WEBVTT

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I am Pastor Nathan, and yes, today is Palm Sunday,

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and we celebrate the beginning of what is called

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Holy Week. This is the week in history where

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Jesus rode into Jerusalem on what we refer to

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as the triumphal entry. This is the week that

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ends in his crucifixion. But more gloriously

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than all of that, it's the week that begins anew.

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on Sunday with his resurrection. And we're so

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excited to be looking at that this week and celebrating

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all of that, remembering what all of that means.

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And for today, we're talking about this moment

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where Jesus rode into Jerusalem. You see, when

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a major ruler rides into the city, and it's even

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today when it's presidents or rulers in their

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limos and all that, everything seems to stop.

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Everything is rearranged. Everything is made

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to fit that moment. And in the ancient world,

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You know, when kings would be coming into a city,

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there would often be a huge processional, and

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the arrival would be... declared by trumpets

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and sounds. And all the people in the city hearing

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all of this would stop what they're doing and

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look up because when a dignitary came to the

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city, it was a big, big deal. And so there was

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all this fanfare that would accompany their arrival.

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And one of the reasons everybody took notice

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when a dignitary would arrive into a town was

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because that meant... Major decisions are about

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to be made. Major decisions are about to be called

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for. When a king would arrive to a town, that

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meant that alliances were going to be formed

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or broken. That meant that battles were going

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to be begun or ended. That meant that decrees

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were going to be announced. It meant that either

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peace was being offered or judgment was being

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declared. And so when the king rode in to a city,

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Nobody got to remain neutral. Everybody was affected

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and everybody had a response, even if that response

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was to look away. And so John chapter 12 is where

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we're going to be this morning. This is one of

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those moments where the true king rides into

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town. And it's just not how everybody was expecting,

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right? He arrives in town not on a war horse

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as a conquering general, not in a chariot or

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accompanied by an armored guard, but instead,

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Jesus, the true king, rides in on a borrowed

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donkey, one that had never been ridden before.

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Not surrounded by soldiers, but by pilgrims.

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Common people who had traveled from all over

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the place to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the

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Passover. He's not brought in with trumpets blaring,

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but with palm leaves waving and the people shouting

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Hosanna, calling him the King of Israel. See,

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the whole city was stirred up on this date and

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this time, and yet in the middle of this moment

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that we're looking at this morning, there is

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a very quiet personal question that was hanging

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in the air, and it's the question that hangs

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in the air for us today. You see, because when

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we come to Palm Sunday, it's like, well, it was

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Palm Sunday last year. Churches all over the

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world right now, we're all looking at the same

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story and talking about the triumphal entry.

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And for those of you that have been in church

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for a while, you're like, I've heard this story

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a thousand times. I've seen every scripture on

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this story taught. And we reflect on it every

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single year, and yet here we are again. And sometimes

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people are like, well, why? And, you know, some

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pastors even be like, oh, I don't care about

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the holidays. I'm just going to continue through

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my verse by verse. But here we are looking at

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Palm Sunday again. And it's because every Palm

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Sunday we have the opportunity to ask ourselves

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this question. When the king rides in, when he

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comes near, not to a city but to a soul, to a

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life, how? Will we respond? See, many of you

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have been walking with the Lord for many years,

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but maybe over the last year you've had some

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moments of wavering, moments of stumbling, moments

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of drifting. I think God repeats himself in Scripture

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a lot because he knows that we forget, we ignore,

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and we have to come to these places where we

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revisit these simple questions. When the king

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rides into your life, how will you respond? What

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will your response be? Some, when they look at

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Palm Sunday, they see a religious event. It's

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like one of those church days, right? We got

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Christmas. We got Easter. Well, Palm Sunday,

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and different faiths and traditions, they have

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different moments and times that they see, but

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some just see the religious event, and then after

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the event is over, they go back to life as usual.

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Some, when the king rides in, will... cheer for

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his arrival. They will shout out praises as long

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as he meets their agenda. Some will feel threatened

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and try and push him back out because his presence

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represents change. His presence represents challenge

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to their own will and their own opinions. And

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then a few will recognize who he really is. who's

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really sitting on that donkey and choose to follow

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him. And so this morning, we're gonna look at

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what happens when the king rides in. We're gonna

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look at some contrast that we see in the story

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here in John 12. We're gonna look at the contrast

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between Jesus and religion and ask the question,

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what do we do when the king rides into our routines?

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When the king rides into our traditions? When

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the king rides into what we think in our religious

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practice are the things? that make us good or

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make us scriptural or make us spiritual. We're

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gonna look at the contrast between God's word

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and our opinions and ask the question, what do

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we do when the king rides in? Exactly as he said

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he would. What do we do when the king rides into

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our life with his word and says, this is how

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I want you to live and this is how I want you

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to be, and we say, but, but I have a different

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opinion. And then we're going to see a contrast

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between following and watching and ask the question,

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what do we do when the king rides into our lives

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and calls us not just to watch, not just to admire,

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but to follow him? Because Palm Sunday, it's

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not just about some event that happened a couple

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thousand years ago. It's not just another Christian

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holiday on the calendar that the church celebrates.

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Palm Sunday is and will always be about what

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happens in your heart today. What happens in

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your life today when the king says, I'm writing

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into your life, I'm writing into your routine,

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I'm writing into your opinions, and how will

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you respond? But before we get into that, we're

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going to spend time worshiping our king because

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worshiping our king is good. We get to worship

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our king. We should worship our king because

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everything that this week represents is the foundation

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of our lives, our future. We celebrate our savior.

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We celebrate our king, and as we'll talk about

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later in the study, we're not gonna celebrate

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him today just because we think he's coming to

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conquer our outward circumstances, but we know

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that he's conquered our inward circumstance,

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that he dealt with our sin, died on the cross,

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paid the penalty and the price that we would

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be set free, and that's what we worship him for.

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So if you brought your palm branches, feel free.

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They're outside. Okay, good. But if you didn't

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bring your palm branches, lift your hands, lift

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your voice, lift your heart to the King of kings

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and the Lord of lords, amen? Let's pray. Father,

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we love you. We thank you, God, so much for who

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you are. We thank you that you are perfect and

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holy and righteous. We thank you, God, that you

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put a plan in motion. Years, hundreds, thousands

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of years before the fruit of that plan came to

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pass, God, and yet you held this plan together

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through generations of people, and not just generations

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of people, but generations of messed up people.

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And yet, Lord, because you are holy and you are

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perfect and you are almighty and you are omnipotent,

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your plan came to fruition, Lord. That God, you

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came to this earth born as a man. Jesus, you

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lived as a man, fully God and fully man, and

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yet, Lord, you lived in a way that you would

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be able to identify with us. God, you lived in

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a way that proved your word to be true. You called

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us, Lord, not to just watch you and admire you,

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but to follow you. And God, you very publicly,

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on what this day is celebrating, declared yourself

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to be the one true king. And so God, today we

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worship you. We celebrate this day that you rode

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into Jerusalem. We celebrate what it meant and

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what it means to us today, God, and we say you

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are our king. You are our Lord. You are our savior.

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God, if there's anybody here today that has,

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not yet given their life to you, that has not

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yet surrendered their will to you and professed

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you, Jesus, as God in the flesh and professed

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that you died on the cross for them and that,

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Lord, that they have willingly just accepted

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the free gift of salvation through faith in your

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death and resurrection, Lord, I pray today would

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be their day. I pray, God, that your Holy Spirit,

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even in this very moment, would begin to tug

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on their heart, to reveal to them their need

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for a Savior, their need for the King of Kings

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and Lord of Lords in their life, and that, God,

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as you are writing into their life today, that

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they would receive you in the right way, in the

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proper way. In the life -changing and saving

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way, God. We love you. We worship you now. We

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thank you for everything. It's in Jesus' name

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we pray. Amen. Well, God bless all of you. We

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are going to be in John chapter 12 this morning.

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The final week of the life of Jesus is given

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such weight in Scripture. In the Gospel of Matthew,

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40 % of the Gospel is about the last week of

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Jesus' life. In the gospel of Mark, 60 % is given

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over to that. 33 % of Luke and about 50 % of

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the gospel of John is about the final week of

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the life of Jesus. If you count up all the chapters

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in all four gospels, there's 89 chapters and

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four of the 89 cover the first 30 years of Jesus'

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life. 85 of those chapters are about the last

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three and a half years of his life. And then

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29 of those 85 focus on this last week, God's

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holy week. Do you think it's important? Yeah,

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you know. As we gather today, you know, and looking

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into God's word, it's not just another Sunday.

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It's not just another Palm Sunday, you know.

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We're stepping into the most important week of

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human history. With the cross just days away

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and the resurrection right after. And today we're

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gathered as the body of Christ to celebrate what

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is called the triumphal entry. Jesus riding into

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Jerusalem in fulfillment of prophecy and starting

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this week that would change everything. And what

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is happening today is the king is riding into

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the city. The king is showing up. He is coming

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in. And the details of this moment, they teach

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us so much. They remind us of so many things

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and the few things we're gonna look at today

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is just the difference between Jesus and what

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people would call religion. We're gonna look

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at how God's word does and should outweigh my

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truth in regards to anything, any topic, any

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idea. And then we're also gonna look at when

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just being a part of the crowd is not enough.

