Lessons from Christ’s tears on the Cross

Lessons From The Tears Of Jesus Christ:

Introduction:

  1. Liqourice All Sorts
  2. How many times did Jesus Christ cry in the Bible? Or how many times is it recorded that He Cried?
  3. From the weeping, the tears of our Lord, the man of sorrow’s we will gather some lessons.

I. Jesus Trial and Compassion (John 11:6,17,19, 32-36):

A. 4 Days of Trial (vs. 3, 6, 17, 19)- Why Trials are so important

  1. The Pain of Waiting
    • First give an overview of the story of Lazarus
    • One of the hardest things we face as Christians is not necessarily persecution from others, but rather “waiting”, standing, holding fast in the heart of a trial.
    • It’s the duration, that period of waiting from the time the incident or event happened to which we called out to the Lord; till it is resolved or concluded.
    • How long did Christ take before He arrived at Lazarus?
    • First day of hearing news, He stayed in the same place for 2 days (vs. 6)
    • Then another 2 days, it took 4 or more (vs. 14)
    • But why Lord? Lazarus is sick now, it’s so logical, why not go now and just heal Him, why make (a) Lazarus suffer (b) Mary, Martha and all those Jews that loved Lazarus (vs. 19)
    • Why cause all this pain?
  2. The Blessings It Brings (2 REASONS)
    • (a) Glorifies God (vs. 3 & 4) –“that the Son of God might be glorified thereby”.
    • Jesus had healed the sick, the people had heard of Elijah the prophet raising a woman from the dead, but they had never seen or witnessed such event, and here was Jesus Christ.
    • Pharisee fear (verse. 48 – all men will believe on him)
    • This trial had the benefit of “bringing Glory to Jesus Christ”.

    • (b) Causes Belief (9 times in passage)

    • (c) Is that not enough? It doesn’t make me feel better?
      • FRUIT: verse 45 Of course it doesn’t make your flesh feel better, it won’t but friend, spiritually, in your soul and your spirit, it should fire you UP. Why? Because how amazing, how wonderful is it, that the trying of your faith, should bring glory to God, bring praise to God; is that not amazing. Is it not amazing also, that it can strengthen the faith of believers, but not only that, cause others to BELIEVE who are indirectly watching you. THIS IS OUR PURPOSE, our highest CALL.
  • Oh friend, don’t tell me that’s NOT ENOUGH!!!!!!!
  • There is Blessing in trial; we just struggle to see it. B. Lesson of Compassion (vs. 32-36) – Where does your “good works” (compassion) stem from?
    1. Compassion led by pain of self
  • Verse 36; some would say Jesus wept (shortest verse in the Bible), over His love for Lazarus. But that’s incorrect, His weeping was not over that as so much it was His love for Martha and Mary (vs. 5), the Jews that were there (vs. 33); this caused Him to groan in the spirit, this troubled him. His weeping was because of the pain and hurts of others, this was the compassion of our Lord.
  • Analogy: Sometimes in our Christian walks, our perceived compassion, our perceived empathy stems not from the correct source (the hurt of others); but the affliction of our souls. A classic example, is the person that continuously grieves the loss of someone they loved, to the extent that it ruins their lives, paralyzes it; not because they loved that person so, but because their self-need is not being fulfilled.
    1. Compassion led by the pain of others
  • Christ’s compassion dear friend, His weeping did not stem from His desire, His need to fellowship and have the company of Lazarus; but rather that those who loved Lazarus, were of broken heart and spirit; and it touched His heart, and it caused Him to weep.
  • Friends perhaps this morning we are struggling to be compassionate because we are looking for the trigger within us; instead of the trial, the pain and hurt, or damnation of the self beside us.
  • And how do we do that? We take the time to get involved in people’s lives. For however distant we are, the more likely it is, that the compassion we have, will come from an internal mechanism (a guilty conscience, a need to look like a Christian, the perception that we love someone); whereas when we get involved in the lives of others, we form, build and maintain relationships; we see their need, we feel their need, and we stand in the GAP, as fellow brothers and sisters we OUGHT TO BE!

II. Jesus Rejected In Identity and Word (Luke 19:35-40,41): A. Hidden Identity (vs. 35-40) – A Failure to Tell Of Jesus

  1. Even the Stones Would Cry Out
  2. Are the stones saying more than us? (verse. 37, 40)
    • Why is it that Christians in certain environment, we fail to be true to our identity in Christ. Let’s just hold back for now the truth that we are rejecting Christ, but we are also rejecting who we are.
    • In certain company, we struggle to talk of Christ, to mention all that He has done for us, and friends, today, being saved,

destined for Glory, how can we not cry out, how can we not shout out, “Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord”!

