Urgent Warning

1. The urgent warning of God’s permanent Word (37a)
2. The urgent warning of God’s passionate grace (37b)
3. The urgent warning of God’s present consequence (38)
4. The urgent warning of God’s pending judgment (39)

MATTHEW 23:37-39

Thomas Huxley was known as Darwin’s Bulldog. He was one of the ones who popularized Darwin’s theory of evolution in the mid-to-late 1800’s. Huxley was known for having a tremendous sense of urgency. Chuck Swindoll tells a story about him and his sense of urgency in his book Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life. He wrote that Huxley was in Dublin, Ireland and was in a tremendous hurry to catch a train. At the time, in the 1800’s, Dublin was known for its horse-drawn taxis. Well, showing his typical sense of urgency, Huxley ran and jumped in the taxi. Before he even got the door closed, he shouted to the driver, “Hurry—I’m almost late—drive fast!” As soon as Huxley settled in his seat, he closed his eyes to rest for a few minutes. After what seemed like a very long time, Huxley opened his eyes to find out that they were going in the complete opposite direction from the train station. Of course, that startled him, so he shouted at the driver—“Do you even know where you’re going?” Of course the driver didn’t know where he was going—Huxley never told him where to go. So the driver didn’t miss a beat. He just calmly said, “No sir. But I’m getting there as fast as I can.” Yes, Thomas Huxley had a tremendous sense of urgency in everything he did. But just like his belief system, he urgently headed on a path to nowhere. If he had kept his eyes open on his taxi ride, he could have seen the signs that would have told him he was heading in the wrong direction. If he would have opened his eyes to God’s creation, he would have seen the signs that would have told him that Darwin’s theories were the wrong direction. That’s the way that God has chosen to do things. He gives us warning signs to let us know when we’re heading in the wrong direction. And He doesn’t keep those warning signs secret or subtle or hidden. He makes them bold and plain and urgent. Throughout history, God continually gave His chosen people urgent warnings. In our passage this morning, Jesus looks out over the city of Jerusalem. And as He does, He weeps. He weeps as He laments the fact that those people failed to heed God’s warnings. They failed to heed His warnings because they refused to recognize Jesus as their Messiah. But did you know that God still gives us warnings today? His warnings didn’t end with the Jewish people that Jesus was weeping over. He continues to urgently warn us today. As we stand on this side of the cross, do we heed His urgent warnings and recognize Jesus as our Lord and Savior? Or do we cause Jesus to weep over us like He did over Jerusalem? Does He weep over us because we fail to heed His urgent warnings? This morning, I want each of us to hear the urgent warnings of God. Is want us to hear His warnings and realize the urgency of our situation. I want us to quit putting off till tomorrow what He calls us to do today. Because there might not be a tomorrow. That’s how urgent His warnings are. I want us to heed those warnings by recognizing Jesus for who He is this morning. In order to do that, we’re going to look at God’s four urgent warnings. Our first warning is the urgent warning