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And so join me in John chapter 12 if you'll read

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with me starting in verse 12. It says, the next

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day. And contextually, this is the day after

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Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. So it says,

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the next day when the large crowd that had come

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to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to

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Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out

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to meet him. They kept shouting, Hosanna! Blessed

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is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the

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King of Israel. And so this crowd of people that

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are greeting him as he enters Jerusalem, gathered

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here for this festival, this major holiday in

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the Jewish calendar called Passover. So this

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group, they're a huge crowd of religious people,

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people of faith, people that profess to follow

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a faith, and so this... festival that would happen

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every year. It was one of three major festivals,

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or feasts as they would call them, that all Jewish

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men were required to attend if they lived within

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a certain distance of Jerusalem. And so these

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three feasts were the Feast of Tabernacles, the

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Feast of Pentecost, and then Passover. These

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holidays, they were huge. They were major, major

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moments on their calendar, just like we have

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Christmas and we have Easter. And, you know,

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we have these big, major holidays that commemorate

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major moments in our faith. And so Passover was...

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was the holiday that that celebrated and remembered

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israel's deliverance from egypt right as we get

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into the book of exodus here in june we're going

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to be looking at that story how god delivered

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his people from the slavery and the bondage of

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egypt so this was a major major holiday in the

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jewish nation and so over the years and in time

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this this holiday this moment of passover became

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One of the primary focal points of the Jewish

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calendar, it became... really a central element

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of their national identity, right? That they

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were God's people who God rescued and delivered

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from bondage and slavery in Egypt. They were

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the people that God brought to the promised land,

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fulfilling words that he had given hundreds of

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years earlier to the forefather of their faith,

00:15:30.259 --> 00:15:34.710
Abraham. He was the one that did all of these

00:15:34.710 --> 00:15:37.269
things, and so as God's people, their national

00:15:37.269 --> 00:15:44.070
identity was we serve the one true God. But for

00:15:44.070 --> 00:15:49.009
many people in Israel, by the time of John 12,

00:15:49.450 --> 00:15:52.870
the celebration of Passover had become a routine.

00:15:53.769 --> 00:15:58.250
It had become something you just did, something

00:15:58.250 --> 00:16:02.019
you did because you have to. Something that,

00:16:02.019 --> 00:16:06.440
you know, you had to do or you were a bad Jew,

00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:12.059
right? Now, it was just the same thing year after

00:16:12.059 --> 00:16:14.980
year for so many of the people. The same road

00:16:14.980 --> 00:16:16.759
they would travel because they had to travel

00:16:16.759 --> 00:16:20.600
into Jerusalem to come to the temple. They sang

00:16:20.600 --> 00:16:23.659
the same songs. They might have said the same

00:16:23.659 --> 00:16:28.379
prayers. They had the same rituals. And it had

00:16:28.379 --> 00:16:31.580
become this just kind of stagnant thing for them.

00:16:32.779 --> 00:16:35.820
This system of worship that God had given to

00:16:35.820 --> 00:16:39.840
Israel had been weighed down by layers of human

00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:44.460
tradition over the years. What it was meant to

00:16:44.460 --> 00:16:47.620
be in this observation and worship of God and

00:16:47.620 --> 00:16:50.899
who he is, it had surpassed that to where the

00:16:50.899 --> 00:16:53.179
focal point was on the observation and not the

00:16:53.179 --> 00:16:56.820
God they were observing. And for many of us in

00:16:56.820 --> 00:17:01.759
today's world, church becomes that. Our walk

00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:05.019
of faith can become that where things get weighed

00:17:05.019 --> 00:17:09.779
down by layers of man -centered tradition instead

00:17:09.779 --> 00:17:15.440
of the focus being on who it's all about. We

00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:18.339
could start to think, well, we're good people,

00:17:18.380 --> 00:17:21.880
we're good Christians, we're all of this stuff

00:17:21.880 --> 00:17:23.859
because, well, we're following the rules, right?

00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:28.359
Israel was given the Ten Commandments. When they

00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:30.539
had reached the point in their walk as God's

00:17:30.539 --> 00:17:33.339
people, they kind of were like, hey, God, following

00:17:33.339 --> 00:17:36.720
you, yeah, just give us the rules. Just give

00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:38.460
us the rules. Tell us what we need to do to be

00:17:38.460 --> 00:17:40.680
righteous. We'll follow those rules. And God

00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:44.960
said, okay, here's ten. Ten commandments. And

00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:47.099
then they went, cool, we can't follow those,

00:17:47.259 --> 00:17:49.980
so let's layer on hundreds of other commandments

00:17:49.980 --> 00:17:55.000
that are man -made rules on top of that. And

00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:57.920
these man -made rules that were layered on top

00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:01.619
of the Ten Commandments just created a burdensome

00:18:01.619 --> 00:18:05.799
relationship with their God. That their relationship

00:18:05.799 --> 00:18:09.119
with God had become this list of duties or you're

00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:11.779
bad. And it had become this list of, you know,

00:18:11.779 --> 00:18:14.779
do this, don't do this. And if you do these things,

00:18:14.920 --> 00:18:16.839
well, God loves you. And if you don't do these

00:18:16.839 --> 00:18:21.299
things, then God's mad at you. And then they,

00:18:21.380 --> 00:18:25.109
as a nation, started to come to, trust in those

00:18:25.109 --> 00:18:27.569
things where, well, if I go to the festivals

00:18:27.569 --> 00:18:30.369
like I'm supposed to, then I'm good with God,

00:18:30.650 --> 00:18:33.170
but I could just really live however I wanted

00:18:33.170 --> 00:18:36.569
to then. And we could find ourselves in that

00:18:36.569 --> 00:18:38.690
situation. We could find ourselves calling ourselves

00:18:38.690 --> 00:18:44.069
religious people. Because, well, I go to church

00:18:44.069 --> 00:18:47.750
and I read my Bible and I worship and I pray.

00:18:49.589 --> 00:18:52.069
But if you ever find yourself starting to say,

00:18:52.130 --> 00:18:59.369
you know, Why am I going to heaven? And you say,

00:18:59.430 --> 00:19:01.569
well, it's because I go to church. It's because

00:19:01.569 --> 00:19:03.430
I do this. It's because I do this. It's because

00:19:03.430 --> 00:19:09.069
I do this. You've missed the point. We're going

00:19:09.069 --> 00:19:14.970
to heaven because of Jesus. We're saved because

00:19:14.970 --> 00:19:21.390
of Jesus. We live and breathe because of Jesus.

00:19:22.920 --> 00:19:28.000
Not because we do these religious things. Now,

00:19:28.039 --> 00:19:30.960
there was a rising expectation in Israel during

00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:34.799
this time because of the oppressiveness of their

00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:36.960
own faith and what it had become, as well as

00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:39.660
the oppression of Rome and the secular governments

00:19:39.660 --> 00:19:43.059
and entities around them, that they were expecting

00:19:43.059 --> 00:19:46.000
the Messiah to show up at this time. Now, the

00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:48.599
Messiah, the Savior, was something that was promised

00:19:48.599 --> 00:19:50.500
all the way back in the beginning in Genesis,

00:19:50.599 --> 00:19:53.160
and we studied that. But for generations, they

00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:55.039
had been looking forward to this Messiah, and

00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:57.880
there had been prophecies spoken and details

00:19:57.880 --> 00:20:00.440
given that this is how it's going to happen,

00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:01.880
and this is who he's going to be, and this is

00:20:01.880 --> 00:20:04.359
how you can identify who he is. And so people

00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:06.460
were waiting, and at this particular time in

00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:09.099
history, there was just this hunger in Israel.

00:20:10.410 --> 00:20:13.250
You know, the religious routines weren't enough

00:20:13.250 --> 00:20:16.549
anymore. The rituals weren't cutting it. There

00:20:16.549 --> 00:20:19.809
was a deep hunger in their hearts because the

00:20:19.809 --> 00:20:25.990
rule keeping wasn't changing who they were. And

00:20:25.990 --> 00:20:30.549
I believe the people felt it. There was a growing

00:20:30.549 --> 00:20:33.509
schism between the common people and the religious

00:20:33.509 --> 00:20:36.660
elites. The people who were supposed to be the

00:20:36.660 --> 00:20:38.519
ones shepherding and leading the people towards

00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:42.220
Jesus had created this situation where they were

00:20:42.220 --> 00:20:44.779
like, we are the holy ones. We're better than

00:20:44.779 --> 00:20:47.720
you. We are more holy than you. Look at what

00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:49.859
we do. Look at our performance. Look at how we're

00:20:49.859 --> 00:20:55.660
dressed. And going through the motions just wasn't

00:20:55.660 --> 00:20:58.640
satisfying the deep, deep hunger in their hearts.

00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:02.099
I believe it's a hunger we all have. Whether

00:21:02.099 --> 00:21:07.599
we can name it or not. It's a hunger that my

00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:12.000
life means more than what I'm doing right now.

00:21:12.119 --> 00:21:15.579
Like, isn't there a purpose? Why do I exist?

00:21:16.339 --> 00:21:18.200
Like, I have thoughts and feelings and everything,

00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:20.779
and it can't just be an accident of evolution.

