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Hey man, Luke chapter 19, so keep your place there, we'll get there in just a minute, but we're on the run up to Easter here and we're going to be looking at a certain story that happens at the end of Luke chapter 19 here, which I'm calling the entrance to Jerusalem. This was, when I was a kid, this was kind of celebrated as Palm Sunday, this event here at the end of Luke chapter 19, but this is basically when Jesus comes into Jerusalem for the last time before, a few days before the Passover, and everybody is rejoicing and they are celebrating him as the Messiah, calling him a king, all the disciples are around him, of course the naysayers, the Pharisees are there as well, but if you look down at Luke chapter 19, look down at verse number 28, let's look at this story this morning and see what we can take away from this, this morning, and I want to point out something that is kind of a valuable lesson for us personally, a valuable contrast of what Jesus says here, his attitude towards coming into Jerusalem, especially knowing what is going to happen, but look down at verse number 28 where the Bible says, and when he had thus spoken, he went before ascending up to Jerusalem, and it came to pass when he was come nigh to Bethpage and Bethany at the mount called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples saying, go ye into the village over against you, in which you're entering in you shall find a colt tied, wherein yet never a man sat, loose him and bring him hither, and if any man ask you, why do you loose him, thus shall you say unto him, because the Lord hath need of him. And they went and they were sent their way and found even as he had said unto them, as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt? And they said, The Lord hath need of him. And they brought him to Jesus and they cast their garments upon the colt and they set Jesus thereon. Turn to Zechariah chapter number nine, if you will. So this is a prophecy, this seems like kind of a random story in the Bible here where Jesus tells them to go and get this young donkey here for him to ride on, and you say, why is that? Why is that important? Why is that in the Bible? Well, it's the fulfillment of a messianic prophecy in the Old Testament. If you look at Zechariah chapter nine and verse number nine, the Bible says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy King cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass, upon the colt, the foal of an ass. Go back to Luke chapter 19. So all that to say this, that story is in the Bible because it is a further proof that Jesus is the Messiah, that the Old Testament was prophesying, that the Old Testament, of course there's dozens of these prophecies and Jesus fulfilled them all, but I just wanted to point that out. So Jesus is coming into Jerusalem and look at the scene here, and this is really what I want to focus on this morning. If you just picture the scene of verse number 36 and beyond here, it says, As they 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. So this is at the end of Jesus's ministry. All these miracles have been done. He's raised people from the dead, healed the sick, healed the blind, all these things. He has this massive crowd of people that are following him into Jerusalem and they are saying, look at verse 38, this again is matching up that prophecy in Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9 where it says, saying, Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And then of course in verse number 39, some of the Pharisees from among the multitude sent unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. So of course, you know, they're calling him Lord, they're calling him the king, they're calling him all these great names acknowledging that he's the Messiah. And the Pharisees again are saying, you know, rebuke these people, they're giving you this deity title, they're giving you this title of the Christ, you know, why aren't you rebuking them? And of course Jesus knows that they're correct. Look at verse 40, says, He answered and said unto them, I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. So Jesus again is saying, they're correct, they're right in what they're saying, I am the king, I am the Messiah, I am a deity, I am God. So the scene here is there's this great celebration, Jesus fulfilling this prophecy, writing in on this cult and it is this massive celebration of Jesus entering in Jerusalem. Look at verse number 41 and then we see this in verse number 41. So imagine the scene, Jesus knowing what is going to happen sees all these people that are celebrating him, all these people calling him the Messiah, all these people calling him king, all these people that love him, that are with him. The Bible literally says that these people are his disciples, meaning they are followers of Jesus, yet Jesus knows what is going to happen in the coming days. It's kind of like, you know, he knows, I mean obviously it's the purpose that he's there, but it's kind of like, you know, him knowing something that's already happened basically, is the way Jesus looks at this. But then look at verse 41. In verse 41, Jesus says this, it says, when he was come near and beheld the city and wept over it, saying if thou has known even thou at least in this thy day that the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. What is he saying in verse 42? In verse 42 he is saying, he's crying again, he's weeping over the city of Jerusalem and he's saying, you don't know what is going to happen to you. You don't know. He's weeping over what he sees happening to the city. So he's not weeping over what's going to happen to himself in the next few days. He's weeping over what's going to happen to Jerusalem. This is a prophecy of the 70 AD destruction of not only the temple, but of the city of Jerusalem, which