The following message was given at Grace Community Church in Mendon, Nevada. Let's open our Bibles to Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13 and we will be picking up in verse 31. This is the reading of God's Word. At that very hour, some Pharisees came 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 were 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. One Sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully and behold, there was a man before him who had dropped seeds. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, which of you having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day will not immediately pull him out? and they could not reply to these things. This is the reading of God's word. Jesus had a habit. He had a habit of making enemies. Where he went, I wanna just refresh you on the narrative of Luke's gospel. Where he went, he would have that polarizing effect that the word of God always has. Some loved him, some were drawn to him, and some hated him. As Jesus's ministry has grown, we have witnessed that the opposition has also grown, hasn't it? Where he goes, he has a way of making enemies. We're gonna take this text in slightly backwards order, just to point out that chapter 14, one through six, we have seen this story before, haven't we? There are what are called these mirror miracles, not mirror, but mirror like one you will look into, where these miracles are very much treading the same ground, very much with the same teaching, very much with the same opposition. And that is what Jesus has gotten into here again. He goes out, the Lord of the Sabbath, And he goes out on the Sabbath, asserting his authority over the Sabbath. And when he does so, the fake authorities over the Sabbath never like it. They've created all their rules, they've created all their structures, and they want everyone to fall in line. And Jesus comes along, and so regularly what he is doing is shutting them down, showing how they are not in line with God's heart or with God's teachings. And what do you know, people don't like that. This miracle that he performs here, this teaching that he gives here, it's so much like the Sabbath incidents that Luke records. And this, by way of record, it's actually the last Sabbath incident that Luke records. Jesus shows miraculous mercy. while at the very same time exposing the made-up, man-made laws of the Pharisees and the lawyers. Jesus, like he's taught before, will teach that the Sabbath was not made to oppress man. The Sabbath was made to bless man. And so, he will bring out these categories that both mercy and necessity compel the honest child of God to view the Sabbath differently than it had come to be viewed in those days. Now, big picture again, in the narrative of Luke, why do we have so many of these Sabbath incidents? Why do we have so many times when Jesus is going to assert his authority again, when he's going to proclaim the truth again, when he's going to perform a miracle again? Why does he keep doing that? Why does Luke think that that is worth telling us time and time again? One thing you're noticing, if you're paying attention to these miracles and to these confrontations, is that hatred that is growing. You are witnessing the opposition beginning to form and really dig in their heels. And so this gospel has us very steadily marching toward Jerusalem, right? Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem. That is where he is purposely going. That is where he intends to die. And what we are learning from all these confrontations, it is going to be no surprise that when he gets there, that there is opposition. that there is hatred for him when he arrives. And when he gets there, it's going to be no surprise that these religious authorities are still trying to get rid of him. With every incident, what you have is the enemies of God are growing in resolve. If they hated him a little at the start, they hate him a lot by the end. And they are going to act on that. Jesus Christ, the true light has come into the world and he's shining into the darkness and the darkness will not stand for it. What's new here in terms of Jesus making enemies is now Jesus taking on Herod. Now there's actually more than one Herod. Herod is kind of a confusing name because we see him several times, or that name several times, but it's different people. Because it was Herod the Great who tried to kill Jesus when he was a baby. But this, this Herod, This is his son, hasn't fallen fall from the tree, Herod Antipas, Tetrarch, a regional kind of ruler over Galilee and that area. And you know what he's known for? Do you remember? Can you remember back to the beginning of Luke? What this Herod is known for? He's known for executing prophets. He executed John the Baptist. Why? Because John the Baptist had the nerve to tell him that it was not right that he had taken his brother, his literal biological brother's wife, for himself. Herod did not like that and he beheaded John the Baptist just because John spoke the truth to him. If we learn anything about a guy like this, this is not a man you mess with. This is not a man you