00:21:21.779 --> 00:21:23.880
It can't be just, oh, yeah, I'm just here for

00:21:23.880 --> 00:21:26.500
a bit, and then I die, no big deal, right? There's

00:21:26.500 --> 00:21:29.140
this sense that I have identity, and I'm alive,

00:21:29.380 --> 00:21:36.950
and I matter, don't I? And what happens is we

00:21:36.950 --> 00:21:40.049
go into the world then and try and find fulfillment

00:21:40.049 --> 00:21:46.750
in everything but our creator. And so the people

00:21:46.750 --> 00:21:48.710
at this time, they were just hungry. They wanted

00:21:48.710 --> 00:21:53.089
the reality of a real relationship with God,

00:21:53.269 --> 00:21:56.769
not just the outward religion of it. And so Jesus

00:21:56.769 --> 00:21:59.809
had performed this miracle, one of many, but

00:21:59.809 --> 00:22:01.849
raising Lazarus from the dead, everybody was

00:22:01.849 --> 00:22:04.430
like, oh my gosh. And so word is spreading about

00:22:04.430 --> 00:22:07.819
that. That Jesus, that guy, the guy we've been

00:22:07.819 --> 00:22:09.940
hearing about for a few years now who's healed

00:22:09.940 --> 00:22:13.339
the sick and healed the blind, he's coming to

00:22:13.339 --> 00:22:17.180
Jerusalem. And at this particular festival, there's

00:22:17.180 --> 00:22:20.000
a couple million people there. It was packed

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.279
because it was required. And so people start

00:22:24.279 --> 00:22:26.400
hearing about he's coming and suddenly everything

00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:31.690
shifts. For the people, at least initially, there

00:22:31.690 --> 00:22:35.190
was this growing reality of the focus shifting

00:22:35.190 --> 00:22:39.690
from the old familiar religious routines of the

00:22:39.690 --> 00:22:43.829
feast to this person who was preaching the same

00:22:43.829 --> 00:22:47.069
God all of our religious routines worship, but

00:22:47.069 --> 00:22:49.869
there's something different about him. There's

00:22:49.869 --> 00:22:53.269
something real and tangible and personal about

00:22:53.269 --> 00:22:57.380
him. as he's coming to Jerusalem, everybody that's

00:22:57.380 --> 00:22:59.259
focused on, oh, the temple and Passover, all

00:22:59.259 --> 00:23:03.839
that, suddenly they're like, Jesus. People were

00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:06.099
drawn to him. People were drawn to his message.

00:23:06.180 --> 00:23:08.559
And so, yeah, we read there, they took out the

00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:11.240
palm branches, they go out to meet him, and they

00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:13.960
start shouting this phrase, Hosanna, blessed

00:23:13.960 --> 00:23:16.220
is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the

00:23:16.220 --> 00:23:19.880
King of Israel. You see, the Jewish people, they

00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:24.279
knew their scriptures. And in Psalm chapter 118,

00:23:24.279 --> 00:23:28.619
there was a prophetic psalm that spoke of the

00:23:28.619 --> 00:23:31.559
coming king of Israel, the king who would fix

00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:34.039
all their problems, the king who would lead the

00:23:34.039 --> 00:23:37.160
nation into righteousness. And in that psalm

00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:41.039
was this phrase, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes

00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:43.079
in the name of the Lord. And so they're saying

00:23:43.079 --> 00:23:46.480
it's the king. He's the one. They're professing

00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:50.940
that he's coming as our king. it's almost like

00:23:50.940 --> 00:23:53.740
what the people are shouting here is give us

00:23:53.740 --> 00:23:57.740
what our religion has not given us. Please come

00:23:57.740 --> 00:24:00.740
and do for us what all the sacrifices and ceremonies

00:24:00.740 --> 00:24:04.980
have not been able to do. But there is also a

00:24:04.980 --> 00:24:07.980
very significant secular element going on as

00:24:07.980 --> 00:24:11.019
Rome was the world's power right now and Rome

00:24:11.019 --> 00:24:13.980
was in power over Israel and over Jerusalem.

00:24:14.099 --> 00:24:16.160
And so the people were like, you know, this king

00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:20.220
we've been hearing about for generations, He's

00:24:20.220 --> 00:24:25.539
here. He's here to set us free from secular oppression.

00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:29.259
He's here to set us free from religious oppression.

00:24:29.619 --> 00:24:31.759
I mean, some people were like, he is the Messiah

00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:34.720
and he's done miracles and we've seen him. And

00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:37.799
so they're saying, Hosanna. And that's what Hosanna

00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:43.960
means. Save now. Save us. Jesus had been a breath

00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:46.880
of fresh air in the very stagnant religious climate

00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:52.509
of the time. He loved people. He healed the broken.

00:24:52.549 --> 00:24:56.049
He spoke with authority. He exposed hypocrisy.

00:24:56.250 --> 00:25:00.490
Mark 12, verse 37 says, the common people heard

00:25:00.490 --> 00:25:05.609
him gladly. And that phrase, common people, I

00:25:05.609 --> 00:25:09.130
love that phrase. It's like, it wasn't the people

00:25:09.130 --> 00:25:13.490
who... worked in church and were all in full

00:25:13.490 --> 00:25:16.369
-time ministry. These are people who just had

00:25:16.369 --> 00:25:19.009
their families and went to work and they had

00:25:19.009 --> 00:25:21.849
their normal jobs and they had their normal routines

00:25:21.849 --> 00:25:24.210
and yet they were Jewish. They believed in God.

00:25:24.470 --> 00:25:28.230
They worshipped him but their whole lives weren't

00:25:28.230 --> 00:25:30.410
wrapped around what some would say is religion

00:25:30.410 --> 00:25:33.390
and faith and you have these religious elites

00:25:33.390 --> 00:25:35.029
always coming down on them saying, you're not

00:25:35.029 --> 00:25:36.289
doing it right and you're not doing it right

00:25:36.289 --> 00:25:38.369
and you're not doing it right. And then Jesus

00:25:38.369 --> 00:25:41.960
comes along and he's like, Yeah, you're not doing

00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:45.700
it right, but God will help you do it right.

00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:48.559
Trust in him. And the common people are like,

00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:52.460
oh man, that's way better than what the Pharisees

00:25:52.460 --> 00:25:55.920
have been selling us. And it tells us in scripture,

00:25:56.039 --> 00:25:58.019
it was the tax collectors and the prostitutes

00:25:58.019 --> 00:26:01.059
and the outcasts. They found it easy, strangely

00:26:01.059 --> 00:26:04.619
easy to be around him. Not because he excused

00:26:04.619 --> 00:26:08.940
their sin, but because he offered grace and truth.

00:26:10.829 --> 00:26:15.230
And, you know, church, we are the vessels of

00:26:15.230 --> 00:26:17.289
the Holy Spirit in the presence of Christ in

00:26:17.289 --> 00:26:19.690
this world. And, you know, it's often said that,

00:26:19.690 --> 00:26:22.029
like, oh, the world should never be comfortable

00:26:22.029 --> 00:26:26.710
around you. And I agree with that statement to

00:26:26.710 --> 00:26:32.269
a point. But if the world is uncomfortable around

00:26:32.269 --> 00:26:37.829
you because you are a prideful, arrogant Pharisee,

00:26:37.829 --> 00:26:47.109
you're doing it wrong. Because if your self -righteousness

00:26:47.109 --> 00:26:50.230
is driving people away, you're not following

00:26:50.230 --> 00:26:54.769
the example of Christ. If your religiousness

00:26:54.769 --> 00:26:59.769
is to the point where you look down on people,

00:26:59.970 --> 00:27:07.970
even inadvertently, you're doing it wrong. Although

00:27:07.970 --> 00:27:10.390
people should be uncomfortable around you because

00:27:10.390 --> 00:27:13.269
the Holy Spirit is convicting them, they should

00:27:13.269 --> 00:27:15.269
also be comfortable around you because you're

00:27:15.269 --> 00:27:18.210
about preaching love and grace and truth. Not

00:27:18.210 --> 00:27:22.910
excusing sin, but constantly going, yeah, that's

00:27:22.910 --> 00:27:24.990
wrong, you shouldn't be doing that, but God could

00:27:24.990 --> 00:27:29.970
set you free. God will forgive you, right? It's

00:27:29.970 --> 00:27:33.799
that compassion that Christ had. And then what

00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:36.559
I love is as Jesus was loving and compassionate

00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:39.160
on all the outcasts and the broken and the sinners,

00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:42.720
his harshest words were reserved for the religious

00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:46.619
elite. You whitewashed tombs, you brood of vipers.

00:27:47.339 --> 00:27:52.480
And it just shows us that when we turn our faith

00:27:52.480 --> 00:28:00.000
into something that is man -centered, God's like,

00:28:00.039 --> 00:28:04.809
I want nothing to do with that. You know, Scripture

00:28:04.809 --> 00:28:08.289
doesn't condemn religion outright, right? Sometimes

00:28:08.289 --> 00:28:10.170
we hear this phrase like, oh, it's a relationship,

00:28:10.250 --> 00:28:14.190
not a religion. And we have to be careful with

00:28:14.190 --> 00:28:17.450
that phrase because we can inadvertently create

00:28:17.450 --> 00:28:20.309
a situation in people's minds where religion,

00:28:20.490 --> 00:28:25.529
bad, Jesus, good. And that's not what the Bible

00:28:25.529 --> 00:28:30.259
says. You see, in James 1, verse 27, God through

00:28:30.259 --> 00:28:33.160
James actually defines what pure and undefiled

00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:35.359
religion is. He says it's to look after orphans

00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:37.700
and widows in their distress and to keep oneself

00:28:37.700 --> 00:28:42.960
unstained from the world. So it's not Jesus versus

00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:46.180
religion in that sense. Religion is a real thing.

