Now, the verse that I'd like to focus on in this chapter is the famous verse, the shortest
verse in the entire Bible. Verse 35, Jesus wept. Now, this is not the only instance of
Jesus weeping in the Bible, but this is the most famous because it's the shortest verse
in the Bible, and so that itself causes us to take notice. When we see that God chose
to put this little thought as one verse, just two words, it has great significance. Now,
I have pointed out, and I'm going to point out this morning, three specific times that
the Bible tells us about Jesus weeping, and I'm going to talk about why he wept. But look
if you would at verse 32. The Bible reads,
Then when Mary was come, where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying
unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore
saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the Spirit
and was troubled, and said, Where have you laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and
see. And then, of course, the famous verse, Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how
he loved him. And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the
blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again groaning
in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said,
Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord,
by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said
I not unto thee that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God. And of
course we could go on. He performs this great miracle where he says, Lazarus come forth,
and Lazarus comes back to life, and he raised Lazarus from the dead. But this is the first
specific instance. I want to point to three. I'm sure Jesus wept many other times in his
life. But I want to point to three specific times that the scripture tells us about. This
is the first specific time where Jesus wept. And so the question is, why did he weep? Well,
first of all, the reason that he wept all of the times that he wept throughout his life
is because he was a human being. Now, a lot of times we lose sight of that because of
the fact that we believe that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. And Jesus Christ certainly
was God in the flesh. There are many, many scriptures to prove that. The Bible says,
for example, in Hebrews 1.8, but unto the Son he saith, throne, O God, is forever and
ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. So spoken to the Son, Jesus
Christ, he said, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Go to 1 Thessalonians 4. Let me
show you another one. And it kind of ties in with John 11 and its subject matter. But
of course there's the verse that says in 1 Timothy 3.16, and without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. And it's about Jesus Christ.
It says he was manifest in the flesh. He was preached unto the Gentiles. He was received
up into glory. All the he's there are referring to God, saying that God was the one who was
manifest in the flesh. The Bible says in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with
God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. And the Bible says
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So there are many, many scriptures
we could turn to of the fact that Jesus is God. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son
is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Prince of Peace, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. Ok, but look down
if you would at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. This is a famous passage about Jesus Christ's
second coming. Look what the Bible says in verse 13, but I would not have you to be ignorant
brethren concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have
no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him. So who is going to bring the asleep in Jesus with
him? Them also which are asleep in Jesus will who bring with him? God. And who is coming
in the clouds in this passage? Jesus Christ. So you see how it refers to him as the Lord.
In the next verse it says, For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we
which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are
asleep for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. And if we compare
this to other passages obviously it's clear that it's Jesus that's coming in the clouds
and yet it calls him God, it calls him the Lord. I mean we could show you just tons of
passages that use the word God or the Lord to describe Jesus. Yes he was God, but also
God was manifest in the flesh and he became a man and the Bible calls him the man Christ
Jesus and when Jesus Christ was on this earth he was tempted in all points like as we are,
without sin. Jesus Christ hungered, he thirsted, he was tired, he became sad, he became angry
and so we don't want to lose sight of the fact that yes Jesus Christ was 100% God, but
he was also 100% man as well. He was God in the form of man and so he took upon him the
form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man. So we don't want to forget the humanity
of Christ, even though we believe in the deity of Christ, the fact that he was God,
we need to also understand his humanity. Well we as human beings go through times when we
weep don't we? And if you look at great men in the Bible from Genesis Revelation there's
a lot of weeping. The man after God's own heart is the man who the Bible records more
than any other weeping, David. If you look up David's like, he's weeping on almost every
chapter. I mean I went through and looked up every time David wept because I was thinking
about making a sermon about that and it was just, that's more than one sermon. I mean
