We're going to read tonight from the second
letter of the Apostle Peter and we're going
to read from the third chapter from verse
one.
This second epistle beloved I now write unto
you in both which I stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance.
That ye may be mindful of the words
which were spoken before by the holy prophets
and of the commandments of us the apostles
of the Lord and Saviour.
Knowing this first that there shall come in
the last days scoffers walking after their own
lusts and saying where is the promise of
his coming?
But since the fathers fell asleep all things
continue as they were from the beginning of
the creation.
For this they willingly are ignorant of that
by the word of the God the heavens
would have hold and the earth standing out
of the water and in the water.
Whereby the world that then was being overflowed
with water perished.
But the heavens and the earth which are
now by the same word are kept in
store reserved under fire against the day of
judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But beloved be not ignorant of this one
thing that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years and a thousand years
as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise
as some men count slackness but is long
suffering to us would not willing that any
should perish but it all should come to
repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come
as a peace in the night in the
which the heavens shall pass away with a
great noise and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat the earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up Seeing
then that all these things shall be dissolved
what manner of persons ought ye to be
in all holy conversation and godliness.
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of
the day of God wherein the heavens being
on fire shall be dissolved and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat.
Nevertheless we according to his promise look for
new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness.
Now would you turn back to Matthew 24
or 23 I'm sorry Matthew 23 and we
shall read the last three verses in that
chapter beginning at verse 37 Matthew 23 37
O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou
that killest the prophets and stonest them which
are sent unto thee how often would I
have gathered thy children together even as a
hen gathereth her chickens under her wing and
ye would not.
Behold your house is left unto you desolate
for I say unto you ye shall not
see me henceforth till ye shall say blessed
is he that cometh in the name of
the Lord and God will bless to us
the reading of the Bible.
I want to finish this series tonight on
speaking on the subject the will of God
and the will of man and we shall
see from this narrative that the will of
God is has been fully revealed in Jesus
Christ and we shall see truly in this
passage man's enmity against God in rejecting that
will and I want to say right at
the outset although this will be a loving
warning I trust that no one tonight will
be in that state of rejection.
I trust that everyone tonight will have an
open heart and an open mind for the
truth of God.
First of all then the will of God
if you look at this text that I
have given you tonight you will notice that
the Lord Jesus said a very important thing
turning to his own people who had rejected
him he said how often how often and
this shows to us that the will of
God is patient and that's the first thing
that I want to bring before your attention.
If you read of the will of God
in the Old Testament and if you read
of the will of God in the New
Testament you will always find that it's marked
by unrivaled patience.
You see the Lord Jesus came to his
own people and he came to his own
people with all the prophecies of scripture behind
him concerning his birth, concerning his life, concerning
his miracles, concerning his words, concerning his death,
concerning his burial, concerning his resurrection and even
concerning his ascension but they didn't receive him
and with all those prophecies behind him he
could say to this people how often.
Again when the Lord Jesus came into this
world we must remember this that God was
speaking to that nation of Israel through the
prophets and he was speaking through the prophets
to the fathers to the children of Israel
and some of these prophets and servants were
stoned by them and when Jesus Christ came
into this world he was God's last voice,
God's last words not only to Israel but
to the nation.
There will never be another voice apart from
the voice of Jesus Christ and therefore when
our Lord Jesus came among them he came
not only with the prophecies behind them but
he came with remarkable miracles and every single
miracle that he performed was a sign to
Israel and to the world that he was
the Son of God.
They actually saw blind people who were actually
born totally blind seeing immediately.
They saw bodies that were totally paralyzed immediately
being raised.
They saw people whose bodies were deformed with
leprosy so that they were full of leprosy
having their features all lost and by one
word from the Lord Jesus they were made
completely whole.
In fact on one occasion they saw a
man whose body was in a state of
decomposition so that the scripture says behold he
stinketh and they saw that man actually being
raised from the dead and he came out
with his grave clothes and every miracle was
basically saying that he was the Son of
God and yet they received him not.
He said how often and then he came
to them with the passion of the cross
and when he was on Calvary's cross he
said particularly to his own people in the
presence of God father forgive them they know
not what they do and yet they didn't
receive him and so he says how often
but more.
