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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
Tears of the Lord - 2017 Good Friday |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Hebrews 12:2 |
Date |
2017-04-14 |
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Scripture
Hebrews 12:2
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This week has been the Passion Week. Jesus was crucified on the cross on Friday. He shed His precious blood and died to redeem mankind from all sins. This church has the Friday All Night Service to commemorate such sacrifice of Jesus. Especially in the 2nd part of this service, there will a musical performance to remember the sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord. I give thanks to all of those who have prepared for the musical.
The title of this message is 'The Tears of the Lord.' People shed tears when they feel sad. They also shed tears when they feel very happy. Our Jesus shed many tears because of overflowing 'love' in His heart. It was the love for souls and for God the Father. I pray in the name of the Lord that you may understand the meaning of the tears of the Lord and feel His rich love dissolved in His tears.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Let me begin with a part of the confession our Lord made.
"My tears are (the expression of) My heart for the souls, for the Father, and for His providence. Though I shed many tears, none of them were in vain. Each and every drop of my tears carry my love for souls and the glory of the Father. Since I came down to this earth, I have spent the days accomplishing the providence of the Father. Each and every day I sought the glory of the Father, I devoted Myself for the change and salvation of souls.
The tears from the depth of My heart. The tears that are valued beyond price. I hoped that grace might come upon the souls and that the glory of the Father could be revealed. My tears are My love for those them, and My heart for them. My tears are My love for the Father, and My tears are for the Glory of the Father. I wish many of souls may remember these souls, and reach salvation. I wish they may accomplish the providence and heart of the Father, do everything the Father desires according to His will, and be in the glory of the Father."
Dear brothers and sisters. Our Lord desires you to understand the value of His tears and come out as the true children that God the Father desires.
Tonight, I'll tell you the 3 meanings of the tears our Lord shed.
First, they are the tears for the salvation of souls.
Jesus came to this earth to become the Savior. Though He was one with God the Father, Jesus left this glory behind and put on a physical body. He came down for souls who might be subject to eternal punishment of death due to their sins. He came down to lead them to beautiful heaven and not to the horror of hell.
He preached about Heaven nobody had introduced before. Jesus could do so because He is the Son of God and because He came from heaven. He did not only preach the messages, but also confirmed His messages by showing signs and wonders.
He did it so that souls could realize Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ if they had even the least bit of goodness in their hearts. But many souls didn't believe this Jesus. They rather showed enmity toward Him. They even considered Him crazy. The relatives of Jesus didn't believe Jesus. They rather believed the rumors of people and tried to stop Jesus.
Sadducees and Pharisees condemned Jesus when Jesus healed sick people of the Sabbath day. When Jesus cast out a demon from a demon-possessed man, they mocked Jesus and said He did it only by Beelzebul. Jesus put on the same form of the souls only to save sinners, but people didn't recognize Jesus.
When people gathered around Jesus to listen to the heavenly gospel Jesus preached, lawyers and scribes watched Him with the eyes of jealousy. They watched Jesus to find grounds to accuse Him of violating the law. When more people followed Jesus as He manifested great signs and wonders, Pharisees and the high priests conspired to get rid of Jesus.
Jesus Himself saw, heard, and felt the heart of these evil people. And He prayed to the Father in tears. He wished that not only those who followed and accepted Him could reach salvation, but also those who rejected, judged and condemned Him. The tears of Jesus were the heart of Jesus who wanted the salvation of souls.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
The tears of the Lord are, secondly, the tears for the change of souls.
In the days of Jesus, many people couldn't understand the spiritual message as they were blinded by fleshly thoughts. When Jesus said, "I am the bread that came down out of heaven," as in John Chapter 6, among those who followed Jesus grumbled and said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it and understand?" And many of them left Jesus.
Jesus didn't criticize those who were leaving nor did He consider them foolish. He didn't curse them either. He said, "No one can come unto the Father except through Me," and He felt sorry for those who left.
There were also many people who couldn't understand the providence of God the Father because of their self-righteousness and frameworks. Instead of rebuking their obstinacy, Jesus helped them understand it by using figures of speech.
In Matthew Chapter 15, while watching Jesus' every move, when Pharisees and scribes found something Jesus did not fit to their self-righteousness and frameworks, they argued with Jesus. They said in Matthew 15:2, "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."
Then, Jesus helped them understand their 'traditions of the elders', which they considered right, was actually against the will of God. He taught them how wrong their 'traditions of the elders' was. He didn't say to them, "The 'tradition of the elders' you keep is wrong."
