And please turn in your copies of God's Word to the Gospel of Luke. It seems this time of year we've been blessed over the past number of years to have a number of visiting speakers this time of the year with visiting missionaries and with Banner of Truth and Banner of Truth speakers. So it's been a couple of weeks since we've been in the Book of Luke, but we pick up in Luke chapter 13 and we'll read verses 31 to 35. This is God's word. At that very hour, some Pharisees came to him and said to him, get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. And he said to them, go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow. And the third day I finished my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you are not willing. Behold, your house is forsaken, and I tell you, you will not see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So ends the reading of God's word. Let us ask the Lord's blessing now upon the preaching of his word. Our Heavenly Father, we know that all scripture is designed to lead us to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, Lord, we ask that you, by your Holy Spirit, would open the eyes of our hearts, cause us to see sin where sin is to be repented of, where we are hopeless, cause us to once again see the hope and the joy that is ours in Christ and in what he has done for his people. in accomplishing all that was required by finishing his course. Show us these things and more, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, as summer is here and children are off of school, maybe you as a family have plans to go somewhere for a week or a weekend or maybe even just for a day trip and children, Maybe there's somewhere that you're looking to go to, looking forward to going to. Maybe it's a lake where you'll kayak and fish and swim. Or maybe it's a forest or a mountain where you can hike and enjoy nature and see the birds and the animals. Or maybe you're planning to go to a city where you'll see monuments and museums and enjoy the fine dining of the city. Well, with all of these destinations, there's something nice, there's something relaxing and enjoyable that we look forward to when we plan these trips. None of us would ever plan a trip to a city if we knew that there were people in that city who wanted to kill us. None of us would knowingly plan a trip that we knew would result in suffering, anguish, slander, and pain. And yet, this is the very thing that Jesus is doing. This city that Jesus is planning to go to is Jerusalem. In chapter nine, he fixed his gaze to go there. And ever since, he has been taking one step after another to reach that city. Now, the city of Jerusalem was the very center of Jewish civic and religious life. It was known as the city of David. It was the place of the temple. It was the place where all of Israel would gather and assemble for their various festivals and feasts throughout the year. So Jerusalem was a city rich in history. And yet Jerusalem also has a very dark history. Jesus identifies it as that city that killed the prophets. Jesus recalls how again and again God sent his prophets to Israel, and particularly to Jerusalem, calling the people to repent. But instead of receiving these prophets, the city killed these prophets one after another. And now Jesus himself is walking in these same footsteps as the prophets, walking towards Jerusalem and to the same fate. And yet Jesus goes there not as one more prophet, simply in a line of prophets, but he goes there as the last and chief prophet sent by God to that city. Jesus is the one of whom every other prophet foretold. This is where he's headed. And he's not headed there because he's naive to what's coming. Well, maybe this time will be different. No, quite the opposite. Jesus knows that in Jerusalem, he will be betrayed. He knows that he will be handed over by religious leaders. He knows that he will suffer and die at the hands of sinful men. But he also knows that on the third day, he will be raised. And so in this passage, we see Jesus' unwavering commitment to fulfill the plan of God for our salvation. And dear Christian, there is such good news in this for you this morning, because it reveals to us God's compassion towards sinners, even sinners like you and me. It reveals Christ's relentless drive to accomplish God's plan of salvation, to save us, doing all that was necessary. And so it assures us of what Christ has done, and it assures us that he is continuing, therefore, to work all things to the salvation of his people. And knowing this, we then are encouraged to press on in the Christian life. Well, as we approach this passage, we see three things. We see a futile threat. We see a fixed goal and we see a fervent lament. These are the three things we see as Jesus presses on his way to finish his course in Jerusalem. Well, the first thing that we see here is a futile threat. As our passage opens, Luke signals to us that this follows on from Jesus' recent teaching. Luke writes, at that very hour. And what Jesus had been talking about, that very hour, was