When the apostles came to the Jewish people
and preached the gospel they just went to
one nation and only one and we must
remember this on the day of Pentecost Peter
was basically saying this look the one in
whom you have crucified the one that you
have crowned with thorns the one that you
have pierced is the very one that wants
to save you and cleanse you and bless
you and yet they didn't receive him and
the call comes how often and then last
of all he raised up one man whose
name was Stephen and he lit his face
up like an angel so that he had
a supernatural manifestation because the law was given
to them through the administration of angels and
they heard a message my dear friends that
was absolutely soul stirring it was the greatest
message that any man will ever preach and
the word of the Lord came to them
as the very oracle of God and when
they heard it they stoned Stephen and the
patience of God was exhausted down came the
shutters the door was closed to Israel and
now judgment was going to fall upon them
could there be someone like that here tonight
can I describe the person right from this
person's infancy he has heard the gospel and
even as a child he knew that Jesus
Christ drew near and stood upon the slummy
doorstep of his life a knot and he
knew it but he didn't receive him he
reached the age of adolescence and then became
a teenager and even in his teen years
there stood before him through one message that
majestic glorious savior calling him to be saved
but he didn't receive him and then he
moved into manhood he married a wife and
somehow his wife became a Christian and she
started to preach to a husband and he
knew that God was speaking to him through
the wife but he didn't receive him in
his midlife God dealt with him harshly because
he loved him he had a serious accident
he was on the bed that he thought
could be the bed of death eternity was
near the fear of a lost eternity haunted
his soul and at that moment the Lord
Jesus drew near again and stood at his
life's door knocking but he didn't receive him
and perhaps that man or perhaps that woman
is here tonight and for two weeks you
have listened to the gospel and every night
you heard the gospel the Lord Jesus became
closer near and you knew he wanted to
come into your life and it's Sunday night
Sunday night it's half past seven and he
draws near again and he says to you
how often no I'm not going to say
dear friends that you're going out of this
door and you'll probably be killed no I'm
not going to use that drama nor am
I going to say tonight at nine o
'clock the Lord Jesus is going to come
and you'll be left behind I won't say
that but I will say this there comes
a time in your life when God stops
speaking so that he says this today if
you will hear his voice harden not your
heart as in the days of provocation Israel
was given time after time an opportunity to
repent and go into the promised land but
they loved the material things more than God
and the last voice was heard and they
all died in the wilderness in Scotland in
the year 1964 a man was in the
meeting that heard the gospel many times and
one night God came to him in tremendous
power and the Lord Jesus drew near as
he always does when a person is about
to receive or to reject him and he
stood before him in such power the man
knew he was there and he went out
and rejected him and God said how often
he got on his bike he was cycling
through the night and the voice of God
came to him in such power saying how
often and he got off that bike and
this is what he said verbatim almost blasphemy
but I must say it oh God get
off my back and he did he did
and that man is in desolation don't do
that tonight he's saying how often secondly it's
the passionate will of God you know I'm
so glad that God's will is not just
academic cold clinical utterly regular but God's will
is marked with pathos and passion God never
gives calculated lectures God moves out to people
in demonstrations of divine love and this is
what he says listen to it oh Jerusalem
Jerusalem you will never find the word oh
in your dictionary it's not basically a word
it's just a letter it is totally indefinable
but you will find it over and over
again in scripture there was one man that
realized that he was in sin and he
needed the forgiveness of God and this is
what he cried out create in me a
clean heart note the word oh God see
the desperation behind that word another man was
praying for revival and he was in the
presence of God and his name was Isaiah
and this is what he says oh that
thou wouldest render heavens that thou wouldest come
down that the mountains might flow down at
thy presence he was caught up with divine
pathos but this is not the oath from
King David this is not the oath from
Isaiah this is an oath from the Lord
Jesus let's get to the meaning of the
word we had a child we still have
him bless him and when he was three
months old he took a cold from his
father who'd come home from mission went down
with pneumonia and when he went down with
pneumonia the great London fog stopped the whole
of that city our Jewish doctor was coming
in twice a day looking at the child
shaking his head and we were slowly watching
our little fella sinking kettles were constantly being
bored in the room we were going round
