wife, we called her Bubba, and they were a pair.

I mean, they were a pair. And when I first came to know Christ and I went to tell them I'd become a Christian, Papa didn't talk to me for five years. I mean, he wouldn't even say hello on the telephone. Hello? Hello? Hello? Nothing.

Well after five years, we finally got to be where we could be civil with one another. There were at least a half a dozen times that I can remember where I sat down in one form or another and specifically talked to him and my grandmother about Jesus Christ. Specifically told them what they needed to do to become a Christian.

Specifically told them that without Christ, they were going to perish. And I prayed for them every week for years and years and years. When my grandmother took sick and finally died, she was in intensive care. And I went down to the hospital to see her. And my grandfather said to me, you are not allowed into intensive care without me.

I said, well, why? He said, because you're not going in there and talking to her about Jesus. You're going to get her upset. She's going to have a heart attack. She's going to die.

I can't afford to lose her. When you go in, I go in. You understand? And you don't say a word.

I said, okay, papa, okay, man, back off, chill out. We went in there once. I got about 20 seconds in.

That's the most I ever got. And that man shielded her from ever hearing from me. And she died. And as far as I know, never made a commitment to Christ.

When he was sick and dying, he was in the hospital down in Virginia Beach. And I was on my way down to see him. And my aunt called and said, don't come. She said, if you come, you're not going in because you're not going to talk to him about converting. You're not going to talk to him about Christianity. You're not going to talk to him about Jesus. I'm here night and day, and I'll stand at the door and physically keep you out. Don't come.

I said, well, I'm smarter than she is. So what I'm going to do is this. I'm a pastor. I can get in any hospital, any time, day or night. So I'll go down at two o'clock in the morning.

She's not going to be there at two o'clock in the morning. I'll show my credentials and I'll go in and I'll get a chance to talk to him and be out of town and she'll never even know I was there. So I did that. I headed down, drove on down Virginia Beach, timed it. So I got there about one o'clock in the morning, went on in to see him, walked on down to the hallway where he was. I always check with the nurses station just to make sure they know I'm there, walked up and said, I'm Pastor Solomon. I'm here to see Mr. Levine in room, dut, dut, dut, dut. And so I showed her, you know, what I need to show her. And she said, well, I'm very sorry, sir.

She said, Mr. Levine passed away earlier this evening. I missed him by four hours. So how did you feel?

What do you mean? How did I feel? I felt awful. Now, as far as I know, my grandfather nor my grandmother in heaven.

I mean, if I get there and find them, I'm going to be very surprised. And I got to be really honest with you. I had a hard time dealing with this. I had to really struggle with God. How could you let this happen? I mean, I prayed for these people.

I talked to these people. How could you let this happen? And it was this passage that helped me deal with this, friends. Was it God's fault? No, it was not God's fault. Did God do everything he could justly and righteously do to reach my grandfather and reach my grandmother?

Yes, I believe he did. But you see, there was a complicating factor God could do nothing about, and that was their free will. Did they have more opportunity to accept Christ in terms of being talked to than millions of people in the world?

You bet. But they rejected him. Is that God's fault? No, that's not God's fault. And if you've got a mother who's died or a father who died or a brother or a sister or someone else that you love very much or a friend and they never accepted Christ, let me tell you something. Don't blame God for something that's not his fault.

It's not his fault. God loves those people more than you do. These Jewish people in Jerusalem had kicked it back in his teeth and were going to kill him in a matter of a few months, and he sobbed over these people. Don't tell me God didn't love your mother, God didn't love your father, that God wasn't interested in reaching those people. God did everything in his power to reach him, and you've got to believe that.

It was their free will that was the problem. And you've got to salt that away once and for all and stop blaming God for things that aren't his fault. Now how do we pray for people that are still alive?

Let me tell you. We pray, God, do as much as you can justly and righteously do to reach that person because there is a limit beyond which God cannot justly and righteously go, and that limit is their free will. And then we need to also pray God take their free will, put it in the mortar and pestle and grind that sucker. Grind it. So how does God grind it? God grinds it with heartache and disappointment and defeat and setbacks and failure. God grinds on that thing to make people understand they can't make it without God. But you know what? Friends, there are people who even from the bottom of that mortar and pestle will shake their finger at God and say, Get out of here, no matter how much he grinds.

Why? Because the will of man is that stubborn. But that's the way we need to pray.

God put them in there and just grind them and break that will. But I understand God, that if they're not willing to be broken, there's nothing you can do. Friends, we got to understand where God is so we don't blame him for things that aren't his fault. And if you've been struggling with that for years, and I'll bet there's a bunch of us here who have, withholding that against God, God wants to free you this morning.

Free you and tell you whose fault it really was. He'll do his part. You can count on God. There's not a soul alive God won't do his part with.

But people have to do their part. Thank God if you're here, you're a Christian, God gave you enough sense to bow your free will and humble yourself in front of him. God help us to pray for other people that they would do the same.

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I want to thank you this morning for using the Word of God to teach us. And Lord forgive us forgive me for the many days that we spend blaming you for things that aren't your fault. Blaming you for people's unwillingness to come to know Christ as though you could just simply make them whether they wanted to or not because you can't, you won't. Teach us Lord that man's free will is inviolable. You made it that way.

Even though you'll work on it and even though you'll pound on it and even though you'll grind on it, you won't violate it. If we have mothers and fathers and friends and loved ones who aren't walking with you today or who've died and never did it's only because they made up their mind to say no in spite of all that you did to try to get them to say yes just like the people of Jerusalem did in Jesus' day. And so Lord free us from bitterness and anger that's false for which you're not responsible. And for people we know and love today that are still alive, help us pray for them intelligently and biblically that you would do everything in your power to reach them, that you would grind on their free will. But Lord help us pray with the understanding that if their stubborn free will refuses to bow, they will pass out of this life.

They will perish and it's not your fault. Help us have a balanced view of all of this dear God I pray, a biblical view and we thank you Lord that you gave us the sense, those of us who are Christians to make that decision. Thank you for the many, many victories we do see because we see so many. And help us Lord just to trust you that you'll always do everything possible to reach everybody we pray about for Christ. Help us believe that. Help us rest in that. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.