we know took place. Look at verse 43 and Jesus says what's going to happen. He says, for days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee on every side and they shall lay thee 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. This is such an interesting thing here. You kind of have to be like a little bit more of a one-dimensional thinker to kind of understand what Jesus is saying here. But he is basically saying that, you know, and I understand that there's some end times prophecy things here, but what he's, I want to focus on is what he's basically telling them is they're going to be destroyed in 70 AD. And by the way, this is one of the biggest proofs in my opinion that the entire New Testament was penned, was written down before 70 AD. Because Jesus not only prophesied the destruction of the temple, but he prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem itself, which all happened in 70 AD. And if that had happened during the writing down of the New Testament, they definitely would have put that down as a fulfilled prophecy. So we know that the New Testament was written before 70 AD, otherwise it would have been already a fulfilled prophecy of what Jesus is saying here in Luke chapter 19. But look, Jerusalem is going to be destroyed and that is what Jesus is talking about. So Jesus is going to his death, he knows he's going to his death, he knows he's going to be betrayed by not only the people in Jerusalem, not only the Romans, not only the Pharisees, but also all of these people that are currently celebrating him as the king. He knows that no one is going to stop what is going to happen to him, none of these people are really even going to be there when he is in the worst trouble of his life, and yet he cries over the city, he cries over the city's destruction, and he tells you why it's going to be destroyed. In the last part of verse number 44, he says, because. Why is it going to be destroyed? He's prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem, and he tells you why. He says, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation, because you didn't recognize the Messiah coming. And he still sat over it though. So they're being judged, it's a judgment upon the city itself, however, he's not happy about it. He's not rejoicing in this. As a matter of fact, he's very sad about what is about to happen to Jerusalem in the coming really decades, in the coming decades. So look, Jesus wasn't looking to be saved. He wasn't looking to have his life spared, and he knew he also wouldn't be spared because this was the purpose of his life. But turn to 1 Peter chapter number two. It must have been very hard. I mean, I can't even imagine the mindset that Jesus had where he knew he was about to be stabbed in the back by everyone, friend and foe alike, and yet he still had this attitude of compassion towards the people of this city. Turn to 1 Peter chapter number two. Turn to 1 Peter chapter number two, and then we're going to go to Psalm 32 right after this. But this is why the Bible says this about Jesus. 1 Peter chapter two verse number 21 is talking about Christ. Look at verse number 21. It says, For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps. So yes, Christ was the Messiah. In order to be saved, in order to have salvation, you must trust on him. But he is also an example to us. One of the problems with Christianity today is they put forth Jesus as only an example. No, Jesus is an example, but he is first the Messiah. But yes, he is also an example for us to follow. All right, so it says leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. What kind of example? Look at verse 22, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Now turn to Psalm chapter 32. We'll just start at verse number one. But turn to Psalm chapter 32. Right in the center of your Bible, you'll find the book of Psalm. Go to Psalm chapter 32. So the Bible here is saying that in Christ's mouth was no guile. What does that mean? It's like nothing bad came out of his mouth. Nothing bad came out of his mouth. Nothing wrong came out of his mouth. Nothing really guile means deceitfulness. No deceitfulness came out of his mouth. No, you know, no just just unrighteousness at all came out of Jesus's mouth ever. So 1 Peter chapter two in verse 21 and 22 is talking about Jesus having no guile in his mouth. But then look at Psalm chapter 32 in verse number one. It says blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Now this is talking about you. This is talking about the saved believer here in Psalm chapter 32. Look at verse number two. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. It doesn't say that blessed is the man that hath no iniquity. It's saying that because of Christ's righteousness, the Lord will not impute iniquity to you. But then look at it says, and in whose spirit there is no guile. So what the Bible is saying here in 1 Peter chapter two and verse 21 is saying Jesus had no guile in his in his in his mouth. And then he's saying that, you know, you should have no guile either in verse number 32. So it's saying Jesus is an example for us. And then Psalm chapter 32 just backs it up saying you should be the you should follow the example of Christ is what Psalm 32 it's it's kind of cool how those two things match up where first Peter chapter two is talking about Jesus, but Psalm 32 is talking about you talk about how you should be. So with this story, this great contrast of Jesus coming into Jerusalem, coming into this terrible situation, where he knows he will be abandoned and betrayed by everyone. I want to give you three thoughts this morning. I just want to give you three thoughts on God's mercy on give you three thoughts on God's, you know, mercy versus our mercy, versus what we think, you know, deserves mercy and does not deserve mercy. I'll just give you three things to think about