and round with the towel to give him
breathing and the Jewish doctor turned to my
dear wife and he said this Mrs. Brandon
he needs oxygen but if I took him
out he would die in the fog you
realize your baby's in the wood and when
he left I saw my lovely little wife
pick up that baby never forget it and
she just said this oh God oh God
and that child was healed this is not
an oath from Gwen this is an oath
from the Lord Jesus and there on that
cross everything all right perhaps
we could sing a little chorus could we
darling maranatha words our dear brother perhaps
better we'll have a little prayer shall we
just pray that the Lord will bless him
Lord we just pray that thou will put
thy healing hand upon our dear brother and
just touch him we pray right now that
he may feel so much better we pray
this in the name of the Lord Jesus
Amen but this is an oath from the
Lord Jesus but where did he say it
do we see this passion revealed in his
life yes but that's not the full passion
of our Savior do we not see this
passion when he raised Lazarus from the dead
and just prior to the resurrection he wept
human tears yes but it's deeper than that
if I want to see the real passion
of the Lord Jesus I look at the
cross when I see Jesus Christ hanging on
a Roman gibbet when I see the vile
spittle of Roman soldiers dripping from those wounds
that they had made in his lovely face
when I see the heavens darken when I
hear him saying on the cross as he
bore away the sin of the world my
God my God why hast thou forsaken me
I bow my head and I say with
the Apostle John herein is love not that
we love God but that God loved us
and sent his son to be a mercy
seat for our sins my dear friends I
love to say this when it comes to
a matter of demonstrating love the Lord Jesus
did it realistically he let frog over all
expression jumped over all grammatical sentences came to
us in the cross and when he hung
on a Roman gibbet and bore our sins
in his own body on the tree that's
where he said oh but more he wasn't
now talking to a city that was going
to accept him he was talking now to
a city that was going to crucify him
and think of it the very people that
were going to scourge him the very people
that were going to crucify him those that
were going to crown him with thorns he
says oh Jerusalem Jerusalem but there's something more
intimate than that I believe tonight dear friends
in this room the Lord Jesus is not
talking about a city he's not talking about
a town he's not talking about a village
he's not talking about a community of people
I believe he's talking to individuals and there
might be someone here tonight and he's saying
something like this oh Mary Mary oh John
John you see he doesn't call you by
a number you will never be computerized by
the Lord you are a name now look
I wonder dear friends this is so vital
would the door be closed I think someone's
going to get saved tonight would the door
be closed and no one else come in
would you do that please those who are
going out would you just go out and
those who are um would the door be
closed and let the others pray I think
that will be better because if people are
coming and going it's going to spoil the
whole meeting and therefore he calls us by
name notice what he said to Saul on
the Damascus road not pjx 6 3 1
5 5 6 why do you persecute me
what did he say Saul Saul he calls
us by name and I believe tonight in
a very real way in this building the
Lord Jesus is calling some by name calling
you now and he's putting behind it all
the pathos of Calvary oh Mary oh John
oh Andrew how often see the wonder of
that but then I want you to look
at the will of God and you will
see something else how often would I have
gathered thy children together even as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings and you
would not and therefore it's a parental will
of God you see he's talking about children
he's talking about an old mother hen and
therefore it's the parental will of God now
what are parents famous for they love to
provide if you have children and grandchildren you
will agree with me you long that they
should have the best cot in which to
sleep you long that they might have the
best clothes to wear you long that they
might have the best little home in which
to live you long that they might have
the nice toys for Christmas you long that
they might have the best education if you've
got a girl you long for her to
have the best husband and if you've got
a son you long for that son to
have the best wife why do we do
this because we have that parental instinct and
we long to see our children blessed and
God is like that please do not imagine
that God is just like an old victorian
victorial father that loves to thrash people it's
not like that at all God is a
God of love and I want to tell
you what he wants to do for you
he longs and yearns to forgive your sins
through the blood of Christ that's why his
son died he longs to give you the
gift of eternal life so that you might
have life everlasting he longs to put new
life into your body so that you might
be born anew and become a new creature
he longs that you might so come into
his family that you can actually say to
God Abba father and it's not hyperbole exaggerated
speech it's a fact but more he longs
to make you an heir to all that
