A Heart of Unwillingness

Jesus, steadfastly, carried out the ministry of God’s compassion for his people. Don’t push that away with an unwilling heart.

[00:00:01] In the 15th century, there was this fascinating pastor from the south coast of England named John Flavel. He pastored in a town called Dartmouth, which is about three hours from where Pastor Jamie’s family lives. The stories of Flavell’s ministry are pretty wild because he was very committed to preaching God’s Word even when Parliament passed a law requiring every pastor to conform to the rules of the Church of England. Flavel wouldn’t sign on with that. And so, he became what they called a nonconformist. And they passed a law called the Five Mile Act, which meant that Flavell couldn’t go within five miles of any place he’d ever been a pastor before, or any region of England that sent members to Parliament. So that meant that he was illegal pretty much everywhere that he went. But Flavel was a loopholes guy. Uh, he kept preaching, but the way he did it was hilarious. He would preach in the woods at night, which is not the funny part. But he would go into the woods at night and people would come and they would gather and they would hear him preach. But to get around undetected, to get to the places where he would go, he wore disguises. So, he would put on a dress and ride horseback disguised as a woman from place to place, so that he could preach in the woods at night. He’s also known for preaching on a rock in the ocean that was exposed at low tide.

[00:01:43] So tide would go low. Everybody would boat out to the rock. They would hear him preach. And then they would have a little bit of fellowship time. And then as the tide started to rise, they knew church was over. They’d get back in the boats and they would go back to shore. Have you ever been so thankful for the chair that you’re sitting in right now? Flavell was also a popular author. His collected works spanned six volumes, and the book he’s probably most famous for is a book called Keeping the Heart. His focus there is, that’s Flavell there, he wrote in this book Keeping the Heart, about the human heart and our relationship with God as we relate to him in our hearts. Flavell wrote, the heart of man is his worst part before it is regenerated, and the best part afterward. It goes from being the worst possible part of you to the best possible part of you. That’s because regeneration means to bring something dead to life. When we are saved by Christ, our dead dark hearts that want nothing to do with God come alive with joy and passion and obedience to God. Now, when Flavel used the word heart, he was referring to really three things.

[00:03:07] He was referring to our minds. So, the way we think, the thoughts we have. Our affections or our emotions, what we love and the will, our dedication and our obedience to Christ. And it was that last one that the will that Flavel says has to be transformed, has to be transformed by the power of God’s grace for a person to truly be saved. Now God brings conviction to everyone’s hearts throughout all of the world. The Holy Spirit is at work convicting all people. We know. We all know when we’re doing wrong. We all know what sin looks like and what it feels like. The convicting pressure of the Holy Spirit on us can cause some things to happen within us. It can cause us to think a little bit differently. It can cause us to have a little bit of emotion, to stir our emotions in a way. For instance, we can feel bad about what we’ve done. But Flavel, in his older English way of writing, called these effects, uh, slight, transient and ineffectual operations. So, basically what he’s saying there is those things in us, they’re weak, they’re short lasting, and they don’t create any actual changes. The conviction of this Holy Spirit is resisted and rejected if it doesn’t penetrate all the way down to our will, to what we do. And this is what we’re going to talk about this morning.

[00:04:43] This is what we’re going to explore in our passage, the rejection of the gospel of Christ as it comes up against an unwilling heart. Jesus’ constant adversary, the Pharisees, we’ve seen plenty of these guys. They are once again approaching him with a method for getting rid of him. And I’ll tell you what, church. This morning’s method is pretty clever. Actually, it’s pretty clever. And Jesus is once again going to use that moment to teach the gospel of God’s grace, particularly God’s compassion and his care. But this time, he’s going to do it from the angle of God’s sorrow over those who have unwilling hearts to receive God’s compassionate grace. So, this passage today that we’re going to look at, it is for the resistant. It is for the unwilling, for the stubborn people. I want to plead with you this morning that Jesus steadfastly carried out the ministry of God’s compassion for his people. Don’t push that away with an unwilling heart. We’re looking at just five verses today, we’re going to begin in Luke 13:31. So you can open to there if you have your Bibles, it’ll also be up on the screen. The Pharisees are going to bring a message to Jesus that intends for him to quit his ministry. Not only will Jesus not quit his ministry, he’s going to explain why he’s doing it and why more people won’t experience the comfort and protection that comes with it.