this morning with just this extreme case where Jesus going into this bad situation with all these bad people, all these people that were going to abandon him, even the disciples, even Peter himself, was going to walk away from Jesus in the coming days to save, you know, their own lives for fear of the Romans fear of the Jews. Look at Luke chapter 23. Look at Luke chapter number 23. Look, I mean, the the bounds of the mercy of God are, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's beyond our understanding. Let's put it that way. But look at Luke chapter 23 and verse 34. It even goes further when Jesus was being crucified on the cross. He still had no guile in his mouth. Look at Luke chapter 23 in verse number 34. He's going to be crucified and he's being beaten and tortured in verse number 34. It says, then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and cast lots. Even at the point of his painful death on the cross, Jesus was still asking God the Father to forgive the people that were involved in this. He's like, they don't know what's going on. They don't know what they're doing. So the first point I want to make tonight or this morning is this. In our lives with following this example of Christ, there is no place in our lives as Christians, meaning people that are following the example of Christ, there is no place for bitterness at all. There's no reason for it. There is no Jesus. If anybody had an excuse to be bitter, it was Jesus Christ. As he came into Jerusalem, it was Jesus as he was on the cross. Yet he was not. He was not. So the first thing is there is no place for bitterness. None whatsoever. Turn to Hebrews chapter number 12. What does that mean? It means that you should not get jaded in your life ever. You should not be a jaded person. Look, even if you've been legitimately burned, Jesus had every legitimate reason to be bitter, if there is a legitimate reason. If there's a legitimate reason to be bitter and have guile, he had it. Yet he did not have that. So that shows us that there is no place for bitterness. You say, well, you know, I've been burned. You know, I mean, I got, somebody did me wrong. That still does not give place for, it should not give place to bitterness. You say, why is that? Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Look, some people let legitimate bad things define their whole lives. And you know, this is true. People let legitimately bad things. Look, bad people did bad things to me. And they let that define everything in their life going forward. This is wrong. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 14. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 14. Look, and it's easy to let it creep in. It is easy to let bitterness define you. It's easy to get bitterness. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 14. The Bible says, follow peace with nice people. The Bible says, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Look at verse 15. It says, looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any what? Any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. So there's a lot of things to learn at the very end of that verse right there. The Bible says, who will bitterness trouble? Say, well, I've been wronged. I've been legitimately wronged. But the Bible says that bitterness, if you become a bitter person, and it says springing up, meaning bitterness starts small, and it grows. It takes root, and then it grows. But bitterness only hurts you. Bitterness only, let me say that with different emphasis. Bitterness only hurts you. There is nothing that bitterness will do for you that is positive, that is good. There is nothing that bitterness will do for those around you that is good. So why would you ever want to be bitter? Well, it feels good at the moment. Yeah, it's you going with the flesh, literally damaging yourself, and thereby many be defiled, meaning you're going to damage all the people that are around you. Your family, your children, your wife. You say, well, somebody did, I mean, it makes no sense. Somebody did me wrong, so I'm going to damage myself. I mean, when you put it that way, if we just think logically and not emotionally, all the problems go away. I mean, somebody did me wrong, so I'm going to ruin my own life. I'll show them. Turn to First Corinthians chapter six, look at verse number seven. And look, there's, I've said this many times, I've said this many times, there's two different ways to handle problems. There's two different ways to handle somebody that does you wrong. You can either let it go, look at First Corinthians chapter six and verse number seven. First Corinthians chapter six and verse number seven. The Bible says, Now, therefore, there is utterly fault among you because you go to law one with another. Why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? So the other way to handle someone that did you wrong is to confront the situation in the Matthew 18 process. Just go to that person individually and talk to them. But here's the thing, folks, in this day and age that we're living in, more people need to let more things go. I mean, you should be suffering yourself to be defrauded, like 99 plus percent of the time, just let it go. I mean, if you have to just because we are living in a time where people are being trained to be hyper sensitive about everything. I mean, this culture that we're living in, and I get that it's a wicked culture, but look, it can rub off on Christians to where everybody's just I mean, you got all these social justice warriors out here that are offended over, you know, they're offended for other people that aren't even there. They're offended for all I mean, who probably aren't even offended. I mean, think how silly that is to be offended for someone who's not you, who's not even there and even if they were, they wouldn't have been offended. People need to let