to reveal more of the nature of his kingdom. He's been speaking of his kingdom. He has been speaking of the judgment that is to come. He's spoken of our need to enter the kingdom through the narrow door. And the way to enter through that narrow door is not through bloodline or birthright or through any external circumstance. No, Jesus has taught us that what saves us, how we enter through the narrow door, is faith in Christ himself. And thus, salvation is not limited to Jews only, or even Jews and some righteous Gentiles, but It's extended to all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, as Jesus is teaching these very important things about the kingdom and salvation, he's interrupted by some Pharisees. These Pharisees seem to jump in on him as he's teaching, and they say to him, get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. Now, these Pharisees seem to be looking out for Jesus. It's clear that most Pharisees didn't look out for Jesus, to say the very least. Most Pharisees saw Jesus as a threat to their very way of life, as false teachers. Most Pharisees hated Jesus and they tried to do whatever they could to trip him up and trap him. And yet we do know that there were some Pharisees, a few Pharisees who were sympathetic to Jesus and who even became his followers. Like Nicodemus who visited him in the night and wanted to know more of this new birth. or Joseph of Arimathea. Well, likewise, these Pharisees seem to have Jesus' interests at heart. And so they warn him that Herod has a bounty on your head. He's looking to get you. And so they try to save Jesus by saying, get out of Galilee. Go somewhere safe. Lie low for a while. Now, in one sense, there was good reason to fear Herod. Although Herod didn't have autonomous reign over Israel or Galilee or Judea, he was under the Romans after all. They were the top dogs over Israel. Yet Herod did have an ability to flex his muscles. He often sent his goons and his thugs to murder his political enemies. Remember how in chapter three, Herod had John the Baptist imprisoned and later executed. simply for speaking out against Herod's injustices in the land. And remember how in Luke 9 we were told how Herod was beginning to hear more and more of this Jesus character and was asking his people, who is this guy? Is this John the Baptist back from the dead? Who is this Jesus? He was concerned about Jesus' rise in popularity. And so knowing Herod's propensity to violence and his insatiable lust for power, there's no question that he'd be willing to kill one more prophet sent by God if he just killed John the Baptist. So from a purely human standpoint, Jesus has good reason to be afraid of Herod. But notice how Jesus responds to them as they warn him of this threat of Herod. Look at his response in verses 32 to 33. And he said to them, go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. In their well-meaning warning, they assume two things. Firstly, they assume that if Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus can't die, because the Messiah can't die. If the Messiah dies before he fulfills his mission, well then, his plan will be in ruins. God's plan from the very beginning, from Genesis chapter three, will be in ruins. And so they see themselves as needing to save Jesus from this. The second thing they assume is that they believe that Jesus is in real trouble, and they see Herod as a real threat. If Jesus doesn't get out of Galilee, Herod will have his head on a plate, just like he did with John the Baptist, and thus, again, the plan of the Messiah, the plan of God will fail. Well, Jesus takes issue with both of these points. They're wrong on both counts. First, he identifies Herod as a futile threat. He calls Herod a fox or a jackal. This term fox can have more than one meaning when it's applied metaphorically today. It's true if we use that word today, it's true when that word was used back then. Used positively, foxes can be clever, they can be sly, they can be witty, and so this term could be used almost as a compliment. For example, you history buffs are probably aware of the famous German general Erwin Rommel and how he was known to his enemies as the Desert Fox. He led forces in North Africa against the Americans and the British. And it was a term used by his enemies to praise his tactical genius. He was the Desert Fox. He outwitted general after general on the Allied side. And so his enemies respected and feared him with this title, the Desert Fox. That's probably not how Jesus is using this phrase, this word. He's not using it with any compliment intended. The other sense of fox is far less flattering. Foxes and jackals were pesky scavengers. They're not ferocious and formidable creatures like bears and lions and animals of that nature. No, they're more like a varmint. They're kind of pesky critters. They're more like the kinds of things that, you know, scavenge through your garbage on garbage night. And so these Pharisees are afraid that Herod might kill Jesus, and thus that the mission of the Messiah might