(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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.