  • Analogy: We find it so easy to tell people how great a certain restaurant was, or how wonderful service we received at a certain place, or how thrilling a new movie or book was, but we can’t get out of gear to tell of Christ. We lose our identity and act, smell and look like the world.
  • ARE THE STONES saying more than us? B. Rejection of The Word (vs. 41, (37-38, 48), 47) – Breaking God’s heart
    1. Why did Christ “weep” here?
  • Simply because thou it was made so plain and clear by the whole multitude of disciples; Jews take heed, it’s no mystery now, this is your Messiah, this is your King. He’s done miracles, He’s taught like no man has ever done before, He has a character like no prophet before, ISRAEL this is your KING. Yet they rejected the words of Christ, they rejected the WORD of GOD (Jesus Christ).
    1. And what did this do? It caused Christ to “weep”. It broke God’s heart, it touched God’s heart, it caused pain. Friend, how much of that are we doing today? Analogy: Some say that Christ in heaven has all foreknowledge, and so when I reject the word, He already sees it, it’s an un- emotional event. But friends, I may see my child heading in a certain direction, don’t touch that you will get burnt. Despite my word and knowing that it will eventually happen; doesn’t remove the hurt I feel, when the event does happen.
    2. But how do I know I am rejecting the WORD?
  • Perhaps you sitting there, as I myself, with this move to CT have been asking? How do I know I am not rejecting thy Word? I think there are many answers to that in scripture, but let’s take this one in this portion of scripture.
    1. 3 Possible Reasons you are heeding the Word (a) The Words from thy mouth shall speak truth (vs. 38) – Jesus recognized as King. A man or woman who is a liar, a deceiver, a corrupter of persons with their lying filthy tongues and gossip. If that is you, friend, your are in sin for the trespass with your tongue, but far more, your are most likely built up a buffer of rejection, a hard ground, where the WORD of God is not finding GOOD, SOFT GROUND to grow. (b) You will ascend praise to God (vs. 37) – your focus would be Christ and not man, and your heart despite your state, would be praising Him (c) Lastly, (vs. 48); you are “not just attentive”, but “very attentive” to hear Him. “Attentive” means, heedful, observant with care. You care about what God says, your

care about His Word, and your heart is open too correction, as to behave in a manner accordingly.

  1. 1 Possible Reason you are not heeding the Word of God (vs. 47) (a) Persecute Christ – there attack is against God (an obvious one) (b) Secondly, given that Christ is within us, the next best thing they attack or persecute is fellow Christians. They spend the majority of their energy and conversation dissecting and judging the failures of other Christians or derailing them, before others.

III. Jesus Necessity In Suffering (Hebrews 5:7-9): A Comparison of Function between Christ and Christian (his weeping and crying)

A. Days of his flesh (vs. 7) – Only For A Season

  1. At the end of that verse it says “in that he feared”, Christ on earth friend, feared what was to come, His road to Calvary. And to combat it, He made prayer and supplication with crying and tears.
  2. Friends our tears, our supplications are only for a season, or as Hebrews puts it, “for the days of our flesh”. We won’t be praying and supplicating in heaven. Now I know I’m being technical and perhaps you can say to me, talking to God is “praying” and that’s the correct why to perceive it, but friend, praying and supplicating is what we do, for ourselves, but also for others; but more so, it’s us talking to God without seeing Him. One day friends, when the “days of our flesh” has gone, our season, of crying and tears, will be no more, like Christ was! Oh what Glory, and joy beholds us, when we shall be changed. B. Our purpose (vs. 8) – It’s not what should happen (Christ’s example) 1.Friends, I know this is going to sound weird, but when we believed Christ, when we were adopted into His family, we were made sons and daughters of God. We became children to the Almighty God.
  3. Surely we then shouldn’t be facing the difficulty and trials we so often find ourselves in? Analogy: No think about that, if a young man, lived in a Kingdom, ruled by His Father the King, what challenges would he face. He would have sufficient wealth, food would be no concern, nor would career, nor a home. But yet, despite our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ being King and Sovereign, we are facing challenge of some of the most basic things, food, finance, a home, persecution from others.

  4. I know this isn’t something amazing, but there is tremendously powerful and comforting to know that though this shouldn’t be our road, it’s one our Father has asked us to walk, for His Name Sake, AS Christ DESPITE BEING A “SON”. That gives me purpose and that gives me direction, I don’t know about you. COMPARE WITH CHRIST IN VERSE C. Our perfection (complete) (vs. 9) – This is what will happen

  5. Friends the result of Christ’s suffering, in the days of His flesh, his weeping and tears, was his “perfection”. Yes Christ was/is perfect, but the perfection here is not “without sin”, it means, “complete” by a process. Like Potter to Clay.
  6. Christ’s completion of the process of Calvary, His death, burial and resurrection was the creation of the author of our eternal salvation. I love that, not short-term salvation, BUT ETERNAL SALVATION. Forever and ever.
  7. Not only that friends, but as Christ became the author, we too become the author of other’s salvation, when we stand in the gap, and shine forth that glorious gospel. Will our “perfection”, our process of completion on this earth, result in the salvation of other’s, or the condemnation!

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