Repentance - Part 4

I believe that Jesus is running in his mind, going through history. God gave them a margin of deliverance for the time that John Baptist was there. They still did the same thing. They'd had the law, they'd had the prophets, they'd had the most amazing men in history. They'd repeatedly got into captivity. This may not be a good definition, but my definition of a fool is a man that falls in the same hole twice. That's exactly what Israel did. They'd been in captivity for 400 years under Pharaoh. Wouldn't you think that they'd shun everything that would in any way defile them in the sight of God? And yet they're just coming here after 400 years of captivity again. Let me look at a verse here. Matthew, what is it? No, that was only another reference. Matthew, anyway, you can put it down if you want. When he came to his own country, he taught them. The verse I want is not that verse. It's Luke 11, 50. Remember he said to them, which of the prophets of your fathers not killed? Now look what he says here in the 11th chapter of Luke and verse 47. Woe unto you, for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. They're trying to wash away guilt by making memorials to famous men. There's no sign of repentance. Come down in the verse. Verse 49, therefore also said the wisdom of God, who is the wisdom of God? He is. I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute. Now here it is. I believe this was eating the heart of Jesus Christ when he stood there in the temple, and they were going through a dead formula that didn't mean a thing. They had altars, but they had no fire. They had preachers, but they had no anointing. They had no sign of life or the authority or majesty of the holiest being in the world, God. So listen to what he says. Verse 50, the blood of all the prophets which were shed from the foundation of the world may be required of what? Of this generation from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple. And verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation. Do you wonder he was heartbroken? What happened? His prophecy came true. Within a generation, Titus invaded Jerusalem in one of the greatest massacres ever, and blood flowed to the bridles of the horses. And Jesus is standing here. Remember the story of the man who had business, and he sent his men out into the fields to work. They didn't honor him. Last of all I'll send my son. God has sent a whole column of prophets. Finally he sends John the Baptist, the firebrand that wakened the nation, and they did away with him. And now they've got the Son of God, they're going to do away with him. And Jesus says, listen, this generation, all the blood of the prophets that have been shed from Abel right down to this day is going to be shed in your day. Before very long they're going to reject him. What did they do? They turned away from him. But instead of them turning away from them, he turned away from them. Your house is left to you desolate. The Jews, a remarkable nation, but they've been desolate from that day to this. They've had no power, they've had no prophets. They've been preserved in the mystery of God. If any other nation in the world asked America for the money the Jews had asked, we'd have kicked them in the ocean, but we'd give them everything they asked for. Billions. But as soon as America turns her back on the Jews, you can dig the grave for America. Hitler brought the chief rabbi. In my day, 1939, he brought the chief rabbi into his presence. He told him what he was going to do with the Jews. The old rabbi sat there with his nice long beard, and Hitler said, you were sitting there pondering, what were you doing? Well, Your Excellency, he said, my people were almost annihilated years ago by a man called Pharaoh. I know about that. Did you know we have a fat cake, I think they call it matzo? Matzo? I've eaten yards of it. It's tasteless, but it's better than nothing. That's about it. But anyhow, it's a memorial to Pharaoh. And then there was a day when somebody decided to liquidate the Jews, and a young lady stood in the way. Esther, didn't she? Esther? And the Jews have a little cake memorial of that, called a hamantash, I think it is. A little thing full of seeds. And Hitler said, well, Your Excellency, I was thinking we made a flat cake to remind us of Pharaoh, and we have an oval cake with seeds called a hamantash. I was wondering what kind of cake we could invent to remember you. And would you believe Hitler showed him the door? They're in for trouble, don't make any mistake about it. But Jesus is standing there weeping. He's stammering out. He cried with a loud, commanding voice. He had no amplification. And five or six thousand... If any man thirst, let him come unto me. He sees her at the end of the line. Surely he had a word of knowledge, if anybody had. And he knew they were going to be massacred, slaughtered, if they didn't repent. But they never repented. I think that broke his heart in that feast. You dumb, blind people. How long are you going to walk here and say, Moses walked here, or somebody else walked here, or maybe before this there was a great, marvellous temple that was built by Solomon. And yet you go through your... What does that water mean that you've poured out of it? Not that much. You just tell your children, Well, that's something your father's great-grandfather saw one day away in the wilderness. It had lost its meaning. As God is my witness, I believe that thousands of people who take communion this Sunday, and it doesn't mean that much to them. They don't think of the blood of Christ. They don't think he turned God's anger away. They don't think he rescued them from eternal hell. If they did, they'd either weep for joy or weep for sorrow. But they weep for nothing. This unrepentant crowd, they're going to turn to the Son of... No, he says you're not rejecting me, I'm rejecting you. There's a fantastic verse in Lamentations. This is hardly a book you read for any fun or joy, is it? If you don't know where it is, it happens to be in your Bible. It comes right after Jeremiah. Lamentations chapter 2, verse 1. How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in his anger? The Lord hath swallowed up the habitations of Jacob, and he hath not pitied. He hath thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He hath brought them down to the ground. He hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof. Verse 4. He hath bent his bow like an enemy. He stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were present. In the eye of the tabernacle and of the daughter of Zion, he poured out his fury like fire. Here is the people that said God is our God. Okay, take him for good or ill, whether he has a smile or he smites you. Look what he says here in verse 5. The Lord was an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all the palaces. He has destroyed their strongholds.