he wept so many times. And you look at men throughout the Bible. You look at Elijah,
he wept. You look at Jeremiah the prophet, he wept. You look at the Apostle John, he
wept. You look at the Apostle Paul, he wept. And throughout the Bible there's a lot of
weeping in the Bible because human beings weep. And Jesus Christ also wept because he
was human. Even though he was perfect, even though he was sinless, he still wept. Now
in this passage, I'm going to show you three times that he wept, but in this passage I
believe that the reason that Jesus wept in this passage is because the people that he
loved were suffering. Because look down at your Bible if you would if you're in John
11, if you could get back there, it says in verse 33, when Jesus therefore saw her
weeping and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was
troubled. So when Jesus saw her weeping and he saw the other Jews that were with her weeping,
he was troubled. He groaned in his spirit. He wept as well. You see the Bible says in
Romans 12.15, rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. So Jesus Christ
commands us in the book of Romans that we should weep with those that weep. And so here
we see Jesus weeping with those who weep. He is feeling the sorrow that they're feeling
because they're sad, that made him sad. The people that he loved were suffering and therefore
it caused him to suffer. Look down if you would at verse number 34 it says, and said
where have you laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said
the Jews, and look at verse 36, right when they see him weeping, then said the Jews,
behold how he loved him. You say, well, is that really why he wept? Well jump back to
verse 5 and God tells us in John 11.5 the Bible says now Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. So the Bible tells us that these were people that Jesus loved and
so therefore when he sees them weeping, he's weeping. And when they saw him weeping, that
was evidence of his love for Lazarus when they saw him weeping. And it says in verse
number 37, some of them said, could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind have
caused that even this man should not have died. Jesus therefore again groaning himself
cometh to the grave, it was a cave and a stone lay upon it. And of course the Bible
says in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet
without sin. So it's not that Jesus Christ is up in heaven just cold and heartless and
not understanding the pain and the suffering that we're going through. Now if you look
at this passage, didn't Jesus know that Lazarus is coming back? Because he had already planned
this days before. He already explained in the beginning of the chapter, he said Lazarus
is dead and he said Lazarus sleepeth but I'm going to awake him. So he knew he was going
to be resurrecting Lazarus from the dead. And a lot of times we're going through pain
and suffering in our lives and we don't know how it's going to end up, right? We don't
know the future. We don't know that everything is going to work out necessarily. We can believe
that by faith when we say the Bible and we look at his promises, but when we look at
the immediate circumstances, we don't always know how they're going to turn out, do we?
God does know how they're going to turn out, but that doesn't mean that he's just sitting
up in heaven knowing these people are going to be fine anyway and not sympathizing with
the tears that we're having in our immediate circumstance of trials and tribulations and
suffering. And so he's not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities. You know, he sorrows with us when we suffer, when we're sorrowing. Even
if he knows everything's going to turn out right, he still has sympathy with us and understands
what it's like. You know why? Because he's been there. He can sorrow with us and suffer
with us because the Bible says he can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities because
he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. You know when you're hungry
and starving and don't have any food and don't have any money to buy food, you know what
Jesus knows what that's like because there were times that he went without food in his
life. He went without food for 40 days and 40 nights. He said that's impossible. Well,
first of all with God all things are possible, but second of all there are people in modern
day who've gone 40 days without eating. Now you can't go 40 days without water, but you
can go 40 days without food, believe it or not. I don't think I could. I don't think
I have the reserves for that, but you know some people probably could. I don't know,
but I know that there are men in our modern day that have gone 40 days without eating,
but it's not fun. It's pain. It's suffering, and so when you're hungry, Jesus knows what
it's like to be hungry. When you are working hard and staying up all night and you have
to work all night and you're working a crazy amount of hours, you know what Jesus knows
what that's like because there were many times in the Bible that Jesus had to stay up all
night. There were times in the Bible where Jesus couldn't find a place to sleep, and
so when you don't have a place to lay your head, he's been there. You know when you lose
a loved one, he's been through it. When you go through times where you're having problems
with your family and they're persecuting you, you know what? He's been there because his
brethren mocked him and didn't believe on him. He has been through everything that we
go through in our lives. He lived on this earth for 33 and a half years and the Bible
says, and I believe it, that he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin.