more things go. Look, this can rub off on Christians. You can get this attitude where everything offends you. And look, we just need to let more things go in our lives. And we'll have better relationships with that. But all these things can lead to bitterness. This whole idea of you wonder where like this manosphere came from in the last couple years, with all this MGTOW stuff popping up, all the Andrew Tate garbage coming out. And you say, where did all that come from? Well, they claim and these people look, it's all formed, it's all based off of bitterness. That's what it is. It's all run from bitterness. And guess what? If you're going to jump onto that bitter bandwagon, bitter young men will just end up bitter old men. You say, how did that guy get to be a bitter old man? Well, you ever met a bitter old man? He's just angry all the time, like over everything, just screams at everyone constantly. Well, he was bitter like that for a long time. He didn't just become bitter, you know, last year. He's been bitter. His whole life has been defined as bitterness. So this manosphere, Andrew Tate, all these wicked people pushing all these things, they'll look at things like feminism and all these things that are legitimately wrong. But then they go and they embrace bitterness. No, wrong answer. They embrace bitterness and they're like, no, you need to adopt a life of bitterness. It's like that will ruin you. That will ruin you and it will ruin all the people around you. If you need to be like turn to turn to James chapter three. Look, I mean, people are mean. People are rude. I mean, just if you get offended over every little thing, you're going to have a hard everyday life. When I mean, go ask, you know, ask Jacob after the service, like when we're out working and we're working on something, I'm not the nicest all the time. Maybe I should be, but I'm not. You know, but you can't be offended at every single thing that happens. Sometimes things need to get done. We need to get to work. We need to get things done right. The first time all these things is like, you know, oh, you know, you was mean to you. Garrett told me a couple of years ago, he's like, man, if I could work for you, I could work for anybody. Good. Good. That means I did it right. That means it worked. You can't raise these kids to be these kids where somebody just blows on them and they just fall over because that's what's happening today because even Christians are embracing this attitude that if somebody wrongs me, I can just get bitter. I can just get upset. Like, no, just get over it. Let it go. Look at James chapter three and look at verse number 14. Here's another reason people can get bitter. If anybody had reason to get better, it was Jesus Christ and he did it. And we're supposed to follow that example. Look at James chapter three and verse number 14. But if you have bitter envying, look at that. And strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. Look, here's another thing that can make you bitter. Somebody else has something that you don't have. That should not make you bitter. Look, there's ways, there's two main ways to find out who your real friends are. The first way is it's very intuitive. It makes a lot of sense. Like, when I'm in a bad place and I'm really in a bad spot, a true friend, somebody that really loves me, somebody that's really my brother, my sister in Christ, that's going to be somebody that is going to come to my aid when I'm in trouble. Look, I got a lot of friends like that. Well, I shouldn't say a lot, but look, those are real friends. Like, when you're in real trouble and somebody really takes action to come and help you, that's a real friend right there. And you will never, you will never forget those times. You will never forget those times as you live on this earth. I mean, the times where I've been in real trouble in my life and I had a brother in Christ that came to my aid, I will never forget that until I'm dead. And I'll still remember in heaven, I'm sure. But it's a long-lasting thing. You can say, that is my friend. But here's another way. You can identify your friends. A true friend will be happy when you are in the good times. A true friend will see something good happen to you and they will truly be happy for you. It is not a friend where something good happens to you and they get envious and they get bitter towards you because something good happens to you. Because look, you're going to have good times. These are great, these are two great ways to find out who your real friends are. Because look, there's a lot of people out there that will pretend to be your friends. But will they actually come and take action when you're in trouble? And when you're having good times, are they happy for you? Or are they bitter? That is a terrible thing to have a friend, a friend where they're having good things happen to them and you sit there and say, that should have been me. That's not a friend. That is not what a true friend should do. Turn to Colossians chapter number three. So those are two great tests of who your friends are. I put, how much weight do I put in words when it comes to friends? None. You're the best and that's the greatest and whatever and all this stuff. No, actions. How are you when I'm in trouble and how are you when things are going well? That's how you can tell who your friends are, actions, not what people say. Because what people say, that's James chapter two right there. James, what people say is nothing. What people say is there's no profit there. Profit comes from action. Look at Colossians chapter three, look at verse number 19. We're talking about, you know, being bitter. We're talking about not letting a root of bitterness come in. If anybody had reason to be bitter, this is just the point, point number one this morning, if anyone had reason to be bitter, it was Christ and he wasn't. He was not