Here in the 37th verse of Matthew 23, the Lord of glory says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sin unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and you would not. These words are not, nor can they be, words of a mere mortal. The implication in these words is that God has for all time strived to gather his chosen people under his compassionate wings. If we're going to believe this verse of scripture, We must accept it as coming from the lips of God. These words plainly declare that our eternal ruin is caused by our own sinful hearts. Not what somebody else did. Not what society did. It's our own hearts. It is God's will and God's will only that saves the souls of those who are blessed. It is man's will that damns the soul to eternal destruction. Man's free will has never, ever saved a single soul. but it's been the ruin of countless millions. A natural heart is set up against God, and it's a destroyer of all good intentions. People always talk about, I've got good intentions. You will destroy them. And it destroys all the emotions of depraved humanity. And I want to speak to you this morning, if God will just give me the grace, a message that I've titled this message, The Root of the Problem. And about three or four things I want to show you from this text. First of all, we see here the humble example of our gracious God. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Son of God. Second person of the Trinity. And he says, I have gathered thy children together even as a hen. Even as a hen. You know, the infinite stoop of God is portrayed in this humble metaphor. When I was a child, there were a lot of animals on the farm. And a lot of them were fearful. I remember when I was a little boy, my granddaddy would tell me, don't you go in that hog pen now. That old sow's got piglets, and she'll eat you up. And he'd tell me, don't go out in that field out there by yourself. Now that bull's out there, and he'll get you. And he had a Hereford bull with horns, and boy, he would, he would get you. Tell me, watch those sheep. Watch that old ram out there. He's got those big old horns. Oh, he'll get you. My grandmother had geese, and buddy, they'd get you. They might not be able to damage you like that bull, but they'd bite plugs out of you and twist. But here the glorious God of heaven speaks of his a comforting hand as if it was the wing of a hen. Now who's afraid of a hen? I used to run chickens all over the yard. I wasn't afraid of chickens. But proud humanity would never assume such a humble role. Ask kids what they want to be when they grow up or ask them what they'd be if they was not a human, what they could be something. Nobody wants to be a chicken. They want to be something else. They want to be a magnificent deer or a race horse or an elephant or a tiger or something. Nobody wants to be a chicken. But the Son of God said, I'm like a hen. I'm like a hen. This one who is the gatherer of souls has brought us into the happy association of his children. A hen loves her children. Loves her children. It's a blessed fellowship that's enjoyed by God's chosen saints. I want you folks to know, I don't want to brag on you. I don't want to exalt you. I'm trying to Walk that balance of making you know who you are and yet keeping you humble. But I'm telling you what, if you're a child of God, you are a special creature. You've been blessed more richly than you can possibly imagine. And there are very few things that have no sadness associated, but that's one of them. That's one of them. to be one of His. The Lord Jesus Christ is our protector and He is the giver of safety to the souls of those men and women who are His children. He provides our every need in providential blessings. I don't know about you, but I'm a human being and all the time I'm thinking of something I need. And what the Lord's taught me through the last 45 or 46 years is you don't really need it. If you need it, I'll give it to you. Sometimes by the most miraculous sense you can imagine. He gives us everything we need in providential blessings. We need something to eat. We think about T-bone steak. He might send you a piece of stale bread, but it'll keep you from being hungry. He also stirs our hearts and makes us want to embrace spiritual life. There are a lot of things I've wanted to do with my life and a lot of things I'd still like to do, but I tell you what more than anything else, I just want to embrace a spiritual life. I just want to be like Him. This loving Savior is our source of complete and perpetual comfort. He's our comfort through all of life's experiences. Now let me tell you something. Some of you have had some hard times in life. Some of you are having some hard times now. Things are going on in your life, you just assume they weren't that way. But let me tell you something, comfort in life's experiences comes from the hand of God. He's the one that's gonna give you grace. Don't count on people, don't count on your neighbors, don't count on your relatives, don't count on your banker for sure. The Lord is our comfort. And I'll tell you something else too. He's our comfort when death comes to us. You know, death's something you never get away from. You read a newspaper every day, there somebody dies. One day this week, there was two full pages of deaths in the Lexington paper. Most of them are just little bitty pieces. Folks are dying everywhere. Well, I don't know why this is, but a long time ago I decided there's two places I didn't want to live. I didn't want to live in Danville, Kentucky or Campbellsville, Kentucky. Somebody dies there every day. But God is our constant comfort in this life. And I tell