00:28:47.740 --> 00:28:50.380
The problem is is when it's not Christ -centered,

00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:54.380
when it's not others serving, when it's not holy

00:28:54.380 --> 00:28:58.690
and selfless. Because that is real religion according

00:28:58.690 --> 00:29:01.670
to the Bible. False religion is man -centered

00:29:01.670 --> 00:29:05.250
and self -exalting and performance -driven. And

00:29:05.250 --> 00:29:07.849
so as Jesus, the king, is riding into Jerusalem

00:29:07.849 --> 00:29:10.529
on this Palm Sunday, there's this big contrast

00:29:10.529 --> 00:29:12.589
where the common people are like, we're tired

00:29:12.589 --> 00:29:17.309
of the man -centered thing. It doesn't change

00:29:17.309 --> 00:29:21.160
us. All it does is make wanting to follow God

00:29:21.160 --> 00:29:23.220
a burden. I don't want to be a Christian if I

00:29:23.220 --> 00:29:25.779
gotta, you know, do this and do that. And the

00:29:25.779 --> 00:29:29.079
idea here is Jesus is different. It's like, no,

00:29:29.099 --> 00:29:33.339
no, no, it's a relationship with me. And then

00:29:33.339 --> 00:29:35.380
it's not about you doing, it's about me changing

00:29:35.380 --> 00:29:39.819
you. And it's about me changing your heart and

00:29:39.819 --> 00:29:42.839
changing who you are so then, yeah, the religion

00:29:42.839 --> 00:29:46.460
you now live is a pure and undefiled religion.

00:29:48.809 --> 00:29:51.210
You see, man -centered religion emphasizes the

00:29:51.210 --> 00:29:54.289
outward, and Jesus emphasized the inward. That

00:29:54.289 --> 00:29:56.869
was the Pharisees' problem. Look at our holy

00:29:56.869 --> 00:30:00.730
outfit. We must be more spiritual than you. Look

00:30:00.730 --> 00:30:03.970
how long we pray. Look how loud we pray. You

00:30:03.970 --> 00:30:05.269
know, there's nothing wrong with dressing up.

00:30:06.549 --> 00:30:08.049
There's nothing wrong with saying, these are

00:30:08.049 --> 00:30:10.829
my Sunday clothes, right? That's great. My Sunday

00:30:10.829 --> 00:30:12.630
clothes, you know, sometimes it's nice pants,

00:30:12.730 --> 00:30:14.750
sometimes it's jeans. Most of the time it's jeans.

00:30:14.869 --> 00:30:22.910
But that's... That's me. I don't wear button

00:30:22.910 --> 00:30:25.970
-up shirts during the week. This is my Sunday

00:30:25.970 --> 00:30:33.230
best, right? Some of you are like, you're decked

00:30:33.230 --> 00:30:35.650
out. Sister, I mean, every Sunday, you know,

00:30:35.670 --> 00:30:38.470
just beautiful. Don't mean to put you on blast

00:30:38.470 --> 00:30:42.509
there, but... Some of us, that's not our thing,

00:30:42.630 --> 00:30:45.170
right? And it's not, oh, I'm better, you're better.

00:30:45.349 --> 00:30:47.130
It's just that this is, right? There's nothing

00:30:47.130 --> 00:30:49.730
wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with taking

00:30:49.730 --> 00:30:52.650
care of the outside, but it's the problem is

00:30:52.650 --> 00:30:54.349
when we take care of the outside and ignore the

00:30:54.349 --> 00:30:57.490
inside, that's when we have a problem. You see,

00:30:57.529 --> 00:31:00.890
Jesus cares more about what's going on inside

00:31:00.890 --> 00:31:02.990
your heart and mind than how polished you look

00:31:02.990 --> 00:31:07.950
on the outside. Man -centered religion focuses

00:31:07.950 --> 00:31:12.089
on what you can't. do, and Jesus is like, I'm

00:31:12.089 --> 00:31:14.170
here to talk about what you can do and who you

00:31:14.170 --> 00:31:18.490
can be through me and my grace. You see, legalism,

00:31:18.509 --> 00:31:21.150
we've heard that word before, legalistic religion.

00:31:22.769 --> 00:31:27.470
It's you can't do that and be godly. That's legalism.

00:31:29.369 --> 00:31:32.170
You can't do that and be godly, and you know,

00:31:32.250 --> 00:31:36.259
that's... What a religious, a man -centered religious

00:31:36.259 --> 00:31:39.140
person does is they walk around and they're like,

00:31:39.220 --> 00:31:42.579
you can't do that, and look what I did. And they

00:31:42.579 --> 00:31:45.279
have this whole self -righteous thing built into

00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:48.180
it. And Jesus is like, look, you're a sinner.

00:31:49.799 --> 00:31:53.619
Come as you are. Well, I gotta clean up my life

00:31:53.619 --> 00:31:56.319
before I come to Jesus. You can't. That's the

00:31:56.319 --> 00:32:00.319
point. You can't clean up your own life. Jesus

00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:03.039
says, come to me as you are and watch what I

00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:07.500
will do with your life. Man -centered religion

00:32:07.500 --> 00:32:09.759
puts up barriers and Jesus pulls those things

00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:13.759
down. You see, at the time in Jerusalem, the

00:32:13.759 --> 00:32:16.920
religious elite, they were so snooty and arrogant.

00:32:17.240 --> 00:32:20.180
And in the temple, they were like, look, Gentiles,

00:32:20.200 --> 00:32:22.140
non -Jewish people, they're dirty and they're

00:32:22.140 --> 00:32:24.299
foul. And so they actually had a segregation

00:32:24.299 --> 00:32:27.700
in the temple because they're like, well, you

00:32:27.700 --> 00:32:29.220
know, we go back through the law and stuff, and

00:32:29.220 --> 00:32:30.799
we kind of see that we're supposed to be, you

00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:33.480
know, the light to the world of who God is, and

00:32:33.480 --> 00:32:35.319
so they had this thing called the court of the

00:32:35.319 --> 00:32:39.599
Gentiles. You can come to church, but you have

00:32:39.599 --> 00:32:41.960
to stay over there, because you're dirty, you're

00:32:41.960 --> 00:32:43.759
foul, you're not like us, you're not good like

00:32:43.759 --> 00:32:46.619
us, and that's what man -centered religion does,

00:32:46.779 --> 00:32:50.700
and Jesus says, come to me, all of you who are

00:32:50.700 --> 00:32:52.640
weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

00:32:55.700 --> 00:32:57.500
Man -centered religion says you have to work

00:32:57.500 --> 00:33:01.180
your way to God. Jesus says, I'm the way to God.

00:33:03.660 --> 00:33:05.579
Right? You don't have to go on a two -year missions

00:33:05.579 --> 00:33:07.720
trip when you're a young adult to be qualified

00:33:07.720 --> 00:33:10.680
to be able to go to heaven. You don't have to

00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:12.500
stand on the corner on Sunday mornings outside

00:33:12.500 --> 00:33:14.420
Christian churches and have your little magazine

00:33:14.420 --> 00:33:17.900
rack there and hope people come up to you. And

00:33:17.900 --> 00:33:20.180
then when they come up to you and challenge you

00:33:20.180 --> 00:33:24.099
in English, you go, oh, no hablo ingles. Because

00:33:24.099 --> 00:33:25.890
that's what happens all the time. I'm like, come

00:33:25.890 --> 00:33:29.450
on, I wish I spoke Spanish now. It's like, you

00:33:29.450 --> 00:33:31.910
don't have to do all these works and things.

00:33:32.029 --> 00:33:35.089
Jesus said, look, just let me hold your hand

00:33:35.089 --> 00:33:40.089
and I'll lead you there. Every false religion

00:33:40.089 --> 00:33:41.829
in the world is centered around human achievement.

00:33:42.029 --> 00:33:44.809
Do this, do that, say this, do that, you know.

00:33:45.170 --> 00:33:48.490
The gospel says it is finished. The gospel says

00:33:48.490 --> 00:33:52.069
it was done before you even got here. That's

00:33:52.069 --> 00:33:56.420
what the gospel proclaims. God has done it. And

00:33:56.420 --> 00:33:58.980
so just receive by faith what God has done for

00:33:58.980 --> 00:34:03.559
you. Just receive it. Here's the receipt. Price

00:34:03.559 --> 00:34:07.619
is paid. Just receive it. Trust in it. Believe

00:34:07.619 --> 00:34:10.539
all that it means and you'll be transformed.

00:34:10.760 --> 00:34:13.980
That's what the gospel says. No wonder the people

00:34:13.980 --> 00:34:17.360
in this time saw Jesus as this breath of fresh

00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:22.420
air compared to the layers of man -centered religion

00:34:22.420 --> 00:34:24.679
that they had put on top of what was intended

00:34:24.679 --> 00:34:31.679
to be. A free expression of religion. Verse 14,

00:34:31.900 --> 00:34:34.320
it says, Jesus found a young donkey and sat on

00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:38.119
it just as it is written. Do not be afraid, daughter

00:34:38.119 --> 00:34:40.099
Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a

00:34:40.099 --> 00:34:43.619
donkey's colt. His disciples did not understand

00:34:43.619 --> 00:34:45.780
these things at first. However, when Jesus was

00:34:45.780 --> 00:34:48.019
glorified, then they remembered that these things

00:34:48.019 --> 00:34:51.079
had been written about him and that they had

00:34:51.079 --> 00:34:54.360
done these things to him. I find it interesting,

00:34:54.519 --> 00:34:56.920
you know, John's telling of the story, right?