bitter. He was the opposite of it. Look at Colossians chapter three, verse number 19. You know, I mean, it's interesting that, you know, the Bible brings this up. It seems like kind of, unless you've been married for a while, this must seem like a strange verse right here. But look what it says. It says, husbands love your wives. Of course, the verse before it is wives submit to your husbands, but then it says husbands love your wives. But then you get this last part and you're like, and be not bitter against them. Like what? That's kind of seems odd. That seems kind of like odd place in there, but no, it is saying, it is telling husbands here. It is telling husbands how to lead their families. It is telling a husband how you should lead your wife. Wives submit to your husbands. Husband loves your wives. Well, husbands love your wives. You think he would just end the verse there? He says, no, but be not bitter against them. What does that mean? It means that, you know, maybe your wife's not going to do everything exactly the way you want it to do it, want her to do it every time. Maybe that leading your wife is not going to go perfectly all the time. Maybe, and look, maybe she's going to do the wrong thing sometimes. It is saying, don't lead in a bitter way. It's saying, don't be a negative leader. Look, I cannot stress enough how important it is to be a positive leader in your home. I woke up this morning and I was not feeling good. I'm still not really feeling that great. But I got up and I think everyone could tell that I wasn't really feeling good. And I kind of had something creeping up on me in the last couple days. And I said, you know what, and I feel this way. It was true. So it wasn't just like, you know, making something up. But I said, look, I'm not really feeling that great, but I'm excited to go to church today. And I feel that way. I'm excited to be in church today, even though I'm not 100%. I'm excited to be here. But if I just feel like, oh, man, I don't feel good. We should just all stay home. We got to go, though, because people are going to show up. You know, but, you know, I joke, but do you know the effect that that would have on my family? Do you know the effect it would have on my family if I went home on Sunday night and I just sat down at the dinner table with all the kids and my wife and like, could you believe this guy? Can you believe this lady? Can you believe that? Can you believe that? And I would just negative all the time. My family would hate coming here. My family would hate church. My family would despise these things. You know why? Because I'm planting seeds of bitterness everywhere in them. I'm allowing that root that is taking hold inside myself to just be planted everywhere. I'm spreading weeds in my household. Think of it that way. The Bible here is saying, love your wives, lead in a caring way. It's not saying your wife is going to do everything perfect all the time. Your wife is going to mess up and so are you. But lead in a positive way. Even when people in your household who you're leading are not doing the right thing. Say my kids don't do the right thing every time. They don't. But you have to lead in a positive way. You can't allow bitterness allowing bitterness inside the walls of your house is a disastrous move for a leader. And that's why God puts it at the end of this verse. Husbands love your wives and lead them in a positive, caring, loving way. Turn to Proverbs chapter 22. Bitterness, like you can have reasons where you think you're justified to be bitter. But there is no justification for allowing bitterness to grow inside you. There is none. You say, well, my wife did this and I don't think, you know, she apologized good enough or whatever. Just let it go. Let it go. Pull out the root that's growing. That's what happens to marriages that end after 15 years. That end after 20 years. I think I was telling the kids or somebody that I couldn't believe. Oh no, we had some people coming up on, I won't mention names, we had some people coming up on a one-year anniversary this year. And I was like, well, after one year you've made it. Like, all you have to do is get to that, I'm joking, but you get to that one-year point and you're going, it's successful. No problem. But I remember how surprised I was when a friend of mine who was way older than me got divorced after 12 years and a friend of mine got married after 12 years. And I remember thinking as a stupid 20-year-old, 23-year-old, man, when are you good? The problem is, bitterness can set in in year 17 of the marriage, in year 28 of the marriage, in year 35 of the marriage. You just have to constantly manage bitterness. You can't allow bitterness to set in in your marriage. Women or men, there's never a justification for it. So if you find yourself getting bitter, get rid of it. How do I get rid of it? Let it go. 99 just let it go. Look at Proverbs chapter 20. There's never a time for bitterness. But you say, what about in the worst possible cases where the worst possible people have done someone wrong. Look at Proverbs, the Bible covers that, too. Look at verse number 22 of Proverbs chapter 20. What does somebody just completely evil, some evil reprobate hurt someone that you know and love. What about that? But look at this. The Bible says in verse number 22. And look, this, I get it, this takes faith. I get it, this takes faith. But the Bible is clear here. The Bible says, Say not thou I will recompense evil, but even where there is a hater of God that hurts someone, it is God who will recompense. It is God who will take vengeance. It will, it is God that will make it right. And you had better believe and it takes faith, but the Bible is clear. Vengeance is mine. God will make it more right than you could ever. There is bitterness will hurt you and do damage to you and the people you love and the people you care about. It