[00:06:17] So here’s the message from the Pharisees. “At that very hour, some Pharisees came and said to him, get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” It’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it? Pretty straightforward. Now, no reason given as to why Herod wants to do this. Just, you better pack your bags, Jesus. Herod is on his way. He’s going to kill you. Uh, now, this is not the first time that we’ve heard of Herod. Herod has popped up in various places throughout the book of Luke. Um, I want to make sure that you understand this is not the Herod that tried to kill Jesus as a toddler. That was Herod the Great. Remember when they fled to Egypt? That was Herod the Great. That was this guy’s dad. This is Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, is the guy who imprisoned and later beheaded John the Baptist because John called him out for marrying his brother’s wife. There was a lot of drama there at that point, right? So that’s this Herod here, uh, and Herod Antipas keeps popping up through the book of Luke because we’re building toward a meeting that’s going to come at the end of the book between Herod and Jesus in Luke chapter 23. Now, the last time that Herod Antipas is mentioned was in Luke nine, when he hears about Jesus and is confused because some people, uh, said to him that John had come back to life, John the Baptist had come back to life.

[00:07:40] And Herod said, well, John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things. And it says that Herod sought to find and to meet Jesus. But it doesn’t say why Herod wants to see Jesus. And that’s part of the tension in the story at this point here in chapter 13 this morning. It’s hard to tell the Pharisees’ motivations for saying this to Jesus, giving him this warning. Could Herod really want to kill Jesus at this point? It’s possible, that is possible. He killed John and John pointed to Jesus, and Jesus is now teaching with greater authority than John ever did. And so maybe Herod doesn’t like that. Maybe he heard it and doesn’t like it. But on the other hand, Jesus hasn’t been saying anything about Herod. We haven’t heard anything about him. Jesus doesn’t care about Herod. He isn’t talking about him. The harshest thing that he’s going to say about Herod is going to come in the next verse. That’s the only time he even addresses him. So, if Herod wants to kill Jesus, the motivation at this point would be entirely a mystery. We have no idea why, but I think that there’s a more reasonable explanation here. It is much more likely that the Pharisees aren’t doing Jesus a favor at all.

[00:09:03] I mean, why would they start now? Why would they start helping him out now? If your greatest enemy starts helping you all of a sudden, something’s up, right? Something’s gone wrong. And their advice is that Jesus should run away. Which wouldn’t you know it just happens to be the thing that they’ve been trying to get Jesus to do all along. I think that they’re probably using the fact that Herod is looking for Jesus, and the fact that he killed John the Baptist to create a false sense of danger so that Jesus will leave. Now, I got to tip my hat to the Pharisees on this one, that’s actually pretty clever, if that’s what they were doing. So, the question is, will he take the bait? Well, here’s Jesus’ answer. “And he said to them, go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following. For it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” Now, at this point, you won’t be surprised to hear that not only didn’t Jesus fall into the Pharisees’ subtle trap, he’s also not scared in any way by Herod, even if his life is at risk. He doesn’t care about Herod.

[00:10:23] He’s not scared of him at all. Jesus is going to stay the course. He’s going to complete his mission and no one can stop him, not even someone with as much power as Herod. He is completely unshaken in the face of authority, of all authority. Here he calls Herod a fox, which is probably a way of referring to him as a crafty and deceitful ruler. Although it is a little hard to know what ancient putdowns meant. Okay, we don’t know all the slang from that day. It’s difficult to know exactly what he meant, but whatever the exact nuance of the word, it’s clearly not something that you want to be called. Jesus looks at a threat, right? There’s a threat coming to him, or at least being perceived. The perception is there’s a threat coming to his ministry. And he looks at that threat, and then he looks at his life and he says nothing is going to stop me from doing exactly what I want to do. See, Jesus has a course. Jesus has an unfolding pathway of ministry that eventually leads to Jerusalem, where he has already told his disciples that he is going to die and on the third day, rise again. Uh, you might remember this from Luke 9:22. This is Jesus speaking. He said, “The Son of Man,” he’s talking to his disciples now. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

[00:11:59] He’s incredibly clear on this. He knows exactly what’s going to happen. Now, from a human perspective, if we took God and His plan out of this just from our perspective, do you see how easy it would have been for all of Jesus’ enemies to conspire to stop him from doing this? He’s just one guy. He’s one guy. He’s not traveling with an entourage of armed guards. He’s not protected by the Romans. He doesn’t have government protection on him. He’s one guy and some fishermen and some other people, poor and weak, who’ve come to hear him preach. That’s who he is. You remember at one point the Pharisees tried to throw him off a cliff. They all gathered around him. They were angry. They decided, we’re going to kill Jesus. They gather around him. They’re going to throw him off a cliff and what does it say? It says they couldn’t do it because it wasn’t Jesus’ time. And what happens? Jesus just passed through their midst. God’s plan will not be thwarted. That’s what I’m saying. God’s plan cannot be thwarted by anything that people do, even if from our perspective, it seems like we have the power to stop it. And if you want a vivid illustration of God’s sovereign power over even human will, look at Jesus’ 100% confidence that he will complete his mission and nobody else will stop him from it.