fail. However, Jesus makes clear that Herod is more of a nuisance to God's plans than a real threat that's going to overturn them. Herod is not a bear or a lion. He is but a fox, a pesky critter that goes through one's garbage at night. Herod can do nothing to thwart God's plan of salvation. Yes, to the human eye, Herod is frightening. He's dangerous. He's unstable. Who knows how he's going to wield his power next and whom he's going to kill. But according to God's plan, Herod has no power to kill the Messiah because Jesus is on a mission which he will fulfill and nothing can thwart that plan. We need to remember, loved ones, until Christ's work of redemption was accomplished, no weapon against him could prosper. And oh, how we need to be reminded of this ourselves as we make our own journey through this life We're not journeying to Jerusalem to suffer and die and pay for sins as Jesus did, but we are journeying through this life to the new Jerusalem. We are journeying to the promised land. And as we make our journey through this life as pilgrims, there are many herods that block our way. There are many threats that loom over us. What kinds of threats do we face? Well, in broad terms, we face the unholy three of the world, the flesh and the devil. In the words of Luther's hymn, this is a world with devils filled who threaten to undo us. In our souls, we feel the constant pull towards sin. Even though we know we're dead to sin, even though we know that sin has no hold on us, even though we're no longer slaves to Satan, sin, and death, we're slaves and servants of Jesus Christ, and yet in our hearts we still feel that pull, that tug, that magnet-like effect towards sin. Even though we know that sin is evil, even though we fear sin's consequences, yet we feel that pull and tug on our heartstrings towards temptation. At times, our resolve feels so weak and pathetic. We face threats from the devil, we face threats from the flesh, and we also face threats from the world. And some Christians we know face those threats in increasingly hostile ways, in ways that we in the West can hardly imagine. A few weeks ago, a pastor friend of mine shared on social media this list of questions that he had received from a church in South Asia. These are questions that they ask candidates who are about to be baptized. They ask, are you willing to leave home and lose the blessing of your father? Are you willing to lose your job? Are you willing to go to the village and those who persecute you, forgive them and share the love of Christ with them? Are you willing to be beaten rather than deny your faith? Are you willing to go to prison? Are you willing to die for Jesus? These are questions asked of people who are baptized because this is the reality of what some believers face, our brothers and our sisters. How many of us would tremble at the thought of being asked these questions and to know that these could be realities that happen to us after our baptisms? And where do we find the courage to not only answer these questions in the affirmative, but also to follow through when the rubber really hits the road? How can we have the strength not only to count the costs, but also to pay the price when the time comes to actually take up our crosses and bear them daily? Well, this strength is found. not by trusting in self, not by tapping into some inner mystical strength. It's found in trusting in God. Jesus shows us the way. Jesus trusted the Father's plan. And he knew that Herod could do nothing to thwart that plan. And so he knew he could march onwards towards his mission in Jerusalem. And this source of courage is the same for us. Our courage comes through the sure knowledge and the confident belief that God is sovereign, that God has a plan, and that he is in control of all things. And although this doesn't mean that we will never suffer or be harmed by the herods of this life, just look at John the Baptist, what it does mean is that nothing can befall us in this life that is not part of God's plan for our lives and outside of the realm of his sovereignty. What are you afraid of? Well, they are all jackals. They are foxes, mere nuisances in the grand plan of God's sovereign plan for your life and his great plan of redemption to draw to himself his elect, those called by his name. What are you afraid of, dear Christian? Are you afraid of trial, tribulation? Are you afraid of distress and persecution and famine? And to that we say, yes, those are scary things. But what does God's word say? God's word says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. When you open your mouth in the workplace, or in the town square sharing the gospel with someone you know is dying and needing to hear the gospel. You do not know how that person will respond. Maybe they'll get aggressive. Maybe they will retaliate. When you tell your friends and your family for the first time that you are a Christian, that you've followed Christ, you don't know what they'll say. You can't anticipate how they'll treat you going forward. When you are wheeled into