you, he's our constant comfort throughout eternity. I don't worry about a lot of things. I just don't. I used to, but God's taught me the foolishness of it. But you know what? My wife doesn't worry about anything. Not a thing. This figure is a fountain of love to all her chicks. He said, I gathered your children together like a hen gathers her chicken under her wing. I've seen an old hen do that. I've seen an old hen be out there in the yard, bobbing around, you know. My grandmother raised chickens every year. She'd have red ones and white ones, and those old hens, they'd lay eggs and have chicks, and the old hen would be bobbing around, and those little chicks would be running around like. like ants in the grass, and all of a sudden you see that old hen's rare up, and she's, oh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, bu God's love has no interruption. There's never been a day if God loves you that he hadn't loved you. Now I love my children. I don't like them, but I love them. And there are days I really don't like them. And there are days they really don't like me. But we love each other. God's always loved His children. It has no interruptions. It has no end. It has no limits. And the thirst and the needs of every chick are satisfied completely in Him. In Him. This hen is a constant encourager of growth in her chicks. She teaches them how to hunt for bugs and this, that, and the other. teaches them how to get around and peck at things in the ground and so on. She teaches them how to do that. She fosters them as they grow and as they develop until they get the place to grow. But they're taught and they're trained by the hen's wisdom and by her workings. Old hen's pretty wise. But she never takes her love and her guardianship away from them. Some of you have children and you have grandchildren, great-grandchildren. And some days you wonder if they're not eating a fruitcake. And sometimes they are. Don't stop loving them. They need you to love them. And you need God to love you. This hen is a, The saints of God find in God everything that the chick finds in the hen and more. You know, the enemies of a chick will also attack the hen. I've seen an old hawk come down and try to get chicks and they were underneath the hen and he'd attack her. Usually the hen weighs too much. The smaller hawks, they claw an old hen in the back and they can't pick her up. She weighs too much. But they'd tear a few feathers up. They'd wound her, but she'd protect them. But she sets a good example to her chicks to offset the fierceness of their enemy. That hawk, he's fierce. He's flying around up there in the sky. Sometimes you can't even see him. He's flying around and he's looking down there and he sees those chicks and boy, he flies down with fierceness to get one. But she sees them. But my friends, the saint of God finds no loss and no harm and no limits in God's provision and God's protection. of the good shepherd who guards us. He's a good shepherd. Here's the second thing I see here. What does God do to gather his people to himself? Now I know, I hope you don't do this, but there could be some of you. I hope you're not like some folks who think that God's sitting up there twiddling his thumbs and wondering, walking the floor, rubbing his hands, wondering when somebody's going to come to him. Listen to me. God makes himself known to dead hearts. He comes to men and women that are dead in trespasses and sins. They don't come to him. Nobody comes to God. No mortal knows God until he reveals himself to their hearts. They think they do. They know a God of their imagination. They know the God of religion. They know the God of the world. They don't know God. But men and women have no ability to grasp his glory and his majesty. He's too far above us. Too far above us. He speaks to us through the calls of his servants. I'm just a man. That's all I am. And if you think I'm more than that, you're wrong. But God speaks in many ways to fallen mortals. He speaks through his creation. The world around us declares the glory of God. Isn't it a beautiful, sunshiny day? Have you enjoyed the last few days? They've just been marvelous. But I'll tell you, if it turns rainy and cloudy, he'll still speak to you. I like to sit in my kitchen window and look at the, Patsy got a rainbow over her house. She's got a pot of gold down there somewhere. I don't know where it's at, but I look at that rainbow and I think, I wonder where that pot of gold is. But I sit and look out my window, there's a rainbow right behind her house every time it rains. And God's taking care of things. He's created everything we need. He provides everything we need. God brings justice to bear. You know, human beings don't know what justice is. Our courts don't know what justice is. Our police departments don't know what justice is. Our society doesn't know what justice is. You wanna see justice, you gotta watch God work. God works in justice. But he also works in mercy. Mercy reaches down to blind Bartimaeus and says, what do you want? I want to see. Well, come here. It reaches down to that man by the pool and says, what do you want? He said, I want to get in that pool so I can be healed. Well, how about if I just heal you where you are? reaches down to the Centurion's daughter, says, you don't even have to come into my house, master, just say the word, she'll be healed. And he heals her. He speaks to hearts and minds through his servant's lips. He speaks through the working of his providence. You know, everything in this world is a gift of God's merciful kindness. That sun out there is a gift of God's kindness. I hope you enjoy it. But when God sends rain, it's a