trifle with. And so the Pharisees arrive and they come and they want to pass along a warning. Jesus, Herod is trying to kill you. Herod wants you dead. Now the motive of Pharisees bringing a message like this, super questionable. Now, not all the Pharisees were bad, but a lot of the Pharisees were bad at that time. So there's the possibility they're giving a genuine warning. Hey, we heard through the grapevine, you're in danger, look out. But I just really have a hard time this far into Luke's gospel giving them that benefit of the doubt. I think, given the general attitude of Pharisees toward Jesus, that they did not have some gracious, friendly warning in mind I think they don't want Jesus around. They heard Herod wants him dead, and so they're going to use that to say, get out of here. We don't want you around. Herod's going to kill you anyways. Get out of here. But Jesus isn't afraid. Jesus responds, go tell that fox. Oh, this is when you got to translate. I don't think that you have called anyone a fox in the way that Jesus was calling Herod a fox. What was a fox? Laodicea, a fox was a wicked person. Probably with the implication that they were cunning, that they were treacherous. One commentator says, calling someone a fox was like calling them a weak, cunning ruler. Especially in contrast to a lion. Imagine if you call a ruler a lion. You're saying something sort of noble, something sort of powerful, right? What if I say, no, you're not a lion, you're more like a fox. You get the feel, don't you? That's a lot less than calling someone a lion. He's actually calling him like a third-rate, insignificant ruler with no real power or greatness. He tells a man known for killing prophets that he is a third-rate, weak, powerless ruler. That's some That's some boldness, isn't it? Herod is actually the only person that Jesus has recorded it as speaking to with contempt. Herod passes along this threat, I'm going to kill you. Jesus is not impressed. He's not worried. He's not daunted. He's not going to just like shrivel up and stop proclaiming the truth. and he is very willing to let Herod know what he thinks of him. So you put it all together, what's Jesus saying? He's saying, oh, he's gonna kill me, huh? Go tell that worthless, wicked ruler that I'm still doing my work here, and there's only a little bit of time left in my ministry, and I'm gonna finish my work. And just don't miss the peace that Jesus can have when he says this. You don't picture that Jesus's voice shook when he said this, right? I don't think his hands were going out of control. I think he said, go tell that fox I'm still working. Now, if you were out proclaiming the truth of God and you heard that some powerful person was now threatening your life for doing that, they said, I'm going to kill that person if they keep talking like this, you know what you might well do? You might stop, right? Not like you're denying Christ. You might actually think of the proverb, right? The fool sees danger going and keeps going. And the wise person is supposed to hide himself, right? I'm gonna be wise and not get myself beheaded by this authority. You might well say, okay, I'm good for a while here, right? What does our Savior do? He just dismisses the threat and he keeps going about his business. You see in Jesus this confidence, this confidence in the plans of God. Because if not that Christ did not care about dying, Because when he is about to die, when he's praying to his father, you can see that burden weighs heavy on him. That is a true stress to him. He did not want to die. He did not, not care about dying. But just Jesus really seems to be saying, I am working out the eternal plan of God and it's not done yet. So I'm not worried about the person who thinks that they can interrupt the plans of God. I'm not. And this is a peace that God would want for every Christian to have. Now we don't know as much about the future as Jesus knew about his future. But are we walking in the plans of God? We are. We know we're walking in that plan. We know that God has ordained a plan that he's prepared beforehand, good works for us to walk in. We know that all the days ordained for us were what? Written in his book before even one of them came to be. J.C. Ryle said this, happy is that man who can walk in our Lord's steps and say, I shall have what is good for me. I shall live on earth till my work is done and not a moment longer. I shall be taken when I am ripe for heaven and not a minute before. All the powers of the world cannot take away my life until God permits. And all the physicians on earth cannot preserve it when God calls me away. We walk in a perfect plan. God has ordained a perfect plan and you child of God, you have a role in it. And when you've served that role, he'll call you home. And you'll get to see him face to face. You will not live one day less than God has ordained. And you will not live one day more. And you can tell this is exactly how Jesus viewed things. Jesus dismisses the threats of his enemies with the complete confidence in the plans of God. But the heart of this passage is the notice that he did not dismiss his