00:34:57.900 --> 00:35:01.179
He's referencing, this is three times so far

00:35:01.179 --> 00:35:02.980
in the story where he's quoted and referenced

00:35:02.980 --> 00:35:05.679
God's word. They said this, Hosanna, blessed

00:35:05.679 --> 00:35:07.639
is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And

00:35:07.639 --> 00:35:10.280
then he says, he found a donkey and sat on it,

00:35:10.300 --> 00:35:12.679
just as it was written. And then he says, after

00:35:12.679 --> 00:35:15.139
he was glorified, the disciples remembered these

00:35:15.139 --> 00:35:17.260
things were written about him. Why is that important

00:35:17.260 --> 00:35:21.829
here? Well, you see, The question to us, the

00:35:21.829 --> 00:35:24.989
question at the time for these people, is who

00:35:24.989 --> 00:35:28.510
is Jesus? Everybody in the world has an opinion

00:35:28.510 --> 00:35:33.190
about Jesus, right? At least here in our country.

00:35:33.250 --> 00:35:35.090
You can talk to pretty much anybody and go, hey,

00:35:35.110 --> 00:35:37.389
do you know who Jesus is? And most people will

00:35:37.389 --> 00:35:39.349
go, oh yeah, and not that their opinion's right,

00:35:39.449 --> 00:35:41.469
but they'll have some opinion about who he is.

00:35:44.510 --> 00:35:47.170
And we as human beings, I think we put way too

00:35:47.170 --> 00:35:51.420
much weight on our opinions. Even Christians

00:35:51.420 --> 00:35:54.280
do that. You know, we live in this world today

00:35:54.280 --> 00:35:59.079
where opinion trumps fact. I love those videos,

00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:02.340
love the videos where there's a conservative

00:36:02.340 --> 00:36:05.300
interviewer, you know, like interviewing a liberal.

00:36:05.460 --> 00:36:08.920
And they'll go, hey, let me read you a list of

00:36:08.920 --> 00:36:12.590
quotes that Trump said. And they read off these

00:36:12.590 --> 00:36:14.769
quotes and people are like, yeah, that's terrible.

00:36:14.949 --> 00:36:17.309
I disagree with that wholeheartedly. Oh, oh,

00:36:17.329 --> 00:36:19.050
oh. And at the end of it, they go, Trump didn't

00:36:19.050 --> 00:36:22.690
say those things. Kamala did. And then all of

00:36:22.690 --> 00:36:29.909
a sudden, well, right? Facts. But no. We're still

00:36:29.909 --> 00:36:33.969
going to believe this way. And, you know, abortion,

00:36:34.090 --> 00:36:36.210
you put facts in front of people and they're

00:36:36.210 --> 00:36:41.090
like, no, still. And the devil knows what he's

00:36:41.090 --> 00:36:45.409
doing. Get people to distrust fact and opinion

00:36:45.409 --> 00:36:49.110
will rule. In the Gospels, people had all kinds

00:36:49.110 --> 00:36:52.010
of opinions about Jesus, right? He's John the

00:36:52.010 --> 00:36:54.090
Baptist. He's Elijah. He's one of the prophets.

00:36:55.210 --> 00:36:57.730
In John chapter 9, they say Jesus isn't from

00:36:57.730 --> 00:37:00.070
God because he doesn't keep the Sabbath. In John

00:37:00.070 --> 00:37:02.250
chapter 10, they say he's a demon and he's insane.

00:37:02.929 --> 00:37:06.860
Today, it's... He didn't exist, or he's a great

00:37:06.860 --> 00:37:08.739
moral teacher, or he was a great revolutionary

00:37:08.739 --> 00:37:14.199
figure, or he's a spiritual guru. Some opinions

00:37:14.199 --> 00:37:18.079
are positive, some are negative, some are close

00:37:18.079 --> 00:37:20.900
to fact, some are way off in left field, but

00:37:20.900 --> 00:37:23.380
John does something here in the writing of his

00:37:23.380 --> 00:37:25.199
gospel and here in the telling of this story

00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:29.320
that brings us back to Scripture, right? Verse

00:37:29.320 --> 00:37:32.480
13, as I said, people quoted Psalm 118. Hosanna,

00:37:32.480 --> 00:37:33.880
blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

00:37:34.579 --> 00:37:38.320
Verse 15, he quotes directly. He says, as it

00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:41.860
was written, Zechariah 9 .9, and just to deal

00:37:41.860 --> 00:37:43.440
with the donkey thing real quick, right? Why

00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:47.019
did Jesus ride in on a donkey? You know, when

00:37:47.019 --> 00:37:49.119
kings would ride into towns, they would often

00:37:49.119 --> 00:37:51.480
ride in on war horses and show of strength and

00:37:51.480 --> 00:37:55.360
all of that. But if a king did ride in on a donkey,

00:37:55.420 --> 00:37:58.800
it was because he was coming in peace. And the

00:37:58.800 --> 00:38:01.519
donkey, the humble donkey, was meant to be symbolic

00:38:01.519 --> 00:38:05.480
of that peace that he was coming in. By riding

00:38:05.480 --> 00:38:08.139
this donkey in, he's telling Jerusalem, he's

00:38:08.139 --> 00:38:12.539
declaring, one, I'm the king you've been waiting

00:38:12.539 --> 00:38:18.099
for, right? Zechariah 9 .9, Psalm 118, and I'm

00:38:18.099 --> 00:38:23.159
coming in peace. The donkey wasn't random, right?

00:38:23.219 --> 00:38:26.139
It wasn't like Jesus went to the rent -a -car

00:38:26.139 --> 00:38:27.980
store and they were like, oh, we're all out of

00:38:27.980 --> 00:38:31.380
horses, so all we have is this little donkey

00:38:31.380 --> 00:38:35.650
V4 and good luck. No, he did it on purpose. Why?

00:38:35.969 --> 00:38:38.489
John is telling us. He did it to fulfill scripture.

00:38:39.550 --> 00:38:43.289
Jesus was being very intentional and to do as

00:38:43.289 --> 00:38:48.150
God said it would be done. And so he was coming

00:38:48.150 --> 00:38:50.250
on this donkey offering peace with God before

00:38:50.250 --> 00:38:52.730
the judgment. But the point here, I believe what

00:38:52.730 --> 00:38:56.690
John's getting at, is he did it exactly as God's

00:38:56.690 --> 00:39:00.639
word said he would. The people said about him

00:39:00.639 --> 00:39:03.980
exactly what God's word said they would say about

00:39:03.980 --> 00:39:10.119
him. John is emphasizing something here. It doesn't

00:39:10.119 --> 00:39:15.139
matter what your opinion is about Jesus. God's

00:39:15.139 --> 00:39:21.300
word is true. God's word is fulfilled. Jesus

00:39:21.300 --> 00:39:24.920
is who God's word says he is and who he would

00:39:24.920 --> 00:39:28.340
be. I mean, Scripture even gave them the timing

00:39:28.340 --> 00:39:31.300
of when their king, the Messiah, would show up,

00:39:31.320 --> 00:39:33.800
right? In Daniel chapter 9, many of you are familiar

00:39:33.800 --> 00:39:37.940
with it. Daniel was given a prophecy of the history

00:39:37.940 --> 00:39:40.380
of earth and the end times, and it's called his

00:39:40.380 --> 00:39:44.280
70 weeks prophecy. And in this prophecy, God

00:39:44.280 --> 00:39:46.679
speaks, or the angel speaks and says, 70 weeks

00:39:46.679 --> 00:39:51.320
are decreed for Israel. And so it's talking about

00:39:51.320 --> 00:39:53.320
what happens in the world and what's gonna happen

00:39:53.320 --> 00:39:56.420
with the nation Israel. And one of the things

00:39:56.420 --> 00:39:57.940
that's spoken in here, he just says, from the

00:39:57.940 --> 00:40:01.800
command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until

00:40:01.800 --> 00:40:04.539
the coming of the Messiah, the Savior that had

00:40:04.539 --> 00:40:06.860
been prophesied all the way back starting in

00:40:06.860 --> 00:40:10.440
the beginning, there would be 69 weeks of years.

00:40:11.860 --> 00:40:14.699
And you might be thinking, what the heck is a

00:40:14.699 --> 00:40:18.619
week of years? Right, that makes no sense. The

00:40:18.619 --> 00:40:20.659
Hebrew idea here. How many days are in a week?

00:40:21.619 --> 00:40:25.480
Seven. So if it's a week of years, how many years?

00:40:26.159 --> 00:40:30.059
Seven, right. And he says there'll be 69 of those

00:40:30.059 --> 00:40:36.159
from this decree till the coming of the Messiah.

00:40:37.550 --> 00:40:39.170
I don't have time to get into all the math and

00:40:39.170 --> 00:40:41.250
stuff, but if you account for the calendars used

00:40:41.250 --> 00:40:43.809
at the time, calendars had different numbers

00:40:43.809 --> 00:40:46.269
of days than our modern calendar, and you count

00:40:46.269 --> 00:40:52.710
for leap years and all this stuff, 69 weeks of

00:40:52.710 --> 00:40:58.349
years is 173 ,880 days from the command. Now,

00:40:58.369 --> 00:41:01.829
historically, we know. Even secular history knows

00:41:01.829 --> 00:41:04.489
when the command went forth to rebuild Jerusalem.

00:41:05.449 --> 00:41:07.489
Right, it was all destroyed, Israel went into

00:41:07.489 --> 00:41:09.570
captivity, then there's a decree, go back and

00:41:09.570 --> 00:41:14.329
rebuild it. From that day, we can count the days.