He just gave them an example so that they could figure it out themselves. Jesus said in Matthew 15:4-6, "For God said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, 'Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,' he is not honoring his father or his mother.' And, by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition."
The law of Moses that God Himself gave dictates people should honor their parents. But the tradition of the elders taught people that if whatever it was that might have benefitted their parents had been given to God, then they wouldn't need to give it to their parents. It was distorting the will of God who says, "Honor your parents."
Jesus explained that the tradition of the elders which they regarded as a standard by which to test, was different from the will of God. He let them understand that the fact they called it wrong to eat with unwashed hands according to the tradition of the elders, was wrong. Furthermore, Jesus said in Matthew 15:11, "It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man."
'Pharisee' had the meaning of 'set apart, separated.' It originated from those who strictly lived by the law in order not to be stained by the secular world. Scribes were those who hand-copied Pentateuch and various old testaments. In the beginning, they also treated the word of God very preciously. As time went by, however, they used man's thoughts, and they were gradually derailed from the will of God.
During His public ministry, Jesus preached with various examples and figures of speech so that Pharisees and scribes could also understand the good will of God. In Matthew Chapter 12, Pharisees tried to accused Jesus of healing sick people on the sabbath day. Matthew 12:10 says, "And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" so that they might accuse Him."
Jesus replied with an example that everyone could understand. He said to them in Matthew 12:11-12, "What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." And then, Jesus healed the man whose hand was withered. As you can see, Jesus cared about Pharisees and scribes who had such strong self-righteousness and frameworks so that they could also change.
In addition, Jesus prayed with love for His disciples who were with Him all the time. Jesus thought of His disciples who would be left after His crucifixion, and He wished that they might manage their duties well and live together with Him in heaven forever. He thought of each and every one of them, and prayed to the Father to take care of them.
"One loves Me, but lacks in understanding.
Another has a fragile heart and has many tears.
Another has weak faith and has many thoughts.
Another has an upright heart which can be easily broken...
There is another who in her love for Me
Will live her life in tears.
Father,
Give strength to the weak disciples.
I know You will lead them, And I know about the grace that will come upon them
After I am gone.
Father,
please hold them."
The prayer of tears that Jesus made for His disciples worked as great strength of love to His disciples. Romans 8:35-37 says, "Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, 'FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.' But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us."
All the disciples of the Lord, including Matthias, who replaced Judas Iscariot, were honored to have names imprinted on the 12 foundation stones of New Jerusalem.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
The tears of the Lord are, thirdly, the tears for the glory of God.
When Jesus put on the flesh and came down to this earth, people didn't seek God, but became the slaves to the enemy devil and Satan. Although God the Father is the only One who is worthy to be praised by people, they worshiped meaningless idols.
Yet, Jesus lived the life of glorifying only God the Father. By showing the omnipotence of God the Father, Jesus lifted the name of God on high. When Jesus was told that Lazarus was sick, as recorded in John Chapter 11, He said in verse 4, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it." Eventually Jesus revived Lazarus who had been dead for 4 days. Thanks to this work, the glory of God was greatly revealed, and many people started to believe in Jesus.
Moreover, He allowed the mute to speak, the lame to walk, and He restored the crippled. He let the blind see, cast out demons, and cleansed the leapers. The reason Jesus showed these signs was that He wanted people to give glory to God. He wanted people to believe that God is great, that there is nothing impossible for Him, and that God is the true and only God, so that people could worship and praise only God.
It is the same reason that God gives us answers when we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. In John 14:13 Jesus said, "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
Jesus' suffering on the cross was also for the glory of God the Father. Only when Jesus became the atoning sacrifice for sinners, could countless souls be forgiven and become the children of God. As Jesus died He thought of how pleased God the Father would be when He gained countless children. That's why tonight's scripture says, "...for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame..."
Such a heart of Jesus was well recorded in Jesus prayer that He gave to the Father on the day He was arrested. Jesus prayed in John 17:4-5, "I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was." As you can see, Jesus lived His life only for the glory of the Father, and He died for the glory of the Father.
Though He shed many tears while living on this earth, the fruit of His tears is so great. So many children of God have been born, and God has been and will be glorified through them forever.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
Tonight, I told you about 3 meanings of the tears of the Lord. They were the tears for the salvation of souls, for the change of souls, and for the glory of God the Father. The precious blood the Lord shed contains the power to redeem mankind from their sins all at once. The tears that the Lord shed were the tears of love and the evidence of His sacrifice for souls.
Psalm 126:5-6 says. "Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him." As said, you are the fruit that was born after the Lord sowed in tears. May you glorify God the Father by becoming all the more solid and beautiful fruit, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray! |
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