There's nothing you could say, well I'm going through something that was harder than what
Jesus went through. He doesn't understand. No, he's been through worse than anything
you go through, he's gone through worse in his life. And so therefore he can understand
and he can sympathize with us when we're going through hard times and I believe that he sympathized
with their sorrow and sadness here in this story. He wept when the people that he loved
were suffering. And we should be the same way, we're commanded to rejoice with them
that rejoice and weep with them that weep. The Bible says, Look not every man on his
own things, but every man also on the things of others. You know we should be concerned
when other people are suffering, we should suffer, and when other people are rejoicing
we should be happy for them not to be self-centered. Where everything is just about what we're
going through in our life. If things are going great for us, we don't want to hear
about anybody else having a hard time. Man we're just having fun, things are going great.
Or you know, I'm sad right now, I'm sorrowing right now, I don't want to hear your good
news. I don't want to rejoice with you right now. No the Bible says we should get the focus
off our self and focus on what other people are going through. Look not every man on his
own things, but every man also on the things of others and we should rejoice with them
that rejoice and weep with them that weep and that is being Christ-like when we live
our lives in that way. Let's look at the second time Jesus wept. Go to Luke 19. So the first
time we see Jesus weeping is when his friend Lazarus is dead and he sees the pain and sorrow
of those that loved Lazarus and those that are weeping for him. Now another theory that
has been put forth about John chapter 11 and I think it's a valid theory. Some people
said, well Jesus wept at their unbelief because they didn't believe that he had the power
to raise him. I don't really believe that because, I mean it's possible, I'm not saying
it's a bad belief, but if you look at it, I think Martha shows that she really did have
the faith because she says, you know, I know that whatever you ask the Father to do, he'll
do it. And she said, I know he'll be raised up at the last day. And so I don't necessarily
get that from the passage, but it's possible. That's another reason why Jesus possibly could
have wept in John 11. You can read it and be the judge. But look at Luke 19 and see
the second time that the Bible specifically tells us about Jesus weeping. In Luke 19 verse
35 the Bible reads, they brought him to Jesus and they cast their garments upon the colt
and they set Jesus thereon. And as he went they spread their clothes in the way and when
he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude
of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works
that they had seen, saying, Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord,
peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude
said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell
you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. So this
is the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ. He's just about to be crucified. But before that
he enters in, this is where the holiday Palm Sunday comes from, where he comes in on the
colt, the foal of an ass, and they lay out the palm branches and their coats in the way
for him and he makes the triumphal entry into Jerusalem where they say, Blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord. But look what comes next in chapter 19 verse 41. The Bible
reads, and when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it. So as he's coming
near, he basically gets a bird's eye view of the city. He gets to a place where he can
behold the entire city at one time. He sees the city of Jerusalem in the distance and
it says when he saw, when he beheld the city, he wept over it. And verse 42, what did he
say as he was weeping? Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day,
the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the
days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass
thee round and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground. He's
talking about the city being destroyed there and laid even with the ground. And thy children
within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest
not the time of thy visitation. And he went into the temple and began to cast out them
that sold therein and them that bought, saying unto them, It is written, My house is the
house of prayer, but you've made it a den of thieves. And he taught daily in the temple,
but the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy
him and could not find what they might do, for all the people were very attentive to
hear him. So the first time we saw Jesus weeping in John 11, he's weeping because those
that he loved were suffering. And that shows that he'll sympathize with us when we're suffering.
We know he loves us, we know we're his children. He has sympathy with us when we're suffering.
But number two, he wept over the lost. I mean he looked at the city and the Bible tells
in John chapter 1 that Jesus Christ came unto his own and his own received him not. But
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name. And so he's weeping over the lost. He came unto his own, the city
of Jerusalem that should have received him and should have believed on him. He's weeping
because he knows he's going to be rejected of them. He knows he's going to be rejected
of that generation. He knows that he's going to be crucified and killed and that many of
these people are going to be shouting, crucify him in just a few days time and causing him
to be put to death. And so he's weeping over the lost.