00:41:15.630 --> 00:41:18.090
And again, accounting for differences in calendars

00:41:18.090 --> 00:41:21.050
and stuff, it comes to a day on the Jewish calendar

00:41:21.050 --> 00:41:25.889
that's the 10th of Nisan. Or that day was April

00:41:25.889 --> 00:41:34.969
6th, 32 AD. That day, right? The first day of

00:41:34.969 --> 00:41:37.989
Passover, that particular year, is the exact

00:41:37.989 --> 00:41:42.110
day Jesus shows up riding on a donkey, which

00:41:42.110 --> 00:41:44.769
fulfills Zechariah 9 .9, and then the people

00:41:44.769 --> 00:41:49.610
start proclaiming what we see in Psalm 118, and

00:41:49.610 --> 00:41:53.369
yet they didn't get it. This is why in Luke chapter

00:41:53.369 --> 00:41:57.130
19, verse 41, it says this. As he, speaking of

00:41:57.130 --> 00:41:59.329
Jesus, approached and saw the city, he wept for

00:41:59.329 --> 00:42:01.489
it, saying, if you knew this day, what would

00:42:01.489 --> 00:42:04.110
bring peace? but now it is hidden from your eyes.

00:42:05.170 --> 00:42:07.010
To put it another way, he's like, you didn't

00:42:07.010 --> 00:42:13.690
recognize when God visited you. You didn't recognize

00:42:13.690 --> 00:42:15.550
it, but he still holds them accountable for not

00:42:15.550 --> 00:42:17.150
knowing what Scripture had already spelled out.

00:42:20.110 --> 00:42:22.190
They knew the donkey he was supposed to ride

00:42:22.190 --> 00:42:25.670
in on. They knew the exact day the Messiah was

00:42:25.670 --> 00:42:28.489
supposed to show up. They knew where the Messiah

00:42:28.489 --> 00:42:31.090
was supposed to be born. They had all this stuff

00:42:31.090 --> 00:42:33.769
that God had given them, and yet on the exact

00:42:33.769 --> 00:42:39.730
day, right? Not day 881, not day 879. The exact

00:42:39.730 --> 00:42:46.570
day they celebrate the coming of the king, but

00:42:46.570 --> 00:42:49.050
their opinions overrode the truth, you see, because

00:42:49.050 --> 00:42:51.730
their opinions about Jesus were he's the coming

00:42:51.730 --> 00:42:54.659
king. to deal with our outward circumstances.

00:42:55.400 --> 00:42:57.860
He's the coming king to deal with our problems.

00:42:58.360 --> 00:43:03.360
He's the coming king to overthrow Rome. And you

00:43:03.360 --> 00:43:05.219
know, our opinions about Jesus, they may be good,

00:43:05.320 --> 00:43:07.980
bad, close, or way off, but I believe John's

00:43:07.980 --> 00:43:12.480
point here is that scripture, only scripture,

00:43:12.679 --> 00:43:15.519
is absolutely reliable and accurate when it comes

00:43:15.519 --> 00:43:18.599
to who Jesus is and what he came to do. The people

00:43:18.599 --> 00:43:21.019
knew. They knew there was a suffering Messiah

00:43:21.019 --> 00:43:23.539
that was supposed to come. It was very clearly

00:43:23.539 --> 00:43:26.599
spelled out in their Old Testament, in the scriptures

00:43:26.599 --> 00:43:30.880
they had, in Isaiah 53. They knew. And yet they

00:43:30.880 --> 00:43:33.239
said, no, no, no, no, no. I'd rather have a king

00:43:33.239 --> 00:43:35.400
who's going to come deal with Rome and my outward

00:43:35.400 --> 00:43:38.019
problems. And he's going to be a conquering king.

00:43:40.300 --> 00:43:47.139
And they missed it. They missed it. If you want

00:43:47.139 --> 00:43:52.199
real stability in your life, not the shifting

00:43:52.199 --> 00:43:55.500
sands of, oh, my truth and your truth and their

00:43:55.500 --> 00:43:59.139
truth and how many genders are there? I don't

00:43:59.139 --> 00:44:03.880
know. It'll change tomorrow. If you want stability

00:44:03.880 --> 00:44:07.519
and truth and not the latest podcaster's opinion

00:44:07.519 --> 00:44:10.840
or the latest TikTok theology, then your life

00:44:10.840 --> 00:44:13.159
needs to be governed by the word of God because

00:44:13.159 --> 00:44:17.039
it is the only absolute truth. It is the only

00:44:17.039 --> 00:44:20.099
truth. It's not the opinions of people including

00:44:20.099 --> 00:44:24.500
your own opinions. And this is what we're reading

00:44:24.500 --> 00:44:26.619
here. This is what John is pointing us back to.

00:44:26.659 --> 00:44:28.800
The people said this and they said this and yet

00:44:28.800 --> 00:44:31.500
as we go further through the story and as we're

00:44:31.500 --> 00:44:34.420
gonna remember on Good Friday that the very same

00:44:34.420 --> 00:44:36.659
people who are here have this opinion of Jesus.

00:44:36.780 --> 00:44:39.380
He's the coming king. Hosanna, blessed is he

00:44:39.380 --> 00:44:41.280
who comes in the name of the Lord. Many of those

00:44:41.280 --> 00:44:44.989
people. Just in a matter of days, they're going

00:44:44.989 --> 00:44:46.670
to be standing in the court saying, crucify him.

00:44:48.110 --> 00:44:52.289
Their opinion changed. Why? Because he didn't

00:44:52.289 --> 00:44:55.309
meet their agenda. He didn't do what they wanted

00:44:55.309 --> 00:44:57.929
him to do. Well, he's coming to die for your

00:44:57.929 --> 00:45:00.070
sins. Yeah, well, my opinion is you should come

00:45:00.070 --> 00:45:05.429
and deal with Rome. And when we let our opinions

00:45:05.429 --> 00:45:12.150
trump the word of God, we're wrong. 100 % of

00:45:12.150 --> 00:45:16.550
the time. Like if you ever find yourself reading

00:45:16.550 --> 00:45:18.309
Scripture and looking at what Scripture says,

00:45:18.389 --> 00:45:21.150
and you go, yeah, but, just stop right there.

00:45:21.190 --> 00:45:26.610
You're wrong. You know, we look at Scripture

00:45:26.610 --> 00:45:30.130
as a people, and we look at what Scripture says

00:45:30.130 --> 00:45:34.190
about money and debt. And then we go, yeah, but.

00:45:35.530 --> 00:45:40.409
You're wrong. We look at what Scripture says

00:45:40.409 --> 00:45:43.940
about... relationships and how a husband is supposed

00:45:43.940 --> 00:45:45.519
to treat his wife and how his wife is supposed

00:45:45.519 --> 00:45:48.400
to treat his husband and the dynamics that take

00:45:48.400 --> 00:45:52.239
place there. And we go, yeah, but you're wrong

00:45:52.239 --> 00:45:58.219
if it's contradictory to the Word of God. How

00:45:58.219 --> 00:46:00.780
am I supposed to behave in the workplace? You

00:46:00.780 --> 00:46:02.900
do what the Word of God says and if you go, yeah,

00:46:02.900 --> 00:46:10.239
but you're wrong every time. Yeah, but I grew

00:46:10.239 --> 00:46:14.059
up this way. So what? My culture does this. Who

00:46:14.059 --> 00:46:19.739
cares? This is how I feel. These are my experiences.

00:46:19.880 --> 00:46:24.340
Those are real things. But they do not trump

00:46:24.340 --> 00:46:28.980
what the word of God says. And when we do that,

00:46:29.019 --> 00:46:32.960
like these people here. Hosanna! Blessed is he

00:46:32.960 --> 00:46:37.409
who comes to the king of Israel. Oh. Wait, he

00:46:37.409 --> 00:46:39.750
didn't do what my opinion said he should do?

00:46:40.210 --> 00:46:45.110
Crucify him. We change so fast. You see, real

00:46:45.110 --> 00:46:48.050
freedom, real security comes when we bow our

00:46:48.050 --> 00:46:50.650
hearts and minds to his word. That's why we talk

00:46:50.650 --> 00:46:52.269
about it. That's why we study it. That's why

00:46:52.269 --> 00:46:54.469
here at Hosanna, we're like, know the truth and

00:46:54.469 --> 00:46:55.889
live the truth and share the truth. The truth

00:46:55.889 --> 00:46:58.929
is Jesus. We study the word. We put huge emphasis

00:46:58.929 --> 00:47:02.650
on this. There's a lot of churches around the

00:47:02.650 --> 00:47:05.429
country today that have shifted to, we need to

00:47:05.429 --> 00:47:07.889
put our emphasis on the weekend experience, right?

00:47:07.929 --> 00:47:12.550
You've heard that word. And it's a weird word,

00:47:12.650 --> 00:47:16.489
right? Church isn't an experience in the way

00:47:16.489 --> 00:47:19.769
that they mean experience, right? Yeah, we'll

00:47:19.769 --> 00:47:21.469
share a little bit about the word, but it's more

00:47:21.469 --> 00:47:25.639
like a TED Talk. But the experience, right? When

00:47:25.639 --> 00:47:27.760
you walk in, everything has to be perfectly polished.

00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:31.119
And when you get into the sanctuary, it's like

00:47:31.119 --> 00:47:34.500
you're walking into a major concert somewhere.

00:47:34.800 --> 00:47:36.599
And don't get me wrong, right? I love lights.