enemies. No, not all together. I want to read for you one more time, verses 33 and 34. Nevertheless, Jesus says, 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 were not willing. Here, God's tremendous heart, his aching, yearning heart, for his enemies, for his enemies. What Jesus brings to mind is this sad pattern of the history of redemption. There's this terrible, grim irony here because Herod is threatening his life. And in a sense, Jesus responds like, get in line. You don't get to kill me. Jerusalem is the place that prophets go to die. And the pattern he's referencing takes some context. Because for so long, the heart of God's plans was national Israel. And the heart of Israel was Jerusalem, where the temple was built, where God dwelt, where the kings reigned. And if there was ever a place that was supposed to be welcoming to the word of God, don't you think it would be Jerusalem? It was supposed to be Jerusalem. But that's not how it always turned out. More than once, Jerusalem is the place where the prophets were killed. And so it was that in the heartland of God's plans, the people of God's heart would regularly reject their God. And this tragic pattern shows us so much of the heart of God. Can't you just hear it? I wish I could read it better. Can't you just hear the emotion in Jesus's voice? Oh, Jerusalem! Jerusalem! I picture he's weeping at this point. He gives this picture of a hen sheltering her chicks under her wings, right? And isn't that just such a tender picture? Such a picture of love, such a picture of protection. It's the attitude of a mother who will absolutely get in the way of anything that is going to hurt her children. Who will absolutely put herself between her chicks in the storm. And like this hen, Jesus longed. He longed to gather the people of God together for their blessing, for their protection. And why couldn't he? Why couldn't he? Because they would not have it. They would not let him. History is the ever repeating story of God relentlessly pursuing his people as they all the while reject him. That is the story of history. It is the first story. It is Adam and Eve made to experience perfect blessing and fellowship with God. And yet, despite all of their privileged beginnings, God in the end has to seek them out as they're hiding behind the bushes in shame. Rejection is the story of the people of God in the Exodus, miraculously redeemed out of slavery, provided for by food raining down from heaven, led by the spirit in the desert. And what do they do? They grumble. What do they do? They long for the slavery from which they were just delivered. What do they do? They threaten the life of Moses who leads them. Rejection is the story of the people of God and judges, and there, oh, the pattern is strikingly on display. God's people, they fall into rampant idolatry, and God lets them have the consequences of that. Enemies rise up and they oppress them. And at some point the people of God are humbled enough to cry out again once more to the true God and God in his mercy and God in his grace, he actually hears them. And so he raises up a deliverer and they're delivered, they're rescued, they're saved. Oh, and then the people of God lived righteously ever after, right? Not once, not once, no, every single time after their deliverance, they just go right back to the idolatry. Rejection is the story of the beginning of Israel's monarchy. God has been leading them faithfully through the judges, and then they have a final judge, Samuel. And what do the people of God want? They say, this is great and all, but we really wanna be just like the pagan nations that live next to us. We want a king, like all the godless nations around us, give us a king. And God will tell Samuel, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me. Rejection is the story of all the kings thereafter. It's David choosing murder and adultery instead of his good shepherd who he knows so well. It's Solomon choosing idols and women instead of God's very wisdom. It's the story of nearly every single king that follows them, who would choose man-made worship of idols, man-made worship designed to go up on the high places instead of the God-given worship of the temple. Rejection is the refrain once the prophets come. See, prophets don't come because God was like, I just want to give them a peek at the future every now and again. God actually raises up prophets because he had an agreement with these people. He had a covenant with these people. And the prophets are brought forward because they are pointing out all the ways that Israel is flagrantly breaking the law that they agreed to walk in. And so what you have in prophets is a whole lot of conviction. Exhibit A, exhibit B, exhibit C, guilty, guilty, guilty. And this is what's coming for you. This is the judgment you're about to experience. But in this, this is the amazing moment. The prophets, these messengers of conviction and judgment, even they cannot keep the mercy out of the message. Because even as they convict these people of all their flagrant idolatry, of their flagrant law breaking, they still proclaim that mercy is