[00:13:30] After Jesus’ resurrection, Peter would preach about this in the streets. This is from Acts chapter two. This is Peter preaching. He says, “Men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God, with mighty works and wonders and signs, that God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. See Peter is saying exactly the same thing that Jesus is saying here. Jesus’ plan is God’s plan. Okay, that’s what Jesus is saying. My plan is God’s plan. No amount of human intervention is going to stop Jesus. And there’s real irony here. Isn’t that interesting? These Pharisees are telling Jesus to flee. Why? Because he might die. You better run away, Jesus. You might die. And Jesus response is, I’m going to suffer and die. That’s my mission. But not because of Herod and not because of you, but because that’s the plan of God, which is also my plan. And Jesus is sure that this must happen in Jerusalem. That’s because Jerusalem is the city that represents the nation of God’s people.

[00:15:03] When the Old Testament prophets like Jeremiah, when they had a word from the Lord that they had to come and they had to give to God’s people, they would go to Jerusalem to declare it. But of course, the hard hearted, sinful people who were supposed to listen to God, they would reject the message and they would reject the messenger. They threw Jeremiah into a well so they wouldn’t have to listen to him anymore. If you read Hebrews chapter 11, it lists out all sorts of suffering that the Lord’s prophets experienced. Just a few of them are torture, mocking, flogging, imprisonment. They were stoned; they were sawn in two. They were killed by the edge of the sword. And you think, well, that must have been done by the Lord’s enemies. That must have been done by foreign invaders, right? No, no, no, a lot of it was done by the kings of Israel. It was done by the people who had God’s law, but they decided to live their own way. In other words, it was done by the people who should have been receptive to God’s instruction, but instead they had unwilling hearts. They were resistant, hardened, and unwilling. Listen to Jesus as he laments Jerusalem, which is representative of all Israel. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.

[00:16:29] How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing?” What does God’s love for his people compel him to do? Comfort. Comfort and protect from the beginning of the Bible where God creates men and women in his image to the end of the Bible, where he restores men and women who love him, who join him for eternity the Lord’s mission is to protect his family like you would protect your family. That’s what he’s doing. Jesus’ mission is to gather his people into the comfort and protection of the creator God. Like a hen would gather her chicks under her wing to protect them. Moms and dads in the room this morning, you know exactly what this is like. You feel this. You resonate with this. Keeping our children safe and protected from harm, that’s an impulse within us, isn’t it? It’s a desire within us. Sin causes us to do that imperfectly, of course. We don’t perfectly carry out that impulse within us, but we understand that feeling. God protects perfectly. God protects perfectly. God’s protecting power isn’t compromised by such things as sinful selfishness within us, or being tired and not wanting to anymore. Instead, Jesus’ love never fails. Romans eight tells us that those who have God’s love through Christ will never lose it.

[00:18:08] There’s nothing that can separate you from it. Nothing can separate the Lord from the love that he has for his children. And this ties to what Jesus says before, because again, why is he going to Jerusalem? Why is he going? Are those two separate things? Is he gathering in one sense and is he dying in another? No, no, no, these are tied together. It’s in Jerusalem, where he will die on behalf of others. The Son of God intervenes between a holy God and a sinful humanity. His death secures our life, and it also gives us our place in the shelter and protection of the Lord. That’s what the cross accomplishes. It makes this comfort and protection possible. It creates the way that a just God can welcome sinful people like us under his protective wing. Who wouldn’t want that? Who wouldn’t want the creator God’s protection and comfort over them? Well, as it turns out, a lot of people, for some reason. A lot of people push away the care and protection of the Lord. Israel did it consistently. That’s what Jesus is talking about here. Specifically, he says that they are unwilling. That’s his word. The kings of Israel, who were supposed to guide the people in the steps of obedience to the Lord. They were constantly ruling over the people however they like. They chose their own path. Listen to this description.