00:47:36.880 --> 00:47:40.980
I want to put fog in here. Right? Because when

00:47:40.980 --> 00:47:42.860
the lights hit it, it just looks amazing, right?

00:47:43.119 --> 00:47:45.800
I'm a drummer. I'm a performer. I don't see anything

00:47:45.800 --> 00:47:49.920
wrong with, man, that looks cool. It's not sinful

00:47:49.920 --> 00:47:53.889
for things to look cool. But it's wrong if that's

00:47:53.889 --> 00:47:58.409
the point and that's the goal. So when we have

00:47:58.409 --> 00:48:01.630
fog in here, don't get mad at me, okay? It's

00:48:01.630 --> 00:48:06.929
coming. Yes, this is God's house and we want

00:48:06.929 --> 00:48:09.289
to take care of things, but no, we want people

00:48:09.289 --> 00:48:11.489
to have the experience. We want non -believers

00:48:11.489 --> 00:48:13.389
to come to church and go, wow, I liked it here.

00:48:13.989 --> 00:48:20.590
This was fun. I had a great time. Yeah, but did

00:48:20.590 --> 00:48:28.760
you meet Jesus? Who? Yeah, that TED Talk, the

00:48:28.760 --> 00:48:30.320
book they were referencing, it's actually that

00:48:30.320 --> 00:48:32.639
entire book is about him. Oh man, he didn't come

00:48:32.639 --> 00:48:39.719
up one time. That's a problem. Scripture is the

00:48:39.719 --> 00:48:41.980
only reliable truth. Jesus said, I'm the way,

00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:44.280
the truth, and the life, and that is truth, period.

00:48:45.019 --> 00:48:48.400
He's not a way, he's the way. And truth is always

00:48:48.400 --> 00:48:52.530
better than opinion. Always. He came to make

00:48:52.530 --> 00:48:55.590
peace. He came to offer salvation. He came to

00:48:55.590 --> 00:48:58.710
grant forgiveness and grace and mercy. And his

00:48:58.710 --> 00:49:02.030
word, his written word is the only solid foundation

00:49:02.030 --> 00:49:06.570
for knowing and following his word. Following

00:49:06.570 --> 00:49:10.309
the living word, Jesus. That's why the devil

00:49:10.309 --> 00:49:12.309
tries so hard to get us too busy to read it.

00:49:15.230 --> 00:49:18.230
Oh, I'll read it tomorrow. I'll read it the next

00:49:18.230 --> 00:49:20.289
day, right? I struggle with that too and I teach

00:49:20.289 --> 00:49:23.769
the Bible. I would love to be able to stand here

00:49:23.769 --> 00:49:25.670
and say, and I read my Bible every day faithfully.

00:49:27.610 --> 00:49:31.969
Confession time, I don't. And I fight that same

00:49:31.969 --> 00:49:33.630
fight. Lord, I want to get in your word. I want

00:49:33.630 --> 00:49:36.510
to be in prayer. And then life happens, right?

00:49:36.650 --> 00:49:39.190
It's like, why is it every time I want to get

00:49:39.190 --> 00:49:41.110
in the word, something explodes or there's some

00:49:41.110 --> 00:49:42.769
fire that starts that I have to go deal with?

00:49:44.389 --> 00:49:49.139
Satan. And so it's knowing his word because it

00:49:49.139 --> 00:49:51.760
is the only solid foundation. But if we don't

00:49:51.760 --> 00:49:53.679
study the word, then we're going to pick up the

00:49:53.679 --> 00:49:56.360
opinions of the world, aren't we? And oh, I read

00:49:56.360 --> 00:49:59.260
this on TikTok. And I saw this video on YouTube.

00:49:59.440 --> 00:50:02.300
And oh, well, yeah, so -and -so said this about

00:50:02.300 --> 00:50:04.019
the word. Well, did you go back to the word to

00:50:04.019 --> 00:50:06.360
verify it? No, I just took it in and believed

00:50:06.360 --> 00:50:15.820
it. And then we're all weirdos. What John is

00:50:15.820 --> 00:50:18.400
saying here as he writes his gospel and telling

00:50:18.400 --> 00:50:21.079
this story and what we're learning today on Palm

00:50:21.079 --> 00:50:23.639
Sunday as he comes in is that whatever people

00:50:23.639 --> 00:50:25.739
may think about Jesus, whatever opinion they

00:50:25.739 --> 00:50:28.340
have, John is saying, here's what God's word

00:50:28.340 --> 00:50:32.119
said. And it was fulfilled exactly as God said

00:50:32.119 --> 00:50:37.960
it would. Base your opinion on the truth of God's

00:50:37.960 --> 00:50:42.119
word and nothing else. Verse 17. Meanwhile, the

00:50:42.119 --> 00:50:45.079
crowd. Running a little late here, huh? which

00:50:45.079 --> 00:50:46.780
had been with him when he called Lazarus out

00:50:46.780 --> 00:50:48.460
of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued

00:50:48.460 --> 00:50:51.119
to testify. Eyewitnesses, they saw it, and they're

00:50:51.119 --> 00:50:52.719
going, yeah, and they're telling everybody about

00:50:52.719 --> 00:50:55.400
it. This is also why the crowd met him, because

00:50:55.400 --> 00:50:58.780
they heard he had done the sign. Then the Pharisees

00:50:58.780 --> 00:51:00.420
said to one another, you see, you've accomplished

00:51:00.420 --> 00:51:02.820
nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.

00:51:04.139 --> 00:51:06.440
So in this story here in John 12, four groups

00:51:06.440 --> 00:51:09.889
of people, right, Jesus' disciples. the eyewitnesses

00:51:09.889 --> 00:51:12.590
of the resurrection of Lazarus, the crowd who

00:51:12.590 --> 00:51:14.929
heard about the resurrection of Lazarus, and

00:51:14.929 --> 00:51:18.610
then the Pharisees. All four of these groups

00:51:18.610 --> 00:51:22.050
of people are watching Jesus. They're watching

00:51:22.050 --> 00:51:24.429
him come in. Some of them watched his miracle.

00:51:24.610 --> 00:51:26.269
Others are watching him to see if he's going

00:51:26.269 --> 00:51:29.530
to perform more miracles. Some are watching him

00:51:29.530 --> 00:51:34.030
and grumbling about the things he did. But if

00:51:34.030 --> 00:51:36.820
you survey all four Gospels, They're all watching

00:51:36.820 --> 00:51:38.719
the same event. They're all watching. They all

00:51:38.719 --> 00:51:43.559
tell the story about this king riding in. But

00:51:43.559 --> 00:51:45.639
in every single one of those, and in our lives

00:51:45.639 --> 00:51:48.000
today, this Palm Sunday, there has to come a

00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:50.460
moment where watching Jesus turns into following

00:51:50.460 --> 00:51:54.800
Jesus. There's a difference. Jesus defined it

00:51:54.800 --> 00:51:58.159
this way in Matthew 16, verse 24. Then Jesus

00:51:58.159 --> 00:52:00.960
said to his disciples, if anyone wants to follow

00:52:00.960 --> 00:52:03.480
after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross,

00:52:03.500 --> 00:52:11.110
and follow me. Denying yourself does not mean

00:52:11.110 --> 00:52:16.789
giving up chocolate for Lent. But for some, that

00:52:16.789 --> 00:52:19.030
is the extent of denying yourself for Jesus.

00:52:20.809 --> 00:52:25.670
Now, Lent is great. The idea of Lent and yeah.

00:52:26.170 --> 00:52:29.190
And if you observe that and you're observing

00:52:29.190 --> 00:52:31.570
those things, that's great as long as that is

00:52:31.570 --> 00:52:39.219
not the extent. Oh, I gave up chocolate. Denying

00:52:39.219 --> 00:52:40.980
yourself means stepping off the throne of your

00:52:40.980 --> 00:52:42.639
life and saying, I'm not in charge anymore. You

00:52:42.639 --> 00:52:47.119
are, Jesus. Every day. Taking up your cross means

00:52:47.119 --> 00:52:49.119
embracing the reality that following Jesus is

00:52:49.119 --> 00:52:52.420
going to cost you. Right? The crowd, Hosanna,

00:52:52.480 --> 00:52:54.119
blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

00:52:54.280 --> 00:52:57.300
Oh, he's getting nailed to the cross as a guilty

00:52:57.300 --> 00:53:03.389
criminal. Crucify him. It's gonna cost you to

00:53:03.389 --> 00:53:05.550
follow Jesus. It's gonna cost reputation and

00:53:05.550 --> 00:53:08.610
comfort and maybe relationships and perhaps your

00:53:08.610 --> 00:53:11.309
very life. But guess what? It's worth it because

00:53:11.309 --> 00:53:14.829
he's worth everything. Then he says, follow me.

00:53:14.869 --> 00:53:17.590
That means where Jesus walks, you walk. That

00:53:17.590 --> 00:53:21.030
means where he says go, you go. That means when

00:53:21.030 --> 00:53:23.730
he says do, you do. It's an alignment of your

00:53:23.730 --> 00:53:28.710
life with his. See, the idea is our faith walk.