he possesses so that when Christ comes you
can reign with him in his second coming
and when he builds the new heaven and
the new earth he wants you to have
a place with him reigning with him in
glory he longs to bless you and I
want to speak to people now who are
outside of this building listen all those men
tonight that I saw in the public houses
scores of them he longs to save everyone
all those tonight in the bingo dens gambling
he longs to save them and bless them
all those tonight perhaps who are in the
entertainment places of this world and as they
sit there perhaps even bored some of them
he longs to bless them with eternal life
but more there's someone here tonight that is
longing to bless with salvation let him bless
you tonight he longs to do it and
parents love to protect now you must forgive
me for this but one of my boys
had a fight and I believe he had
the worst of it and you know the
old man in me wanted to go around
oh you love to protect your children you
know that and that's why he's talking about
the instinct of a mother hen the fire's
coming she can smell it and she clucks
and the chickens come under her wings why
she longs to protect friends can I give
you a word of warning very shortly the
world in which we live is going to
have a terrible shock thousands will switch on
their televisions and they will see a ghostly
man saying this on your own screen millions
missing what's happened the rapture the taking away
of the church has taken place when the
dead in Christ shall rise first and we
which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds and
then the wrath of God will begin and
that wrath will begin in stages and in
the finality of that wrath I want you
to notice that one third of the marine
life one third of the solar system one
third of vegetation on earth one third of
the world's population will be totally destroyed it
will be a time of wrath so great
if the Lord didn't shorten it all flesh
would perish and the world is right for
it but remember there's another wrath there's coming
a time when every person will give an
account of himself to God and God has
the books open and he will say this
February the 4th such and such a sin
was committed February the 19th in the year
1936 the following sins were committed then he
will go through your life meticulously and he
will say on Sunday night March the 31st
you heard the gospel you heard the word
of the Lord and you rejected everything is
tabulated and then you will see the righteous
wrath of God depart from me thou cursed
I never knew you but he wants to
protect you and if I see the Lord
Jesus here tonight I see him with his
hands wide open and I hear him saying
to this congregation with faith oh Jerusalem how
often would I have gathered thy children together
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings and ye would not but parents
love to provide they love to protect but
they love to pardon with one of our
lads I'm not going to mention the name
he did something and I had to punish
him it was bad and I want to
say this now truthfully when I did it
my hand was shaking and I was broken
and I went up into my study and
wept and cried Lord please save that boy
and I was waiting for that little boy
to come up those lino stairs I was
waiting to hear the feet pattering up those
stairs but I couldn't hear and I couldn't
study and then after about two hours of
waiting I heard four steps on the lino
floor on the lino steps and I thought
he's coming he's coming but they stopped and
would you believe he waited five minutes then
I heard five more steps he's coming he
stopped and he stayed there for another five
minutes then would you believe it three more
steps and I knew he was just outside
the door but he wouldn't knock and I
was waiting oh waiting and then all of
a sudden I heard a little knock like
this come in and in he came his
head down he put his head on my
knee and just wept and said sorry daddy
and I just hugged him and we were
reconciled God's been waiting for you like that
you've been walking up the steps of repentance
and faith and stopped shall I then you've
been walking up and then stopped shall I
but may it be tonight that someone will
come to the door of grace and knock
and you'll hear the savior say come in
and oh what a welcome he'll give you
the welcome that he gave to the prodigal
son will be nothing like the welcome that
he'll give you he'll hug you and tell
you that your sins are forgiven through the
blood of Christ and he'll tell you tonight
you've been born again of the Holy Spirit
if you come but what was the result
I wouldn't he wouldn't he kept coming
wouldn't he came to them at the cross
wouldn't came to them through the preaching of
the apostle Stephen wouldn't think of the times
he's been to you think of those messages
that you've heard from the Lord think of
that time when he said to you look
all day long I have stretched forth my
hand unto a disobedient gainsaying people and he
comes again but what happens there's this constancy
of rejection then I want you to go
a little deeper what was the cause of
the rejection well my dear friends when they
heard the word of the Lord they were
basically saying something like this well we're religious
we're moral we're good but we don't accept
him as the Messiah they did not reject