the operating room and you've no guarantee that you'll come out the other side. But what you do know in all of those things, with certainty, as you endure trial, as you endure persecution, as you endure slander, as you endure mockery and shame and the hate of this world, one thing you know with absolute confidence is that God is in control and you are in Christ. And therefore nothing, absolutely nothing in this life can separate you from the eternal love of God your Father through Jesus Christ. Jesus recognized that Herod's threat, though scary to those around him, was ultimately futile. And that's because Jesus had a fixed goal ordained by God. And that's the second thing we'll see, the fixed goal. The Pharisees had urged Jesus to be on his way, to keep moving, to get out of Galilee, to get out of Dodge. And Jesus' reply shows that, well, yes, he is planning to be on his way. He will, at some point, be leaving Galilee, but not in order to escape Herod. but because he's on a mission towards Jerusalem. Let's look again at Jesus' reply to the concerned and worried Pharisees. He says, go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. Jerusalem is his fixed goal. This is where he is bound to go. And as he heads there, he will continue the mission that he started. He will continue, as he says, to cast out demons and perform cures. This is a shorthand way of saying that the mission that I started in Luke chapter 4, where I was in the synagogue and I declared the year of Jubilee, I preached from Isaiah chapter 61, announcing salvation to the lost, sight to the blind, freedom to those in captivity. I will continue that mission. I will cast out demons. I will continue to cure those who are suffering. In other words, I will continue to announce, to declare, and to manifest the kingdom of God to this sick and dying world. But, he says, this is for a time. He says, I will do this today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Now these are not literal days he's speaking of. The language of today and tomorrow and the third day was a common expression to refer to a finite, short duration of time. So his point is that for a time, he will continue to announce the kingdom, he will perform miracles, but this is for a limited time until he, quotes, quote, finishes his course. Where will he finish his course? Well, he tells us it's in the city of Jerusalem. Again, quote, it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. So Jesus is going to Jerusalem not to stage a coup in the temple or to try to overturn the Romans. He's not going there with the expectation that all will receive him and welcome him and crown him and put him on David's throne. He knows he's going there to be betrayed, to be handed over to the authorities, and to suffer and die at the hands of sinful men, but not merely at the hands of sinful men. He knows that he will ultimately suffer under the righteous wrath of God. Friends, consider Christ's determination to finish his course. He says, I must go. It's something that must be done. It's necessary. Jesus is determined to carry out the plan that God has sent him to accomplish. It is this fixed goal of the cross that compels Jesus and drives him forward, no matter what the threat, no matter what the obstacle. As we think of ourselves, When it comes to completing tasks, it's probably true that for most of us, it's a lot easier to start a task than to finish a task. How many of us in our homes maybe have half-completed home improvement projects? How many of us have piles of things at our work desk or our study or in our workshops that are only half completed? How many of us have books piling up on our nightstand with one chapter in and then it's kind of left there to gather dust and then we turn to another book? How many are our litany of New Year's resolutions only given up after one month into the new year? For us, we are so prone to beginning tasks but not seeing those tasks to completion. Have you considered What if Christ had done that with our salvation? What if Christ had not finished his task? What if he had given up at the first hindrance or obstacle to his mission? What if he had not reached his goal? Well then, beloved, we would have no hope whatsoever. But thanks be to God that Christ did not give up. He never once turned back from the plow. He never once had a sin of omission. nor a sin of commission. He obeyed God perfectly. He fulfilled all righteousness. From our perspective, and were we somehow in those shoes, we would have given up at the first sign of challenge and frustration and fear. From our perspective, he had every reason not to go to Jerusalem. Would you go to a city where you knew your closest friends? and comrades would betray you and slander you, where false allegations would be made against you, where you would then be dragged through kangaroo courts and falsely convicted, and then paraded through the streets and shamed and mocked and spat on, and then hung on a cruel Roman cross naked to be scorned at by all. And yet Jesus underwent this and far, far