But look again. He comes to mount Olivet. He is under the shadow of the cross. The city bursts upon Him. Yonder is the Temple; He sees it in all its grandeur and glory. The people are shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David! They are breaking off the palm branches, and taking off their garments, and spreading them before Him, still shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David! and bowing down before Him. But He forgets it all. Yes, even Calvary with all its sorrow He forgets. Gethsemane lay there at the foot of the hill; He forgot it too. As He looked upon the city which He loved, the great heart of the Son of God was moved with compassion, and He cried aloud, “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 wings, and ye would not!”
My friends, look at Him there weeping over Jerusalem. What a wonderful city it might have been. How exalted to heaven it was. Oh, if they had only known the day of their visitation, and had received instead of rejected their king, what a blessing He would have been to them! Oh, poor backslider, behold the Lamb of God weeping over you, and crying to you to come to Him, and receive shelter and refuge from the storm which has yet to sweep over this earth!
LOOK AT POOR PETER,
See what he does. He denied the Lord, and swore he never knew Him. If ever He needed sympathy, if ever He needed His disciples round Him, it was that night, when they were bringing false witnesses against Him, that He might be condemned to death; and there was Peter, one of His foremost disciples, swearing he never knew Him. He might have turned on Peter and said, “Peter, is it true you don’t know me? Is it true you have forgotten how I cured and healed your wife’s mother when she lay at the point of death? Is it true you have forgotten how I raised you up when you were sinking in the sea? Is it true, Peter, you forgot how you were with me on the mount of transfiguration, when heaven and earth came together, and you heard the voice speaking from the clouds? Is it true you have forgotten that mountain scene when you wanted to build the three tabernacles? Is it true, Peter, you have forgotten me?” Yes, thus He might have taunted poor Peter; but instead of that He just gave him one look of compassion that broke his heart, and he went out and wept bitterly.
THE PERSECUTING SAUL.
Again, look at that bold blasphemer and persecutor who was going to stamp out the early Church, and was breathing out threatenings and slaughter, when Christ met him on his way to Damascus. It is the same Jesus still. Listen, and hear what He says—“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” Why, He could have smitten him to the earth with a look or a breath; but instead of that, the heart of the Son of God was moved with compassion, and He cries out, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” If there is a persecutor here to-night, I would ask you, “Why persecute Jesus?” He loves you, sinner; He loves you, persecutor. You never received anything but goodness and kindness and love from Him. And Saul cried out, “Who art thou?” And He answered, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” It is hard to fight against such a loving friend, to contend against one who loves you as I do; and down comes the proud, persecuting Saul, down upon his face, and he cried out, “Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?” And the Lord told him, and he went and did it. May the Lord have compassion upon the infidel, and sceptic, and persecutor. Let me ask you, my friend, Is there any reason why you should hate Christ, or why your heart should be turned against Him?
I remember a story about a teacher telling the scholars all to follow Jesus, and how they might all be missionaries, and go out to work for others. And one day one of the smallest came to her and said, “I asked such and such a one to come with me, and they said they would like to come, but their father was an infidel.”
“WHY DON’T YOU LOVE JESUS?”
And the young child wanted to know what an infidel was, and the teacher went on to explain to her. And one day, when she was on her way to school, this infidel was coming out of the post office with his letters in his hand, when the child ran up to him, and said, “Why don’t you love Jesus?” He thought at first to push her aside, but the child pressed it home again, “Why don’t you love Jesus?” If it had been a man, the infidel would have resented it; but he did not know what to do with the child, and with tears in her eyes she asked him again, “Oh! please, tell me, why don’t you love Jesus?” He went on to his office, but he felt as if every letter he opened read, “Why don’t you love Jesus?” He attempted to write, with the same result; every letter seemed to ask him, “Why don’t you love Jesus?” and he threw down his pen in despair, and went out of his office, but he could not get rid of the question; it was asked by a still small voice within, and as he walked along it seemed as if the very ground and the very heavens whispered to him, “Why don’t you love Jesus?” At last he went home, and there it seemed as if his own children asked him the question, so he said to his wife, “I will go to bed early to-night,” thinking to sleep it away; but when he laid his head on the pillow it seemed as if the pillow whispered it to him. So he got up about midnight, and said, “I can find out where Christ contradicts Himself, and I’ll search it out and prove Him a liar.” Well, the man got up, and turned to the Gospel of John, and read on from the beginning until he came to the words, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” What love! he thought; and at last the old infidel’s heart was stirred. He could find no reason for not loving Jesus, and down he went on his knees and prayed, and before the sun rose the old infidel was in the kingdom of God.
I will challenge any one on the face of the earth to find any reason for not loving Christ. It is only here on earth men think they have a reason for not doing so. In heaven they know Him, and they shout, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.” Oh, sinner, if you knew Him you would have no wish to find a reason for not loving Him. He is “the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.” I can imagine a good many saying, “I should like very much to become a Christian, and I should like to know how I can come to Him, and be saved.”