religion they did not reject morality but they
rejected Christ and there are lots of people
my dear friends when they hear the gospel
and when they hear of the forgiveness of
the Lord's love they say well I don't
need that I'm good I'm moral I'm religious
my dear friends no matter how moral or
religious you might be you need that forgiveness
then there are other people no doubt when
the Lord comes to them the old devil
dangles before them the entertainments of this world
the glass of beer the cricket bat the
tennis bat business all the luxuries of life
they come before you you see Satan can
use anything and everything to bring you from
Christ and you look at those things and
you say ah I'd sooner go in for
those things than for eternal things now dear
friends something happened in this meeting tonight that's
serious but I want to say this supposing
you went out of this meeting tonight and
you dropped dead what would religion do what
would mechanical morality do what would entertainment do
what would the riches do they would mock
you and oh dear friends I believe tonight
there are some who are constantly rejecting in
spite of the pathos of God's love but
then what was behind the cause of this
rejection shall I tell you behind it there
was a sinister power in the heart of
Africa there are plays that are being seen
at this moment that are merely educational and
thousands of African people are seeing these plays
but behind them is still the sinister power
of Moscow and they are gradually teaching the
people the works of Marx and Engels and
Lenin the plays look innocent but little by
little they are going to propound the doctrine
of Marxism behind these innocent things that cause
us to reject the Lord Jesus there's a
sinister power it's the power of the devil
and this is what the scripture says the
God of this world has blinded the minds
of them that believe not lest the light
of the glorious gospel the image of God
should shine out of them in this building
tonight there is not only the power of
God there is the power of Satan operating
here tonight trying to frustrate the preacher out
of darkness don't do it tonight friends learn
the lesson now I want you to note
the consequence of the rejection behold your house
is left unto you desolate that is the
most stunning statement in scripture what does it
mean to be desolate let me explain if
you've ever been in my country there are
some lovely mansions who are still owned by
aristocratic people and there is a beautiful mansion
and a castle in a place called Deddington
and the person who lives there is a
high title lady and this lady was once
with a husband the governess of Victoria and
she is closely related to her majesty the
Queen and when I first went into that
lovely castle I shall never forget it I
was struck by the awe and discipline and
beauty of the house a butler greeted me
then I saw these rare French tapestries hanging
from the walls of the passage then I
went into the lounge and I saw these
beautiful oak floors with pure silk Persian carpets
on them then I looked on the wall
and I could see genuine Reuben van Dyck
constable paintings and the whole house was one
of beauty why the lady was resident now
I want you to imagine this lady Duggan
of Victoria moves out and the house is
left and we go back to that house
after five years and we're shown in and
what a shock first of all the place
reeks with dampness in fact it's so dank
it's haunting we look at the walls and
they're bare and the plaster has come off
showing the old-fashioned bricks we look at
the lovely Italian ceilings and they're in pieces
we look all over the floor and all
we see is the dirt of burning we
go through the rooms and even our voice
seems to haunt us and then all of
a sudden out flies an old owl and
across our feet there runs a rat and
then we shout and all we hear is
the haunting echo of our voice and we
say one word desolate forsaken that's
hell my dear friends it is a place
without Christ without God without hope without
a Christian and where there's no mercy that's
why it's called out of darkness it's desolate
and just like Titus came in 70 AD
and made the whole of Jerusalem desolate and
so this particular prophecy was fulfilled what will
it be if a man dies without Christ
desolate do you know dear friends I can
hear the groanings of people in hell now
crying for mercy but it's desolate and I
want the Lord Jesus to come again and
say through his weak servant tonight I would
the patient will oh Jerusalem the passionate will
how often would I gather thy children together
even as a hen gathered her chickens under
her wings the parental will will it be
would not would not would not now friends
I don't want to frighten or bully people
into heaven but I must say this if
tonight you can leave that seat after singing
the closing hymn and if you can move
up the aisle if you can get to
the opening door if you can pass the
preacher and shake his hand without Christ still
in your sins you deserve to be desolate
you deserve it when the Lord Jesus the
mighty Son of God has come so close
and opened up his passionate heart because he
wants to save you wouldn't it be lovely
right now if someone received someone would say
right now it will not be any longer
would not but I will God helping me
I will be wholly thine