available. Ezekiel 33 verse 11, say to them, as I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die? Oh, house of Israel, why will you die? Rejection is the story of history. in sharp contrast to a God who will not give up on his people. And so what do we learn about a God who will pursue his people like this? Well, a God who pursues his people like this is showing us his love. Because true love, we know this is true. True love is more than a word. True love is certainly more than an emotion. True love really shows itself in commitment. True love really shows itself in action. True love is a God who keeps pursuing his undeserving rebellious people as they go running from him. True love is a God who every single day sustains the life of people who hate Him. True love is a God who forgives people who constantly grieve Him. A God who pursues His people like this shows His patience. One of the many shocking teachings of Jesus comes when the disciples come to him and they say, Lord, how many times do I have to forgive my brother when he sins against me? And they're like, here's something generous, like seven. Seven, is that good? Jesus says 70 times seven. Now Jesus didn't mean 490 times. He meant to point to multitudes of forgiveness. way beyond a mere seven times. He meant you just keep on forgiving. But I want to draw out something, so follow me here. For the sake of illustration, let's say 490 times. I want you to imagine someone you care about sinning against you in the exact same way 490 times. I want you to imagine how much forgiveness it takes to keep that relationship alive. I want you to imagine how much grace it would demand of you. How much mercy, how much sheer endurance. And that's just 490 times. God isn't dealing with one sinner dealing, sinning 490 times. He's dealing with all of humanity incessantly sinning against him. Sometimes we lose sight of how easy it is to sin against God because we lose half the equation. It's not just what we do, it's what we don't do. What we do is bad enough. We're guilty enough with what we do. But what we don't do is where I think the totals really start racking up. So yeah, you're not supposed to steal. And if you haven't been stealing, good. Good. You passed that one at least a little bit. But we're supposed to be grateful continually. We're supposed to glorify God in everything that we do. Do you guys do that? I don't do that. You're in church right now and you're probably not doing it, huh? No, the reality is each of us is sinning constantly against God. So let's put this in perspective. Let's just imagine you guys all worry when we start doing math up here. I ran it twice. Hopefully it's all legit. I said, conservatively speaking, let's just imagine that we sin once a second. Truly, that's conservative. And let's imagine that you're getting a good night's sleep where in which you're not having like sinful dreams or something, right? So I project that out. That's around 57,000 sins a day. Brutal, right? Just brutal. Multiply that across your year. multiply you by all the people living today, by all the people who have lived across all time. And that's when you get the absurd number that makes 490 look really pretty measly. That's when you get the absurd number that God is dealing with. That's when you get the outrageous number that shows how patient God is with his people. We like to talk about being a people of second chances, of third chances. That sounds so cheap compared to how many chances God gives his people. More chances than we can count. Where we would be too hurt to continue, God presses on. where we would lose all patience with someone. Frankly, 490 of the same sins, I probably don't wanna see you anymore. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. We would lose all patience and give up, yet he keeps seeking. Where our love would be utterly extinguished. God's love burns on. A God who pursues his people like this shows his patience in spades. A God who pursues his people like this shows himself to be faithful. I really like the faithfulness of God. Just think about your world. Think about your personal bubble. Think about this world at large. And this world lets us down a lot, doesn't it? It's our friends. It's our families. It's our jobs. It's our economy. It's our politicians. It is our leaders. And then when we're honest, we recognize that we've been a part of that cycle. We are the person letting other people down. We are the ones who are unreliable. We are the ones who have betrayed others. What God has been showing across all time in his faithful pursuit of his people is that he is not like us. Praise God. He is not like us. He just keeps coming. He's always there. He has never been the person to let anyone down. He's always faithful. God, you are faithful. Lord, you are faithful. Isn't that good to sing? And our faithlessness is the perfect contrast to his rock solid, never failing faithfulness. Because you will always be able to depend on him. He will always be there. And his faithfulness is so great that it is the great remedy to our faithlessness. Jeremiah 3.22, return, O faithless sons, And I will hear, heal