more. On the cross, he bore our sins. In the Father's eyes, Jesus became as the worst and most scandalous sinner the world has ever known. We can't even begin to imagine the worst kinds of sinners we can imagine. Pedophiles, perverts, the Hitlers of this world. That is what Jesus became in the eyes of the Father as he took your sin and my sin. And this Jesus did willingly. And he completed his goal. He absorbed the wrath of God, a wrath we will never taste if we are in Christ. And he was able to say, it is finished. It is finished. And then he offered up his spirit to God. I praise God that Jesus finished all the work that the Father had sent him to do. Christ was faithful to complete his earthly mission. In his earthly mission, he accomplished redemption, and now he has a heavenly mission, doesn't he, where he applies redemption. You might have heard of those words, you might be familiar with John Murray's very well-known and well-recommended to you book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied. Redemption accomplished is what Christ did to earn our salvation, Redemption applied is what he now does from heaven as the exalted and risen Christ through the Holy Spirit. And think about it, think about it. If Jesus is this determined to accomplish your salvation and all that is required for it, is he not still determined and driven with the same relentless, gritty determination as he now applies to you the merits of his work by the Holy Spirit? Yes, he is. It is with this same zeal and relentlessness that he now intercedes for you before the Father as your priest. As your king, he subdues your soul to himself and he protects you from your enemies. And as your prophet, he feeds you through his word and with himself to your faith and the sacraments week after week after week. What a comfort to see here Jesus' determination to reach his fixed goal and to accomplish all that was required. Jesus already went to Jerusalem to suffer and to die. And now the risen and exalted Lord Jesus has his eye on the new Jerusalem and on you, dear saint. And he will do all that he has promised to do to see that you reach eternal life. and that you will reach that land where righteousness dwells. So be assured, loved ones, that when Christ has a fixed goal, he always sees it to completion. And will he not do the same with what he has promised you? Well, we see a futile threat. We see a fixed goal. Finally, we see a fervent lament. But right after describing how Jerusalem will be the city that rejects him and kills him, Jesus then begins to lament over the city. Look at verse 34. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. Jerusalem, of course, serves as the, because it's the nation's capital and religious center, it serves as a kind of a, part of a greater whole of all of Israel. It's a kind of a standing, as it were, for the whole of God's people. And this repetition, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, is called a double vocative. It communicates compassion, communicates sorrow and lament. It's just like when David learns of the death of his son, his wayward son, And then he crumbles and cries out, oh, my son Absalom, oh, Absalom, my son, my son. And Jesus' lament here is likewise sorrowful. And Jesus' lament is also prophetic. It has a prophetic ring to it. Throughout the Old Testament, God would speak to Israel, communicating his affection for her. We read it earlier in the book of Isaiah, how God addresses Israel as though he were a husband, expressing his desire for communion with his bride. And yet again and again, Jerusalem would ignore God's loving advances towards her. Instead of turning to her rightful husband, she would turn to other lovers. She would turn to the gods and the idols of the pagans. She would turn her back on God and scandalize herself in shame. And now here, Jesus takes on this same prophetic voice and tone that we read in the prophets. And he cries with a lamenting, wounded kind of love of how he has desired Jerusalem, but she has not been willing. Prophet after prophet was sent, but they killed the prophets. And while Herod is the fox, Jesus is the hen who protects her brood. He continues, how often would I have gathered your children together? Just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing. Well, this picture of a mother hen protecting her brood under her wings is also language used frequently in the Old Testament. It's especially used in the Psalms to describe how God gathers his people under his wings like a mother hen, and with that motherly care, protects his people from all harm. And they're his people. find refuge and this same divinely used imagery Jesus takes upon himself. He speaks of repeatedly longing to gather the people as a hen would gather her brood. Like a mother hen with little chicks, Jesus wanted them to find in him and under his wings protection and life and salvation. And what astounding compassion of our Lord, even as he's going to a city that he knows will reject him and even take his life and do every worst