gift of his kindness. And when he sends snow, it's a gift of his kindness. When he sends the wind and the hail, it's a gift of his kindness. We spend all our time complaining about the weather and worrying about the weather. We ought to be thanking God for whatever it is. Anything that's not of mercy is an exercise of divine justice. When you hear of all these things in the world, earthquakes and tsunamis and hurricanes and so on, and you go, oh, why is that? It's God's justice at work. He's the master of all natural acts and all natural occurrences. Everything happens by His power and His purpose. He speaks by the influence of a changed conscience. You know, until God touches the mind, it can never be clear. People always say that. I've said it. You've said it. Well, forget my mind. If I get my head straightened up here, I'll be okay. But you can't. And you won't. Never. until God clears it up. God changes minds and he uses them to reach to his people. I'm gonna tell you something. I'm a preacher of the gospel of God's free grace and I have been for a long, long time. And I've been blessed of God and I've been used of God to change people's lives. But I'll tell you, I have been touched by the kindness and the mercy and the grace of you folks and other folks in this time of sickness I've been going through. And I'm thankful for it. I've learned some lessons. A changed conscience leads to a changed heart. And a changed heart will lead to a changed destiny. He speaks by the continuing patience of his calling. You know, God's so patient. He said to these Pharisees over and over again, God would say to them, scribes and Pharisees, he called them snakes, he called them buzzards, he called them everything you could imagine. You won't listen, you're hard-headed. But he still spoke to them. When you read the Gospels, and I encourage you to read the Gospels, you see clearly the patience of God towards sinners. I read the New Testament through every year, and I'm just always amazed to see how God works in people's lives. The silent ages before he came are set aside by the perpetuity of his speech. He's the son of God. And what he says is worth listening to. Now there are some things people say that aren't worth listening to. Politicians are filling the airwaves now, getting ready for the fall. And most of what they're saying is absolutely useless and senseless. And what they'll say later in the fall is even more useless and senseless. But I'll tell you, when God speaks, you better listen. There, listen. The next question I see from this statement is, what do people need to make them come to God? I've heard people say, you know, if the Lord would just touch old George and make him see, he'd quit drinking and straighten up and walk right. Well, if the Lord would, He would, but if the Lord don't, he won't. He says you would not. You would not. I've had people say to me, I've had, say it to me when they're in their 20s, I've had them say it to me when they're in their 80s laying in a hospital bed waiting to die. If God just give me a chance, I'll straighten up. I've quit humor in that. I tell them you won't straighten up. God gonna do something for you, you won't never listen. They need a genuine and sincere will that's changed to come to Him. Nobody, and I mean nobody, comes to God in their depraved nature. They just don't. They might come to the church, they might come down front, they might shake hands with the preacher, they might get in the baptistry, they might sit at the Lord's table, they might teach a Sunday school class, they might preach. They don't know God. When God changes the heart, his little chicks will start to peep. Peep, peep, peep, peep, peep. I can remember when I was a boy, now you children won't understand this, but my grandmother raised chickens every year and we'd go to the post office. She'd order them from Wayne Rainey on WCKY in Cincinnati. She'd order these chickens and they'd send a card in the mail So your chickens are here. She'd get me to go with her. We'd go to the post office. They'd have chickens in there and boxes lined up everywhere. And they'd find out how many boxes she's supposed to have. And we'd carry them out. She had an old green 53 Buick Roadmaster. We'd carry them chickens out there and put it, so one of them didn't all smother before we got home. We'd put them in the trunk and in the back seat. We'd drive down the road and them things going beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, I always said, shut up. She'd say, hush Ted, that's money talking. What's what we're going to eat this winter? Those who are changed will continuously pursue the path that God lays before them. They need a practical willingness to come to Him. They need God to change something. They must be changed to see the gracious purpose of God. I see God in everything that happens. I open a newspaper and I read something and I say, isn't God at work? I hear something on the radio and I say, isn't God at work? The power of God must work in their lives to change their pathway. They need an immediate willingness to come to Him. You know, the Spirit of God provokes Immediate action in the heart that's been changed. If he touched it, it changes it. Their spirit is quickened and immediately it chases after God until it finds him. A new heart, a new nature, a new life. All display a new person. Are you a new person? They need a settled will to constantly come to him. A will that has no hope at all in this world. I have no hope in this world. I really don't have. I don't trust politicians. I don't trust used car salesmen. I don't much trust bankers. Home people I trust are undertakers. They'll be the last one to let you down. I don't really trust all them. But I'll tell you what I do trust. I trust God. I trust God. The rebellious heart of guilty men and women is melted and cleared away. God just takes it away. They need a will that is submissive to his purpose, that bows to his sovereignty, whose purpose is the primary object in their majority. They need a new will implanted in their changed hearts. They need the hand of a master surgeon who touches their hearts and their minds. I was watching a show on television yesterday. I watch, I don't know what channel it comes on, but it's about ERs and hospitals and stuff like that. And they, I mean, they show some graphic operations in there. And man, that's one guy, he was just cutting this guy to pieces, taking everything out, putting it back, rearranging it. Boy, that guy knows what he's doing. I want to tell you something. God knows what he's doing. You take everything out of you and put it back. He knows what he's doing. Has a purpose in it. He's a master surgeon. He plants his spirit in the work of Christ to show his ability. And there's one other thing I want to look at in this verse. What happens to people who are not gathered to Christ? He said, I gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, and you would not. I've seen an old hen spread her wings out, start clucking those chickens that run, get under her wings. But there's always one or two rebellious ones that want to stay out there on their own. And that old hawk will swoop down and get them and be gone. The same thing happens to people who ignore the warning of God through his word. They become the victims of this evil being called sin. The presence of the hawk means certain disaster to those chicks. I don't see hawks around like I used to when I was a kid laying on the farm. I'd see hawks around the sky all the time. Their ignorance of depravity and sin is a deadly curse. Oh, everybody in this world seems to think they're okay. They're not. The Jews would learn more clearly in a few years through the Roman destruction of Jerusalem what the Lord meant by these words. They destroyed Jerusalem. They sell these tours and you go over to the Holy Land and you go through these places and they say, this is where Jesus walked. It's not. The only place in Jerusalem that was still standing when the Romans finished it is that wall of the temple that's still there. And they stand there all day and pray and put pieces of paper in the cracks in the rocks. Prayers to God. That Roman wrath wiped that country of its character and its conduct. You know, ever since the Romans attacked Jerusalem, there have been no more sacrifices. No more sacrifices. No more services. The harshness of death fell upon the people and it fell upon their priests and they were scattered throughout the world. And very few were left there in that land. And the destiny of 6,000 years of history was wiped away like sand. Like sand. Every human being who ignores the gospel and ignores the voice of God's calling, it's absolutely certain to perish under the holy wrath of God. The dullness of their hearing, the deadness of their hearts means certain destruction under God's justice. Their ignorance and their arrogance ensure their condemnation. desperate cries of godless souls will fill the eternal void of hell forever. There's no Christ there. No cure there. No hope there. No prospect there. Have you ever heard God's voice speaking to your soul? Have you? Have you ever surrendered, and I mean completely surrendered your will to Him? I know a lot of people surrender their will to God as long as you don't interfere with their will. Have you ever seriously considered the high cost of insolence? Of arrogance that says, God take care of his boat, I'll take care of mine. I hear it every day. Have you ever honestly and seriously considered the power of your enemy? Satan's a powerful enemy. Have you ever fallen down like Job and praised the Lord for his goodness? I'll read you a couple of verses from the book of Job. Job chapter one, verse 20. Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down on the ground and worshiped. Now this man had just heard that all his children had been killed. All his herds had been stolen. His camels were gone. His horses were gone. His cattle were gone. His sheep were gone. Everything had gone. And he said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sin not, nor charge God foolishly. I got thinking about that verse of scripture the other day. I was born in this world on December the 7th, 1945. as naked as I could be. I didn't have any shoes on, no hat on, no coat on, no underwear on. Naked. And with nothing. And you know what? Sometime in the next 5, 10, 15, 20, at best 30 years, I'm gonna die. Probably in a hospital bed with nothing on but an old nightgown. And they'll take that off of me, put me in a plastic bag, and the undertaker will come pick me up. And take me in, he'll fix me up, make me look as good as he can, put a nice suit on me, put me in a nice box. Everybody'll come by and say, isn't he a handsome young fella? And he'll take me out there and throw me in a hole in the ground. And in six months time, those clothes will all rot off and I'll be naked again. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stoneless them or sure sin unto thee. How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings? And ye would not. And ye would not. That's the root of the problem. That's the root of the problem in our society. That's the root of the problem in our country. It's not drugs. It's not money. It's not alcohol. It's not lust of the flesh. It's sin. And Christ is the only cure. Amen.