[00:19:41] This is a description of the King Manasseh of Israel in the Old Testament. King Manasseh was probably the one who killed Isaiah the prophet. Longest prophetic book we have in the Old Testament is Isaiah, and Manasseh probably killed him. This is how his reign is introduced. “And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.” That is a baffling description. Don’t miss how strange that description is. The Lord drove out enemies before Israel. They saw it with their eyes. They saw the Lord do this work. And then King Manasseh started practicing the same evil that their defeated enemy practiced. Why would you do that? Why would you start acting like the people you know God destroyed? The short answer, because you want to do what you want to do and not have God tell you how to live. You’re unwilling. Even when you see it with your eyes, you’re unwilling. The reason Israel stoned the prophets was so that they didn’t have to listen to them. They didn’t just hear the prophets and consider what they had to say and decide they were going to do something different. No, no, no. They killed the prophets so that they wouldn’t have to listen to the corrective, gracious instruction of the Lord. They didn’t even want to hear it.

[00:21:22] They stopped up their ears. Now listen, friends, you don’t have to murder a prophet to do the same thing, okay? There’s no murder involved here. All you have to do is deny God’s word, turn from Jesus and go your own way. You’ve effectively done the same thing. People have unwilling hearts for all sorts of reasons. Let me just name a few this morning. A few reasons why people have unwilling hearts that we find in Scripture, and that I have seen as a pastor over the years. Some have unwilling hearts because they simply don’t think that there’s anything such as spiritual danger. They don’t believe that it actually exists. And I’m not talking about atheism here, although I suppose atheists would find themselves in this category. I’m talking about all people who just don’t think that their sin is that big of a deal, or who would not describe what they do as sin at all. They hear the gospel and they think, why do I need a Savior? Saved from what? I’m not that bad. I’m probably fine with God just the way I am. Another way you’d have an unwilling heart. Along the same line, though substantially different, are those who love their sin too much to give it up. They just love their sin. In John 3:19, the Apostle describes the world this way. He’s talking about Jesus coming into the world and how the world received him.

[00:22:48] He says, “the light has come into the world, and the people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” It’s not just that they were in darkness. They loved the darkness. They wanted the darkness. Why do they reject the love of Jesus? Because they love the darkness more. People love the evil patterns of life that they’ve embraced. In ancient Israel the prophet Amos came to the people. He called them out for their unjust laws against the poor. The people had figured out a way to exploit poor people to make themselves rich, and what had happened was money had become a comforting idol for the people. It became their pathway to pleasure. Whatever engagement the people had with the Lord, whatever relationship they were going to have with God, that money-making exploitation had to be protected. And so, they observed the parts of the law that fit their lifestyles. They ignored the parts that would have called them to repentance. And people do the same thing today. People do exactly the same thing. People fashion God in their own minds so that he doesn’t in any way call them to give up the sin that they hold dear. Some are unwilling because they have an insufficient view of God’s character, specifically his knowledge. They say, well, God doesn’t see me. God’s not watching me.

[00:24:27] This is precisely what the prophet Ezekiel saw when God gave him a vision of what was happening in the temple in Ezekiel chapter eight. Ezekiel is not in Jerusalem, but God gives him a vision of what’s happening back in the temple. And at one point we overhear the people in the temple committing terrible sins. And they say as a way of comforting themselves, they say, God doesn’t see us. He has forsaken the land, meaning he has left. He’s not here anymore. There are some who believe in a God of limited knowledge. For some, their unwillingness, their unwilling heart has very little to do with their view of God or the gospel itself, and more to do with what accepting the gospel would mean for them. For example, you might lose your authority. You would lose your sense of power. That’s why the Pharisees resisted Jesus. They had no trouble embracing the Lord. But to receive the gospel would have meant coming under the influence and direction of Jesus. And what that would mean is that they would lose their power over the people. I’ve spoken to so many people over the years who choose to resist Jesus when faced with the gospel, because it requires them to die to themselves and to change their course and to live for the Lord. And they say, what about the way I see the world? What about my views? What about my purpose that I’ve given to myself? What about my values? These folks actually understand the gospel better than a lot of people because they see the all-encompassing call of the gospel in their lives.

[00:26:13] But since they’re unwilling to give that up, they turn away from Jesus. Then there are those who are unwilling to accept Jesus simply because they have prior commitments. They already believe things. What I mean is, they’ve already decided to embrace certain principles and beliefs that they know contradict Scripture, and their resistance comes from being unwilling to change those beliefs. I shared the gospel many years ago with a friend of mine named Steve, who was part of the theater community that I was part of. And he was interested in what I believed, but he told me right up front, very near the beginning of that conversation, that his commitments to his liberal social positions, particularly on homosexuality, would prevent him from becoming a Christian. See, he knew that position that he’d taken, that view that he had, it would be contradicted by the Bible. He wasn’t one of these guys who tries to bend the truth or to reinvent or reinterpret, which I actually found refreshing. He just said, I know what the Bible says on this. I already have a commitment to these other views.