makes no sense to allow bitterness to enter in. Here's the second point. So the first point is there's no place for bitterness. I've got to hurry up here. I've got two more points. The second point is this. Jesus looked at Jerusalem and he cried. He looked at Jerusalem and he cried. Turn to Matthew chapter 23. But you say, what in the world? I don't understand and what people you have to believe the reprobate doctrine or you can't understand the Bible. It makes no sense. Look at Matthew chapter 23 and verse number 15. The second point is this. Most people are not beyond redemption. What do I mean by that? Most people are not reprobates. Thank God, but most people are not reprobates. Look at Matthew 23 and verse number 15. You say, but Jesus yelled at the Pharisees all the time. He said the worst possible things to them. Look at verse number 15 as an example of Matthew 23. He says, well unto you stripes and Pharisees hypocrites for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte. When he has made you make him two fold more the child of hell than yourselves. He's literally calling the Pharisees, the Jewish leaders here that did not believe on them. Some Pharisees did believe on them. But he's calling the mainstream Jewish leaders here children of hell. Is there more a is there a worse thing you could call someone than it than a child of hell. But guess what folks you say why would he cry over this group of people that are children of hell. But guess what not everyone in Jerusalem was a Pharisee. As a matter of fact that was the extreme minority of people when he looked at the city. Even though even though none of those people in that city would do the right thing. None of them would stand with him. Even Peter didn't do the right thing. But guess what be careful that the reprobate brush doesn't get too wide. Because Jesus had compassion on this city that was about to abandon him. I mean it's it's arrogant to think that because someone doesn't get saved when I talked to them that they're beyond salvation. I I mean what? That's an arrogant thing. To think that oh you know somebody I gave this person the gospel and they just flat out rejected it reprobate. No that's an arrogant thing. Many people they just they don't get saved the first time they hear the gospel. I didn't get saved the first time I heard the gospel. It doesn't mean they never will get saved. It doesn't mean but let me ask you this now. Let me ask you to think a little bit. You got to think let's let's go a couple stages of thinking again. What if somebody never get saved? What if we look back from heaven in the past and we say well that person that person was given the gospel when they were 25 they were given the gospel when they were 45 they were given the gospel on their death bed when they were 95 and they still didn't accept Christ. Is that equivalent to that person being a reprobate? No it is not. It is not. It is not because God had not given up on them. And that is important. That is important because it matters how we treat people. It matters if there's somebody whom God has not given up on. We are not to give up on them. Most people most people will have until their last breath to accept Christ. Most people. Look people turn to Luke chapter nine. I'll give you an example of this even from the disciples. People are too quick. Look at Luke chapter nine. Even the disciples, even James and John did this. Look at Luke chapter nine verse number 52. People are too quick to condemn like ah this neighborhood's no good. Ah this every time I've even had that thought we end up getting somebody saved. Look we all do it. We all have this tendency to want to just condemn groups of people. But that is 52. And he sent messengers before his face and they went and entered into the village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. And they did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said Lord will thought we command fire to come down from heaven, consume them even as Elias did, but he turned and rebuked them. They were like hey you know we didn't get anybody saved in this neighborhood let's burn it up let's burn it down. And Jesus is like whoa calm down. He turned and rebuked them and said you know not what manner of spirit you're up. He's like this is not the kind of attitude that you are supposed to have that I need you to have. for the son of man has not come to destroy men's lives but to save them. That's what we are there to do. That's us. We can put ourselves now that Jesus is risen and gone to heaven. We can put ourselves in that place. We are not here to destroy men's lives but to save them through the power of the gospel and the power of the saving grace of Jesus Christ and they went on to another another village. Look, people are people are way too quick to condemn entire groups of people and I did the the podcast with Pastor Mejida. He made a comment that I thought was really interesting because he said you know he said he's like for some reason he said people from outside California are super quick to tell me about the problems that I'm dealing with living in California and let me tell you something that is so true I have had that happen to me so many times and if you know people outside of California I bet you've had it happen to you too. We've got people outside of California I can't tell you how many times I have heard the phrase California just needs to fall into the ocean from conservative Christian people what in a what what a wicked thing to say there are 39 million people here people get so worked up over a place that they're not even act and they condemn the entire group of people over what over the actions of a few wicked leaders kind of sounds like Jerusalem did Jesus condemn the entire city over the actions of a few wicked leaders no he wept over it he cried over it he had compassion for it it's exactly the same as the