your faithlessness. He is so faithful that he can overcome our faithlessness. A God who pursues his people like this shows ultimately how deeply he wants to save his people. There is nothing that you want as much as God wants to save you. Nothing. The J.C. Ryle quote in your bulletin, I'll read the full thing right now. God's sovereignty and man's responsibility shall appear perfectly harmonious one day. In the meantime, whatever we doubt, let us never doubt Christ's infinite willingness to save. Now make sure that you see yourself in this great story of redemption because this is a waste of a morning if all you got was a history lesson of how much God has done and how bad people can be. Make sure you see your spot in this lesson because history has caught up to us. We are now living our scene in God's great story of redemption. And some of you, some of you have already been rescued, praise God. You have already had your rebellious years in the desert. You have already had your time of running after the idols of the nations. So why are you here, redeemed child of God? Because his faithfulness was greater than your faithlessness. His grace was greater than your rebellion. His love was more powerful than your sin. Praise God. You are one of the many beneficiaries of a God who does not give up, even though his people reject him. You are here today because God would spare no expense for your salvation. You are here today because the Son of God hung cursed on a cross for you, for you. Your life and your calling today are a gift from God. If you remember nothing else from today, remember the awe and the joy that you have received such a salvation. But there are also those here today who have not been rescued. And for you, the most important, the most profound of decisions is hanging in the air today because you're standing at the fork in the road. You are the one who has spent years rejecting the mercy and blessing of God. You now are the one that Christ calls to. Trust the Holy Spirit to drive this home. He's calling to you now saying, child, why would you die? Why would you die? Christ says, go to him. and find the rest your soul has never had. Go to him, find the forgiveness for the sins that are plaguing your guilty conscience. Go to him and find the hope for eternity that we are raving about this morning. He calls to you. Mercy is still in the air. His hand, it's still outstretched to you. But the other fork in the road is what Jesus says to Jerusalem here. What did he say to Jerusalem? He said, your house is forsaken. And you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And that sounds kind of cheerful, but it's not. It's not. Jesus is pointing forward to a day when God's blessings will be withdrawn. He's pointing forward to a day when His mercy will run out. He's pointing forward to a day when God will stop pursuing you. He points forward to a day when He comes, but He's not coming pleading for reconciliation. He points forward to a day when He will come in power. And there will be no denying Him anymore. You won't be able to do it. It will be impossible. But even as you have to acknowledge him, even as you have to bow the knee, you'll find the reconciliation is no longer possible because you waited too long. I pray that God's showing you this, what lies ahead. And then hear again what he says. He doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked. He says to you again, why will you die? Why will you die? The great decision in the air is this, will you be reconciled to God? Will you be reconciled to God? He's done all the work. He's done all the work. The Savior died accomplishing the work. The Savior rose from the grave to accomplish the work. And now the question just comes to you this very day. Will you be reconciled? There is still mercy in the air because he's still pleading with you. He's calling out to you, not your neighbor. He's calling out to you. Will you be reconciled? This is your moment in the story of redemption. History has caught up to you and the decision is now yours. Will you bow down? Will you turn away from your rejection and from your rebellion? Will you give up your life and trust Christ for a new one? There were many Too many to count who were not willing to have Jesus when he sought them. People, friends, don't let that be you. Don't let that be your story. Don't let that end be your end. Today is the day of salvation. Let's pray. Our Father, thank you for pursuing us. Thank you that you would not let our rejection be final. Thank you that your faithfulness was greater than our faithlessness. And Lord, we pray that you are driving home this call in those who are not rescued today. We pray that by the power of your word and by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would redeem many in this very room right now. Please be gracious to us once more. Please be merciful to us once more. We pray this in Jesus's name. Amen. We hope that you were edified by this message. For additional sermons as well as information on giving to the ministry of Grace Community Church, please visit us online at gracenevada.com. That's gracenevada.com.