[00:27:31] I’ve committed to these values that I hold dear. And so, I can’t follow Jesus. And there are many positions like that. It’s not just that one. For example, if you’re committed to materialism, the idea that the only thing that exists is material and that anything spiritual or supernatural is by definition false. If you hold that view prior to the gospel, then you will resist the gospel. There are a lot of values like that. There are all sorts of them that can be explored. Here’s a related reason that someone could be unwilling. How about unwillingness simply to admit you’re wrong? This is a very simple one. Just unwilling to admit you’re wrong. I’ve got too much invested in this other way of seeing the world. Too much would have to change. I’ve said too many things against Christ. Too many people know me as one who does not embrace Jesus. I’ve got too much of an identity as one who isn’t a Christian. It would be embarrassing to say that I got it wrong. This is one that a lot of older people struggle with. They struggle with this because, I mean, let’s be honest, what’s easier? What’s the easier route? Riding out the beliefs you’ve had for 60 or 70 years, or staring back at a lifetime wasted in feeling the crashing waves of regret. Which one’s easier? Ride it out.

[00:28:58] Right? A lot of people are unwilling to come to Christ simply because they don’t want to admit how far from the truth they’ve been all this time. I’ll give you one more. And this one comes from John Flavel, who I mentioned earlier. And at first it’s going to sound quite different than the other ones, but you’ll see it’s not really all that different. Flavel says that some are resistant because of feelings of not feeling worthy, not being worthy. And that sounds very different from loving sin, for instance, doesn’t it? It seems like this type of resistance to the gospel would be much easier to overcome. But Flavell points out that it’s actually a form of pride to say that. It’s actually quite a prideful thing to say I’m not worthy of Jesus. How is that? Sounds humble. How is it prideful? Well, Jesus says, come to me, a burdened sinner. Come to me weighed down with grief. Come to me wretched and convicted. Come with your sin displayed out for the Lord to see and for God’s people to see. And if you look at that invitation to God’s grace and you say, no, no, no, no, I have to bring something worthy of God so that he will accept me. The implication is that you can produce something better than God’s grace. You can bring something better than what God is offering.

[00:30:28] And it’s a declaration that salvation doesn’t come by way of God’s plan. It comes by way of your plan, the way you want to approach God. It’s a false humility is really what it is. Real humility is what’s required to accept a gift of God’s grace that is entirely his work and doesn’t include any contribution from you. So, what does Jesus say? What does he say that has to change? For those who have unwilling hearts. Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The result of unwillingness is forsakenness. If Jerusalem is unwilling to turn back to the love and the grace of the Lord, God can’t have a relationship with them. They are forsaken. They are cast off. If you kill God’s prophets, you can’t trust in God’s protection. If you resist God’s Word for whatever reason, you push away the only salvation that there is. You are left forsaken by God. There is no relationship there. You cannot simultaneously push God away and assume he’s there for you. At the same time. You can’t do that. You either embrace Christ or you reject Christ. There is no middle category here. There’s no arm’s length relationship with Jesus. You can come this close, but not any closer. There’s no such thing. Jesus says, here’s what has to happen.

[00:32:07] Here’s what has to happen. You have to welcome me. You have to welcome me. He’s quoting Psalm 118 here, which pictures God’s messianic king coming into Jerusalem. And the crowds are gathered around and they’re cheering, “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” They’re receiving him. The implication is obvious. Jesus is saying, I’m that Messiah King. I’m the one, that anointed king who is coming, and you must willingly receive me. That’s what has to change, both in Jesus’ day and on our day. Flavel wrote, “the greatest difficulty in conversion is to win the heart to God.” That’s the greatest obstacle, that mind, that affection that will. That’s the greatest obstacle. And the truth is, prior to knowing the safety and comfort under the wing of the salvation of Christ, our hearts are very stubborn. They’re very, very stubborn. Frankly, even after we come to Christ, they can be stubborn, can’t they? The difference is, we know it. At that point we know that it is. And increasingly we see that stubbornness give way to a full trust in Jesus. But for those of you here this morning who are resistant to Jesus for whatever reason, find yourself unwilling to trust him. Please understand what you’re missing, what you’re missing out on. Jesus has come to bring the peace of knowing the gracious compassion of God, the comfort and protection of our Creator God. Don’t harden your heart against it. Would you pray with me? Let’s pray.

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