possible thing they could up until he dies, Yet he still expresses his love for them in this lament. His desire was to gather them, but sadly, as John puts so bluntly in John 111, he came to his own and his own people did not receive him. And because Jerusalem and the Jews by and large did not receive their Messiah, they would fall under judgment. Jesus says finally in verse 35, behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. You see, rather than being gathered under the wings of Christ's protection and there being protected and saved from the wrath to come, instead Jesus now warns them in judgment that their house will be left empty, exposed, desolate. The result is that Jerusalem is now forsaken. And this fits perfectly with what Jesus has been teaching for the last chapter or so on the need to turn to him for salvation. He is the master who comes home to his manor, and those who are ready and expecting him as servants awaiting their master will be invited to his banquet. But those who are found beating other servants, are those who will be cast outside of the house and sent to that place of gnashing of teeth. It's the same as what he taught with the call to enter through the narrow door. We enter by faith. Those who try to enter through any other way, through blood, through birth, through works, will be left out and will face the judgment of that place Jesus describes as a grinding of teeth, And so what Jesus says here lines up with everything he has been teaching. To reject Christ is to remain under the judgment of God's wrath. Then finally, Jesus quotes Psalm 118, saying, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, and you will not see me until you say this. What is the significance of this? Well, Psalm 118, of course, was our call to worship. There we have the picture of a king coming to his city, and there's the call for the gates to be opened because the king is here. to bring salvation, to bring joy, to bring peace, and to welcome their king. And the people respond, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The people rejoice at the king's coming. Of course, this had some significance to David's experience, but ultimately it was spoken of the greater son of David, the Messiah to come. But it's interesting that Jesus brings this up now because, well, this warm reception is not what Jesus has been met with or will be met with as he descends into and remains in Jerusalem. This reception did not happen in his first coming. When will it happen? Well, again, this phrase is tied to the judgment Jesus has been talking about. This is tied to his second coming, a coming that Jesus has made clear means life for those who trust in him and anticipate his coming, but one that means judgment and a casting out to the place of gnashing of teeth for those who reject him. Although Jesus' lament here in this passage is directed towards Jerusalem, the message is still the same for us here this morning. The warning is still the same. Judgment awaits those who are found outside of Christ. Those who fail to enter through the narrow door by faith will be cast into hell. All sin will be judged and dealt with one way or another. And if we have not hidden ourselves under the wings of Christ, the one who absorbs that wrath in our place, we are the ones who will face that wrath and that judgment in hell. We are the ones who will be found desolate and empty, punished for the sins we have so eagerly and readily committed. So the warning is still the same for us today. But so is the invitation. So is the invitation. Jesus takes to himself the image of a mother hen who spreads her wings to protect her young. There is no more inviting imagery for us than this. And he calls each one of us with the same affectionate call to enter through the narrow door through faith in him. And so, dear friend, hide yourself under the shadow of his wings. For it is there that he provides forgiveness for your sins. It is there that he provides healing for your brokenness and protection from the evil one. It is there that you have the promise and sure hope that he himself will preserve you through this life and in the next life provide you a seat at his heavenly banquet. So believe in Christ. take refuge in him, rejoice that the one sent by the Father has accomplished all that he was sent to do, and look longingly for his second coming, and say, with all the saints, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your great plan of redemption. We thank you for that plan in all eternity, presented to us as the plan between the Father, the Son, involving the Spirit, to send Christ, the one who would be born as a man, who would come under the law in order to face the penalties that we deserve for our lawbreaking, the one who would bring us to salvation, the one who would secure our redemption. And now, Lord, we thank you that he continues to so eagerly and relentlessly apply to us the merits of his victory. So we pray, come Holy Spirit, apply to us the work of our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.