situation Jesus was in I mean how many people are getting saved in California every single year how many churches are starting in California how many churches are growing in California there are more Bible believing Christians here state fall into the ocean what are you talking about there are more people here that are willing and need to hear the gospel than any other state what are you talking about we should get rid of it all there are more children that need to be they need to hear the gospel they need to be homeschooled they need to be brought out of this trash garbage culture that's in every state by the way there's no Christians should be rushing here they should be running here saying this is where the help is needed this is where the people need to hear the gospel the most of them anyway out of all the states it's the most there's more i've never met more bible believing christians than in this state people are too quick to just paint with this broad brush and just condemn entire groups of people if anybody could have done it it was jesus and he didn't and he's our example so that's point number two turn to second chronicles chapter nineteen point number three is this point number three is this and it's maybe a cousin of point number two but this is something that we need to remember through the example of jesus as he went into jerusalem and he had such great compassion on this city the third point is this our enemies are not his enemies look some of our enemies might be his enemies but just because i have an enemy does not mean that is an enemy of the lord look enemies of the lord look at second chronicles chapter nineteen enemies of the lord i get it look at second chronicles chapter nineteen verse number two a prophet rebukes jehoshaphat for helping someone that hates the lord and jehu the son of haniya the seer went out to meet him said king jehoshaphat should us thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the lord therefore is wrath upon the from before the lord but now go to matthew chapter five and verse number fourteen and i have a reference to matthew chapter five verse 44 to second chronicles chapter 19 and verse number two because you have to contrast these two and i told you earlier that if you don't believe the reprobate doctrine you can't make sense of this you can't make sense of these two verses the bible has no contradictions but look at this so haniya the seer the prophet of god told jehoshaphat you shouldn't love them to hate the lord wrath god is mad at you because you love them that hate the lord that you helped somebody that hated god now look at matthew chapter five in verse number 44 but i say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despise despitefully use you and persecute you you're like what am i supposed to love my enemies or or or hate my enemies what is it no you hate god's enemies and you love your enemies because your enemies are not exactly god's enemies though unless you're making yourself god those two lists are not exactly mutually exclusive to each other not everyone that hates you hates the lord i hate to break it to you i mean look it's easy to identify the haters of the lord all the the evil wicked weirdos and perverts out there i mean it's it's easy to identify it i mean if there's a blessing it's that it's easy to see it's easy to see who hates the lord but you are not the lord even those and even to those that hate the lord you know don't help them you know we don't have to love them we're not to love them but recompensing is still the lord recompensing is still up to the lord we are here to save not you know pursue vengeance so the point is this we are here we are here here's the point for the these three points in this example of jesus gives us there is no place for bitterness in our lives there's no place at all if there was a place jesus would have found that place here he wouldn't have had compassion over this city that was about to kill him that was about to abandon him even down to his own disciples no one did the right thing and i get it he was that's the point of his life was to come here and die for the sins of the world but if anyone like no christian should be a bitter negative person it will only hurt you and look you'll raise bitter negative children no one will be around will want to be around you i mean i've met people like that before you don't even want to you don't even want to talk to him you don't even want to ask ask him questions about anything it's just it's just negativity bitterness it just you don't even want to hear what they say because you just know it's bad no matter what's going on just carry a negative cloud with them everywhere they go i mean i was talking to uh one of the guys out soul winning yesterday and look the thing is this life is too short life is too short to be this bitter person life is too short to not have mercy and compassion i mean this life this life is a timed event and to spend it in this negativity and doing things the wrong way by letting bitterness just take over our lives is it's terrible the lord himself had the most legitimate reason to have guile in his mouth and to have bitterness in his heart all those people were fake to one degree or another look it was a wicked thing they're calling him king they're calling him king they're laying down their clothes in front of the the ass that he was riding on days later he's killed and everyone except a few women is gone if anyone had reason to be bitter it was him we have no excuse at all and here's the thing folks there's no upside to it none at all other than it maybe makes your flesh feel good for a moment and then it does long-lasting damage to you and those around you this is a great example of showing us that we need to have mercy as the thing that leads us in our lives as christians let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer you