#173 Lu. 21:37-38 COMING TO HEAR JESUS

Introduction:

	This text is a summary of the temple ministry of Jesus from
the time of His arrival at the temple until He went from the
temple for His last time.

I.  Jesus teaching in the temple each day
	
    Jews from all over the land of Canaan and from many foreign
nations had come to Jerusalem to observe the annual Jewish
Passover.  The population of Jerusalem had suddenly swelled to
several million people.  Jesus and His disciples were in that
group.
	From the time of His arrival at Jerusalem, Jesus went to the
temple on a daily basis.  V. 37, "And in the day time he was
teaching in the temple..."  That is, He was within the temple
grounds speaking to the people there underneath the beautiful
covered porches of the temple courtyard.  He was not within the
temple sanctuary where only the temple priests were allowed and
where the common people were not allowed to go.  Jesus was where
the people were.  The people were the ones He wanted to reach
with His messages.
	Our text says that Jesus was teaching.  That is, Jesus
deliberately set out to teach certain truths of God to them.  He
wanted to help them to understand these truths and He sought to
persuade them that those things were so.  He wanted them not
only to believe what He was saying but to act upon the truths.
	Our text does not tell us what Jesus was attempting to
teach, but back in chapter 20 and verse 1 Luke says that Jesus
"...taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel..."
Therefore, one of the most important things that Jesus was
trying to teach the people and influence them to believe was the
gospel message.  He wanted them to be saved.
    The scribes and Pharisees taught the people that the way to
get to heaven was by the keeping of the Law of Moses plus the
many traditions of the Jewish fathers.  In other word, they
taught the people that they could only get to heaven by their
own works of righteousness.  Jesus taught them contrary to that.
He taught them the gospel.  He informed them that they could not
get to heaven by their own works of righteousness, but rather
they must trust in the Christ of God to save their souls.
Salvation is not by one's own works of righteousness.  It is by
the grace of God and is received only through faith in the
Christ.
	There must have been certain other truths which Jesus taught
them, but whatever those other things might have been, the chief
thing that He wanted them to know was how to get to heaven.

II.  Jesus staying in the Mt. of Olives at night

    (V. 37)  "...and at night he went out, and abode in the
mount that is called the mount of Olives."  This does not
necessarily mean that He spent every night out under the stars.
He very well may have spent some nights that way.  If so, this
most certainly would not have been the first time.  During the
three years of His ministry Jesus had spent many nights out
under the stars.  But there were two villages on the Mt. of
Olives which were located just about two miles from Jerusalem
and Jesus had devoted disciples who lived there.  Among others,
Lazarus and his sisters lived there.  This is the Lazarus whom
Jesus had just recently raised from the dead.  It is very likely
that those disciples persuaded Jesus and His apostles to stay
with them in their homes.
	But the point is that each evening when Jesus and the
apostles left the temple, they immediately disappeared into the
great crowds of people who filled the streets and made their way
to the Mt. of Olives without the scribes and Pharisees knowing
where they went.  If the Jewish leaders had known where Jesus
was spending His nights they would not have needed Judas to lead
them to Him.  But the Jewish leaders had no idea where He was
spending His nights.

III.  The people coming to hear Jesus

    V. 38, "And all the people came early in the morning to him
in the temple, for to hear him."  Then after Jesus and the
apostles spent the night out in the Mt. of Olives, very early
the next morning the people gathered at the temple to hear Him.
They seemed to be certain that He would come and they were not
disappointed.  Every morning He was there bright and early.
	It may seem strange to you that these people were so
attracted to Jesus when the most of them did not really believe
that He is the Christ.  No doubt, there were some of them who
really believed from the very depths of their hearts that Jesus
is the Christ of God, but many of these very same people were
later in the crowd that demanded His crucifixion, and they most
certainly could not have been true believers that Jesus is the
Christ.
	Why would people who did not believe that He is the Christ
be so much attracted to Him that they would get up extra early
and come out to the temple to hear Him?  Why was it that they
would keep coming time after time, day after day?  Why were they
so attracted to Jesus?
	The answer is partly that they were attracted by His
miracles.  It is not that He was performing miracles in the
temple.  He wasn't.  But He had most certainly done some very
notable miracles earlier.  About twenty miles back down the road
at Jericho He had given sight to blind Bartimeus and another
beggar.  At Bethany, which was only about two miles back down
the road away He had restored life to Lazarus after, who had
been dead for four days.
	The answer is partly that they had been excited by His
triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  He had ridden into Jerusalem in
the midst of thousands of people proclaiming Him to be the
Messiah, the Christ of God.  Even those who were not fully
persuaded that He is the Christ had been caught up in the
excitement of that event and joined in the shouting proclaiming
Him to be the Christ.  That excitement had not all worn off in
the days which followed and they eagerly came every morning to
hear Him speak in the temple.
	The answer is partly found in the words spoken about Jesus
in John 7:46, "The officers answered, Never a man spake like
this."  There was never a man at any time in all the history of
the world in any nation of the world who could speak like Jesus
spoke.  He spoke with the greatest knowledge.  He spoke with the
greatest certainty.  He spoke with the greatest clarity of
meaning.  He spoke with the greatest compassion for the people.
Never a man spake with such logic and such wisdom.
Never a man spake with such power and persuasion.  Never a man
spake who could hold his audience spellbound as He did.
	So they came early to hear Him.  They came anxious to hear
Him.  They came repeatedly to hear Him.  They came and heard Him
and He never let them down.  He always spoke something
worthwhile.

IV.  A question for you

	 Now let me ask you:  If you had been among those people who
were gathered in Jerusalem to observe the Passover, would you
have come out to the temple to hear Jesus?  Would you have gone
out to hear this man whom you had heard so much about?  You have
heard about His miracles.  You have heard about Him feeding the
five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fishes.  You
have heard about Him walking on water.  You have heard about Him
calming the waves of the storm.  You have heard about Him giving
sight to the blind, causing the lame to walk, healing even
lepers.  You have heard about Him raising Lazarus from the dead.
Would you get up extra early and go out to see Him and hear Him
speak?  Or, would you prefer to sleep?
	If you had been present on that afternoon when Jesus rode
into Jerusalem in the midst of thousands of people proclaiming
Him to be the Christ.  Would you go out to the temple to hear
Him speak?  Would you go to hear a man speak whom many people
say is the very Christ of God, the promised Savior of the world?
Or would you prefer to go and see some friend or relative
instead?
	Would you go out to hear this man who holds everybody
spellbound with the power and logic and wisdom of His speech?
Would you figure that it just might be worth your while to
listen to Him?  And if you went one time, would you go back
again and again?
	It would be easy for us to say, "Why most certainly I would
go and hear Him.  Jesus is the very Son of God and I would
certainly want to hear the Son of God."  But listen.  You know
now that Jesus is the Son of God, but if you had been there
then, you might not know that.  Many of those people did not
know that.  They just knew that Jesus was a miracle worker sent
from God and that He was a mighty speaker.  No man spake like He
did.  Would you go?
    The people who were there at Jerusalem and who went to hear
Him are dead and gone now.  But some of them are in heaven right
now because they went to hear Jesus.  They went to hear Jesus
speak and they believed the gospel message which He preached and
they trusted in Him as their Savior.  They might could have been
saved without ever personally hearing Jesus, but they could have
never been saved without believing His gospel.  They would be in
the fires of hell right now if they had not believed His gospel.
But they did go out to hear Him, they did believe His gospel and
they did get saved.
	It is about 2,000 years too late for people of our day to go
out to the temple and hear Jesus.  That temple does not even
exist today and Jesus has already gone back to heaven where He
sits upon the throne of God.  We cannot get up in the morning
and come out to hear Jesus speak.  We cannot go out to see the
man who has all power both in heaven and in earth.  We cannot go
out to see the man who healed the sick and raised the dead.  We
cannot come out to listen to the man who speaks as no other man
spake.  We cannot listen to the one who has all knowledge and
wisdom and who can hold us spellbound from start to finish.
    But we can do the next best thing.  We can come to the house
of God and hear one of God's preachers preach the word of God.
It is true that the man of God who declares God's word today
does not hold the power that Jesus holds.  It is true that God's
man does not have the knowledge and wisdom that Jesus has.  It
is true that He cannot hold us spellbound as Jesus would do if
He were here.
	But the man of God can take the word of God and open up the
word of God to us so that we can understand.  Although his
presentation of the word of God can never be as interesting and
as exciting as it would be if Jesus were speaking, it is,
never-the-less, just as true.  Now please do not misunderstand.
I most certainly do not mean that everything that any man of God
says today is true.  No preacher today knows everything and
every preacher today is subject to being mistaken about
something which he says.  But the word of God which he preaches
is true.  You see, God's word is true whether it is written or
spoken.  The written word of God is just as true as the spoken
word of God.
	So even though we cannot come to the house of God and hear
the very Son of God speak the word of God, never-the-less, we
can do the next best thing and come to the house of God and hear
the word of God.
	We cannot hear those thousands of voices lift their praises
to the Christ as He rides down the Mt. of Olives toward
Jerusalem and toward the temple.  But we can hear voices today
which  proclaim Jesus to be the Christ of God.  We can hear the
man of God as he stands in the pulpit of God and proclaims that
Jesus is the Christ, the very Son of God, the Savior of the
world.  Then we can hear the voices of the Christians as they
say, "Amen!"  We can hear Christian after Christian say, "I
believe that Jesus is the Christ.  I have trusted Him as my
Savior and He saved my soul.
		Then, too, somebody here can place our faith in Jesus and
call on Him as ask Him to save him and keep him out of hell.
One can trust in Him and become a real born again child of God.
We can get off of that broad road which leads to hell and get on
that narrow road which leads to heaven.
	I have done that.  I went to the house of God back in
Pensacola, Fla. when I was sixteen years old and I trusted Jesus
Christ as my Savior and Jesus saved my soul.  I have never
regretted it.
	Since that time I have returned again and again to the house
of God in many parts of the country to listen to the word of
God.  I consider it a joy to come and hear the word of God.  I
certainly enjoyed listening last week in our revival meeting.  I
never get tired of hearing the word of God.
	Also, since that time when I got saved God has called me to
preach the word of God.  Since God called me to preach I have
returned to the house of God many times to preach God's word and
I have never gotten tired of preaching the word of God.  But
even if I were not a preacher, I would return to hear the word
of God.  I do not come to the house of God today because I am a
preacher.  I come because of the Lord Jesus Christ who saved my
soul.  I love Him and I love to hear His word and I am glad that
I can come and worship Him.

Conclusion:

	I note that you, too, have come to God's house.  You have
come today to hear the word of God. I trust that you have
already believed the gospel message and that you are saved.  But
if you are not saved, come today and call upon the Lord Jesus
Christ and trust in Him to save your soul.  Come and be saved.
	If there are those here who are saved who have never stepped
out to follow Jesus in baptism, then let me urge you to come
this morning and present yourself to this church for Scriptural
baptism.  The Lord did not refuse to save you just because you
have never been baptized.  When you trusted Him He saved your
soul.  The Bible teaches that He wants all who are saved to be
baptized.  Won't you come?
	If there are Christians here who wish to transfer your
membership to this church from another church of like faith and
order, then come now.  Come and unite with this church on
promise of a letter.
	While we sing, who will come?