Go if you would to Ezekiel chapter 33. Ezekiel chapter number 33. And as you're turning there
I'll read for you from 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 3. The Bible reads,
"...For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all
men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."
Don't tell me that it's God's will that most people go to hell. Don't tell me that. Now look,
most people will go to hell according to the Bible. The Bible tells us,
"...Enter ye in at the straight gate, but he said, Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way
which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." And that was in response to
the question, are there few that be saved? And so we know that the majority is not saved
and the majority will go to hell, but do not tell me that it is God's will for people to
go to hell because it is not God's will for people to go to hell. Calvinism is a false
doctrine. The Bible says right here that God will have all men to be saved and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth. Will there is not the future tense. Will there is a desire.
He is willing that all men will be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
And then he says next, "...For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man,
the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time." The
Bible says he is the savior of all men, and you say, well, all just means all the elect.
Okay, the Bible says he's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe. That
means he's the savior of them that don't believe. But he's especially the savior of those that
do believe. And look, it's not going to do any good for those who don't believe that
the savior is there reaching out his hand and he's calling and they refuse. It's not
going to do them any good. Christ is of no effect unto them the Bible says. They're fallen
from grace, they're not going to be saved. But you know what, he's still the savior of
the world. He still died for all he still did by the grace of God. Taste death for every
man, the Bible says. And the Bible says in 2 Peter 3 verse 9, you're in Ezekiel, "...The
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering
to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." So
what is God's will? God's will is that the one who does not believe in Jesus Christ,
the one who is not saved, would basically change what they believe and trust Christ
as savior. That they would not continue in unbelief. That they would not continue in
their unsaved condition. God wants people to be saved. And God is not willing that they
perish. God is not willing that they would go to hell. God would rather have them be
saved. That's what God would prefer, did you hear me? God would prefer for people to be
saved than for them to go to hell. He loves us. The Bible says, "...For God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten Son." Look at Ezekiel 33 verse 11. The Bible says,
"...Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways,
for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" So look, God wants people to do what's right.
God wants people, if people are in sin, he wants them to change, he wants them to do
right. If people are not saved, he wants them to get saved. God isn't up in heaven wanting
bad people to do bad things, wanting wicked people to continue being wicked, wanting the
unsaved to remain unsaved, but at the same time, you know, that's what's going to happen
because God has given us free will and most people are going to make the wrong choice
unfortunately. But it's not that it's God's plan or God's will. Now a lot of people will
misunderstand this doctrine. Go to Psalm 126 if you would. A lot of people will misunderstand
this doctrine and they'll say, well, you know, God, because we see that God clearly
loved everybody, right, and died for everybody. Isn't that clear? He loved everybody, he died
for everybody. Isn't it clear that he wanted everybody to be saved? So a lot of people
will misunderstand this and think, well God continues to always love everybody and God
always continues to feel bad about sending people to hell and that is not true. You see,
you have to get the full balance of what the Scripture teaches. Whenever people are
into false doctrine, they're always isolating things and they're not getting the big picture
of the whole Bible because the Bible does teach very clearly that there will come a
day when God will laugh at the calamity of the wicked, when God will rejoice and praise
the fact that, you know, you look in Revelation, they're basically thanking God that he's making
the wicked drink blood and so forth and that he's punishing them and sending them to hell.
So you have to understand, there does come a point where God's mercy comes to an end.
There does come to a point where God says, you know, my spirit will not always strive
with man. And there comes to a point where he does laugh at their calamity and mock when
their fear cometh, but what you have to understand is that that's not how he wanted it to end
up. Once it gets to that point, you know what, he's not, he doesn't have a second thought
about sending people to hell because that's where they deserve to go. Don't make any mistake
about that. But that doesn't mean that before it's too late, before they've died without
Christ or before they've rejected him or blasphemed the Holy Ghost, you know, and made their final
decision, that he does not do everything and tell us to do everything to try to get people
to believe on him before it's too late. So you have to understand that God loved every
single person and pleads with them to be saved, wants them to be saved, does everything,
tells us to do everything to try to get them saved, says I don't want you, I don't take
pleasure in a whole bunch of people going, no, I want you to get saved before it's too
late. But there does come a time when his mercy comes to an end. He is the God of the
second chance, but he's not always the God of the 500th chance. He's not always the God
of the 20th chance. There comes a time, and listen to me, I don't care what false doctrines
out there, when somebody dies without Christ, it's done, it's too late. There is no second
chance after this life. But when Jesus looked at that city, he wept over it. Now, I can
understand that. I understand that because I have looked over a city and wept over it
before. You know, and honestly, I can honestly say that the small town soul winning marathon
that we did yesterday, I've never been to that particular town, I think that was what
our 10th marathon or 11th or whatever it was, but I've never been to the town of Baghdad.
I've never really wept over the town of Baghdad, but the whole small town soul winning ministry
that we do was born out of, you know, driving, because I do so much driving, so much traveling,
you know, coming up over the hills and seeing small towns, not that particular small town,
but other small towns that we've already done, and driving up over the hill and seeing a
small town and weeping over it and saying, will these people ever hear the Gospel? Because
I looked in the phone book, and how many times as I've traveled across California and Arizona
and other places have I opened the phone book and just looked and seen that there is not
a Baptist church in these towns at all. You know, or if there is, it's some apostate Baptist
church that's preaching out of some phony Bible version, no soul winning, total work
salvation. Look, and if they don't have the King James, they don't even have the Word
of God. You know what I mean? There's no power there. There's no salvation there. There's
no soul winning there. And I can honestly say, I've driven over the crest of a hill
many a times in my travels and seen the lights of some small little town, some tiny little
village of maybe, you know, tiny by our standards, you know, 1500, 2000, 3000 people, and I've
wept over it and said, God, are these people ever going to get a chance to hear the Gospel?
Is anybody, you know, there's no church there. There's nobody going to do any soul winning
there. And you know, that's where that small town ministry was born, was from looking at
these towns. And you know, Jesus looked at the city and he's not seeing buildings, he's
not weeping about a building falling over to the ground. He doesn't care about buildings.
I wasn't weeping over city lights, my friend. I looked at those lights and I realized that
every light was a person, was a human being. You know, and that's why I love soul winning
because, you know, soul winning, you're dealing with real human beings. I mean, it's not like
we're just going out there and going through the motions. I mean, every door we knock,
you say, don't you get tired of, you know, preaching the same message over and over again
for, you know, 14 years of soul winning? But I'll tell you this, every person you give
it to is a new person and it's a real soul. It's a real human being. And you know what?
I mean, I honestly, you know, when I'm talking to these people, you know, I love that person.
You know, I mean, don't you feel that way? You love that person. You want them to be
saved and it's sad when they don't get saved. You know, when they, when they don't want
to hear it, you walk away sorrowful because you just wish that you'd have the chance to
tell them because you love people. And that's how Jesus was. I mean, he wasn't, he's not
this cold hearted Calvinist god up in heaven just doesn't care, damns everybody to hell,
doesn't even care. It's all part of his, it makes him happy. It's all part of his will.
Yeah, someday he'll rejoice over it, you know, once he's given them a bunch of chances and
they just keep rejecting him. But let me tell you this though, you know what? He does care.
He does love the lost. You know, and the Calvinists will teach, he only loves the elect. That's
not true. Yes, he loves the saved. Yes, he loves the children of God. Yes, he loves the
elect, but he also loved the lost and he wept over the lost and he prayed for the lost and
he wanted the lost to be saved and when he knew that they weren't going to be saved and
he knew that they weren't going to listen, he wept about it and he was sad about it
and he felt bad about it in this passage in Luke 19. He sorrowed and wept over the lost.
Well let me ask you this, have you ever wept over the lost? Go to Psalm 126 and get a great
soul winning tip. It says in Psalm 126 verse 5, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
It says in verse 6, he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless
come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Let me ask you this, is there any
doubt that the one who weeps over lost souls and brings the precious seed of God's Word
will come back rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him? Is there any doubt about it? There's
no doubt. He said he will doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with
him. He says soul winning doesn't work. Soul winning always works. It works when there's
a tear in the eye and a Bible in the hand, it must work. Do you have any doubt? I don't
have any doubt that it works. If there's a tear in the eye and the Word of God in the
hand, soul winning always works. Now I'm not saying it's going to work every 59 minutes
and 59 seconds you go out and do it. He didn't say you're going to come back 5 minutes later
bringing your sheaves with you, but you know what, you will come again with rejoicing if
not today then tomorrow and if not tomorrow the day after that, but you will come again
rejoicing bringing your sheaves with you. Don't tell me soul winning doesn't work either.
If soul winning doesn't work, then the Bible's not true. If soul winning doesn't work, then
the Gospel's lost its power. If soul winning doesn't work, then the Word of God is no longer
the precious seed and if soul winning doesn't work, then you don't have a tear in your eye,
you don't love people, and you don't care about the lost. That's what the Bible says.
If you go forth weeping, bearing the precious seed, you will doubtless come again rejoicing,
bringing the sheaves with you. A lot of people think it doesn't work because they're not
willing to put in the work. And whenever people tell me soul winning doesn't work, I always
respond with this, no you don't work. Because soul winning works when you work. And don't
make any mistake about it, soul winning is very hard work. Anybody who goes soul winning
will tell you it's strenuous, it's hard work. I guarantee you everybody who went out soul
winning yesterday was very tired when they got home last night. And they were probably
very tired this morning. I know I was. It's tiring, it's work, it's hard work. You know
it takes a lot of, and a lot of people sometimes don't realize how much your mind drains your
body of energy. You know when you have to think really hard and just when your spirit
is engaged and your soul is engaged and your mind is engaged. You know it's not just the
physical activity of the walking and talking of it, it's the virtue that goes out of you
when you're preaching the Word of God. Soul winning. And so when you do the work, it works.
But you know what, if you do it with a tear in the eye, there's no doubt that it'll work.
That's what it says in Psalm 126 verse 6, great verse. But let's look at the third time
that Jesus wept. Go to Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter number 5 tells us about the
third specific time that Jesus wept. And I'm going in the chronological order of Jesus's
life. If you remember the first time we saw him weep was when those that he loved were
suffering. He wept with them. He felt bad for them. He sympathized with them. He felt
their pain. The second time we saw him weep, he was weeping for the lost. So the first
time he was weeping for the saved. He was weeping for his friends. He was weeping for
those that he loved dearly on a human level. They were his close friends. You know Jesus
Christ, you say, well Jesus loved everybody, but hold on a second. There were certain people
that he loved that were his, humanly speaking, his close friends. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus
were people that were special friends to him. They were, just like we have special friends
in our life, you know, that are our close friends. Jesus had close friends like that.
You know, and then of the disciples, he kind of had a certain disciple that was the disciple
whom he loved, right? The apostle John, okay? Just like David was a man after his own heart,
you know, not to say he didn't love the other disciples, but on a human level, we all have
people that are good friends and close friends. And when his friends and the people that he
loved were suffering, he wept with them. Secondly, we saw him weeping over the lost, you know,
people that didn't get saved. He loved them and wept over them and felt bad for them.
But thirdly, we see him weeping over his own sufferings. He's weeping for his own sufferings.
You say, oh man, you know, Jesus seems like he's always weeping for other people. But
here's an instance where he wept for himself. Look at Hebrews chapter 5 verse number 6.
The Bible reads, as he saith also in another place, thou art a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek, talking about Jesus, chapter 5 verse 7, who in the days of his
flesh, talking about the days that Jesus was in the flesh, when he had offered up prayers
and supplications, watch this, with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to
save him from death, and was heard in that he feared. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the author
of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, called of God a high priest after the
order of Melchizedek. So here we see that Jesus Christ offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears, and here's the key where we can understand when this was
in Jesus' life. It says unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard
and that he feared. Go, if you would, to Luke chapter number 22. Luke 22. You see,
Jesus Christ prayed that he would not have to die on the cross. And again, this goes
back to the humanity of Christ. We talked about the fact that Jesus is God, but he was
also man. He's the Son of God, yes, but he's also called the Son of Man, and he's called
the Son of Man scores of times. But Jesus Christ, when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane,
was dreading going to the cross. He did not want to die on the cross. Humanly speaking,
he dreaded the thought of it. Now you say, well why would he dread it? Good night. How
many reasons are there why he dreaded it? Being spat upon, being publicly humiliated,
mocked and made fun of. You say, well that didn't bother Jesus. No, it says in Hebrews
chapter 12, he despised the shame. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.
He endured it, but he didn't like it. He despised the shame. Nobody wants to be stripped down,
beaten, made fun of, slapped, punched, pummeled, whipped. You know, and being spat in the face,
I mean that's not pleasant. That's humiliating. He didn't like the shame of the spectacle
that he was made. But not only that, the physical pain, Jesus felt that physical pain just as
we would feel it. He felt the pain of every lash of the whip. He felt the pain of the
nails being hammered into his hands. He felt the pain and the suffering of that death and
agony. And what about that event that took place when the sun was darkened and he said,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? What about the fact that he spent three days
and three nights in the heart of the earth? I mean, Jesus Christ was going through a very
horrible ordeal on the next day. He knew he was going to be going through it and so he's
dreading it in the Garden of Gethsemane and he's praying to the Father that if there's
any way, he could not do it. He wanted to be delivered from death. He didn't want to
go through that and I can understand why. Look what it says in Luke 22 verse 41. And
he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast and kneeled down. He separates himself
from the disciples and prayed, verse 42, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup
from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. Now look, the Father was willing
that he would go to the cross. The Father's will was that he complete the mission that
he was sent to this earth for, to seek and to save that which was lost, to offer himself
as a sacrifice. The Bible says the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world
in 1 John 3. And so the Father's will was that he go through with it and finish the
work which he gave him to do. Now Jesus' will, humanly speaking, obviously as a human
being, he doesn't want to go through that kind of pain and suffering that's unimaginable
to us. And so he says, not my will but thine be done. He said, you know what, humanly speaking,
I have feelings about this, I don't want to do this, but it was more important to Jesus
that the Father's will be done than that his own will be done. And of course that's
a lesson for us, that should be our motto also. Not my will, God, but thine be done.
And look what it says in verse 43, and there appeared an angel unto him from heaven strengthening
him. So at this point, God sends an angel unto the Lord Jesus Christ as he's weeping.
Now you say, well it doesn't say he wept, but in Hebrews 5 it said he wept. In Hebrews
5 it said there was strong crying and tears at this time when he was praying to be delivered
from death. And so as he's praying, he's weeping, he's crying, he's in agony, he's sorrowing,
and so an angel comes from heaven. God sends an angel to strengthen him, to encourage him,
to motivate him, to help him. Look at verse 44, and being in an agony, I mean look at
the words that God's using here, an agony. He prayed more earnestly and his sweat was
as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground. I mean this is some serious agony,
this is some serious sorrow, this is some serious weeping in the life of Jesus. Go if
you would to Matthew 26, let's look at another passage that records the same thing. Matthew
26, and let's begin reading in verse 36. Matthew 26 verse 36, then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, sit ye here while I go and
pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful,
and very heavy. The Bible uses that word a lot, heavy or heaviness, and it's where
we get our word today depressed, because you know something's pressing down, it's heavy
on you. And he says he was very sorrowful and he was heavy, and it says in verse 38,
then saith the end of them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. He's saying I'm
so sorrowful I feel like I could die of the sorrow, he's saying. I'm so exceeding, I mean
what does exceeding mean? The word exceeding would be like, let's say you have a cup and
it has a certain capacity for water. Well what happens when you exceed that capacity?
It'd be like if you're filling the water at the water cooler and you're not paying attention
and it starts to gush over, right? Wouldn't that be exceeding the capacity? He's basically
saying, I'm exceeding sorrowful, meaning that I have a certain capacity for sorrow.
You have a certain capacity for sorrow of what we can handle. He said this is exceeding
sorrow. This is an abundance of sorrow. It's an overflow of sorrow. It's too much sorrow
to the point of death. And he's trying to get the disciples to understand. Sometimes
you're going through hard things and sorrow and people don't get it. You're trying to
express to them, I'm going through a really hard time. And sometimes it's hard for people
to understand. But Jesus is trying to get his disciples to understand. He's trying to
get us, the reader of the Bible, to understand just how sorrowful he was here. He wants us
to understand that sorrow. And so he's using these words, agony, and he says I'm exceeding
sorrowful even unto death. Tear ye here and watch with me. And he went a little further
and he fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. You know that's a great
lesson too when we're exceeding sorrowful and when we feel like we just can't take it
anymore and we're sorrowful unto death, you know what the next thing he did was? He went
a little further. And that's good advice. Just go a little further. Just keep going.
Don't quit. He went a little further and then the next thing we should do is fall on our
face and pray. He fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto
the disciples and findeth them asleep and sayeth unto Peter, What? Could you not watch
with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is
willing but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time and prayed, saying,
O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done.
So very clearly emphasized here that Jesus doesn't want to do it because he despises
the shame, it's painful, it's horrific what he's going to go through, and of course he's
dreading it, but he lets that take a back seat to the Father's will. He says, not my
will. You say, well, their will was the same here. No, their will was not the same because
he said, not my will, but thy will be done. There's a different will there. You see that?
And so we see here the three specific times that Jesus Christ wept. And you know, these
are three cases that should cause us to weep. You know, there are going to be times in our
life when we should weep with those that are weeping, when we sorrow over the sufferings
of those that we love. And then there should be times when we weep over the lost. And then
there are going to be times when we weep over our own sufferings. You say, well hey, we
shouldn't be selfish. Well no, Jesus was perfect and he wept over his own sufferings.
Hezekiah wept over his own sufferings and God said, I've seen your tears, Hezekiah,
I will answer your prayer. You know, when we are going through hard times, don't turn
to the bottle when you're exceeding sorrowful unto death. When you're in heaviness, don't
turn to the bottle, don't turn to a prescription, don't turn to drugs, don't turn to your worldly
friends, don't turn to worldly music to try to make you feel better. You know what we
should do? We should weep. And then we should fall on our face and pray. And then God will
strengthen us when we're in times of sorrow and heaviness. And so we see three great examples
from Jesus Christ here on Biblical weeping. And these should be a part of our life. I
mean, this is who we should be. And the Bible talks about that one day, I'll close with
this, in Revelation 7, you don't have to turn there, but the Bible talks about those that
are saved in heaven. It says, for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them and shall lead them unto the living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes. So God knows our tears are there. David said that God told
all his wanderings, and he said that God kept all of his tears in a bottle. That's
what David said in the book of Psalms. And so God knows our tears, he's been there, he
wept himself, and one day he'll wipe away all tears from our eyes. But while we're on
this earth, these are three great reasons to weep. For the sufferings of others, for
the lost, and when we're in a hard time, you know what, it's okay to weep and then pray
to the Lord and ask for strength. Don't turn to the world for strength, don't turn to sin
to make you feel better. It's not going to make you feel better. It's not going to bring
the comfort that the angel of the Lord can bring you, and that God's Word can bring you,
and that the Holy Spirit, the comforter who dwells inside you, can bring you. Let's bow
our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your Word, and we
thank you so much for your unspeakable gift that you did go through with it, Lord, and
that you did go to the cross and suffer and die for our sins that we might not have to
go through that horrible ordeal that you went through. Thank you for doing it for us. We
could never even begin to pay for that gift. Thank you that it's free. And we love you,
and thank you, and in Jesus' name we pray.