00:53:30.420 --> 00:53:33.519
is to travel with Jesus, not just show up as

00:53:33.519 --> 00:53:36.559
a tourist. The disciples, they traveled with

00:53:36.559 --> 00:53:40.039
Jesus, and they learned, and they grew, and they

00:53:40.039 --> 00:53:43.199
were with him every day, right? Here, you got

00:53:43.199 --> 00:53:47.800
some tourists showing up to an event, coming

00:53:47.800 --> 00:53:50.380
to visit, and then they see Jesus. Oh, wow, a

00:53:50.380 --> 00:53:53.900
new attraction. Oh, he's riding on the donkey,

00:53:54.000 --> 00:53:57.519
how cool. It was neat to hang out with him for

00:53:57.519 --> 00:54:02.119
a little bit. Tourists are the ones who just

00:54:02.119 --> 00:54:05.739
show up temporarily. I like the atmosphere. It's

00:54:05.739 --> 00:54:08.019
a fun place to visit. Jesus is cool to hang around.

00:54:08.219 --> 00:54:10.780
But when the service ends, Jesus goes back in

00:54:10.780 --> 00:54:14.519
the Sunday box until next week. That's tourism.

00:54:17.599 --> 00:54:22.340
The tourists aren't really following Jesus. Now,

00:54:23.179 --> 00:54:25.079
following him and walking and traveling with

00:54:25.079 --> 00:54:27.559
him, that means that we're gathered here on Sunday

00:54:27.559 --> 00:54:29.519
and we worship him and we say, you're my king,

00:54:29.820 --> 00:54:33.320
you're my Lord, I serve you, Jesus. And then

00:54:33.320 --> 00:54:36.599
when we leave here, we still say that and live

00:54:36.599 --> 00:54:38.920
that way. And then Monday morning, we're like,

00:54:38.960 --> 00:54:40.940
Jesus, you're still walking with me and I'm still

00:54:40.940 --> 00:54:43.139
walking with you and you're walking with me in

00:54:43.139 --> 00:54:46.360
my marriage. excuse me, I'm walking with you

00:54:46.360 --> 00:54:49.380
with my money and my giving and I'm walking with

00:54:49.380 --> 00:54:51.659
you in my secret thoughts and my struggles and

00:54:51.659 --> 00:54:53.880
I'm thinking about you every day because I'm

00:54:53.880 --> 00:54:55.880
journeying with you. I didn't just show up to

00:54:55.880 --> 00:54:59.159
an event and get caught up in the excitement

00:54:59.159 --> 00:55:04.039
of the moment. It's a life that says he leads

00:55:04.039 --> 00:55:06.340
and he guides and he directs and you let him

00:55:06.340 --> 00:55:08.460
do that even when it's costly and inconvenient

00:55:08.460 --> 00:55:12.570
and hard. You see, Jesus didn't ride into Jerusalem

00:55:12.570 --> 00:55:16.269
as a celebrity to be watched or admired. He rode

00:55:16.269 --> 00:55:19.190
into Jerusalem as a king calling subjects to

00:55:19.190 --> 00:55:30.929
follow him. Is he your king today? Up to this

00:55:30.929 --> 00:55:34.409
point, it was public ministry. Jesus had downplayed

00:55:34.409 --> 00:55:39.559
his real identity to people. cast out demons,

00:55:39.639 --> 00:55:41.460
and the demons are like, we know who you are,

00:55:41.519 --> 00:55:45.280
and he's like, shut up. And they did, because

00:55:45.280 --> 00:55:49.239
he's the king. He healed people, and they were

00:55:49.239 --> 00:55:50.659
like, oh my gosh, I want to tell everybody. He

00:55:50.659 --> 00:55:54.900
goes, don't spread the news yet. Even when Peter

00:55:54.900 --> 00:55:57.619
confessed, right? Who do people say I am? Oh,

00:55:57.619 --> 00:55:59.719
Elijah, John the Baptist, this and that. Who

00:55:59.719 --> 00:56:01.400
do you guys say I am? And Peter's the one that

00:56:01.400 --> 00:56:03.659
stepped up and said, you are the Christ. You

00:56:03.659 --> 00:56:08.099
are the son of God. And he's like, You said well,

00:56:08.340 --> 00:56:11.900
but don't tell anybody that yet. Because it wasn't

00:56:11.900 --> 00:56:14.820
his time. But here in John 12, it's the triumphal

00:56:14.820 --> 00:56:17.059
entry. Why do we call it triumphal, right? Because

00:56:17.059 --> 00:56:20.019
the king is arriving. It's this Palm Sunday that

00:56:20.019 --> 00:56:23.119
we see where Jesus intentionally staged. This

00:56:23.119 --> 00:56:25.980
was the moment. His hour had come. No more hiding

00:56:25.980 --> 00:56:28.599
his identity. Now he was very publicly declaring

00:56:28.599 --> 00:56:34.150
who he was. Coming to the most crowded feast

00:56:34.150 --> 00:56:37.250
of the year, riding in openly on a donkey, fulfilling

00:56:37.250 --> 00:56:40.909
Zechariah 9. And then he let the people proclaim

00:56:40.909 --> 00:56:47.989
Psalm 118. He was very publicly saying, I am

00:56:47.989 --> 00:56:53.829
the king. When the Pharisees told him to rebuke

00:56:53.829 --> 00:56:56.809
the crowd in Luke 19, he said, if they are silent,

00:56:56.869 --> 00:57:00.309
the stones will cry out. Why? Because it was

00:57:00.309 --> 00:57:03.949
true. The truth that he was the king, the coming

00:57:03.949 --> 00:57:07.289
king, the savior, the messiah was so true that

00:57:07.289 --> 00:57:09.489
if the people shut up, the rocks would cry out.

00:57:09.550 --> 00:57:12.010
That's how powerfully strong the truth of who

00:57:12.010 --> 00:57:19.070
he is was. And his coming, his proclamation,

00:57:19.309 --> 00:57:21.949
his declaration, this whole thing being intentionally

00:57:21.949 --> 00:57:24.789
set up the way it was, it was because this was

00:57:24.789 --> 00:57:28.230
the moment where he was forcing a decision. A

00:57:28.230 --> 00:57:30.630
king was riding into the city and a decision

00:57:30.630 --> 00:57:35.889
was required to be made. A decision that would

00:57:35.889 --> 00:57:39.269
see him die in days as the Passover lamb in the

00:57:39.269 --> 00:57:42.429
very moment where all the actual lambs were being

00:57:42.429 --> 00:57:45.730
slaughtered for the people. That he was being

00:57:45.730 --> 00:57:49.710
slaughtered as the lamb of God. And everything

00:57:49.710 --> 00:57:52.570
that happens on this holy weekend after exposes

00:57:52.570 --> 00:57:54.809
the decision that many people had made about

00:57:54.809 --> 00:57:58.869
who he was. For many people that day, his triumphal

00:57:58.869 --> 00:58:02.429
entry was unfortunately their tragic entry because

00:58:02.429 --> 00:58:04.050
they were cheering for the king they wanted,

00:58:04.090 --> 00:58:08.150
not for the king he was. They wanted a political

00:58:08.150 --> 00:58:11.449
liberator, not a suffering servant. They wanted

00:58:11.449 --> 00:58:14.610
a Messiah who would overthrow Rome, but not one

00:58:14.610 --> 00:58:18.329
who would overthrow sin in their heart. They

00:58:18.329 --> 00:58:23.929
wanted a king that they could say no to. They

00:58:23.929 --> 00:58:28.130
wanted a king. who had to ask permission of them

00:58:28.130 --> 00:58:30.889
to invade their life and to change their heart

00:58:30.889 --> 00:58:35.769
and their behavior. Can you imagine? The audacity?

00:58:35.869 --> 00:58:38.809
Yeah, you're my king, but I won't stop doing

00:58:38.809 --> 00:58:42.429
that. You're my king, but nope, I will not give

00:58:42.429 --> 00:58:45.969
you that day on my calendar. You're my king,

00:58:45.989 --> 00:58:48.489
but no, I'm not going to give you of my resources

00:58:48.489 --> 00:58:52.170
the way you want me to. Does that sound ridiculous

00:58:52.170 --> 00:58:56.170
to anybody else? And yet that's what they wanted.

00:58:56.829 --> 00:59:00.329
It's a similar pattern today. Some people want

00:59:00.329 --> 00:59:02.489
to follow Jesus simply hoping he will fix their

00:59:02.489 --> 00:59:05.369
outward circumstances and make life better. Some

00:59:05.369 --> 00:59:07.869
will follow Jesus because, you know, the community

00:59:07.869 --> 00:59:11.449
feels good and the vibe is nice. And some even

00:59:11.449 --> 00:59:13.530
follow Jesus because they're in a hard season

00:59:13.530 --> 00:59:15.469
of life and they go, well, he seems like he might

00:59:15.469 --> 00:59:20.829
help. And none of those are wrong desires. Jesus

00:59:20.829 --> 00:59:27.539
does help. The community is awesome. He can and

00:59:27.539 --> 00:59:32.320
will fix our circumstances, but he cares more

00:59:32.320 --> 00:59:34.579
about our bodies and our bills and our broken

00:59:34.579 --> 00:59:40.860
hearts. If our primary reason for following him

00:59:40.860 --> 00:59:43.880
is what we think he will do for us temporally,

00:59:43.940 --> 00:59:46.159
then our faith will be on very shaky ground.

00:59:48.199 --> 00:59:50.519
If we cry out that he's king of my life because

00:59:50.519 --> 00:59:54.480
we hope he's gonna overthrow our mean boss, when

00:59:54.480 --> 00:59:56.579
he doesn't overthrow your mean boss, you will

00:59:56.579 --> 00:59:58.599
find yourself saying, ah, never mind, crucify

00:59:58.599 --> 01:00:04.099
him. But when you follow him because he is king,

01:00:04.340 --> 01:00:08.559
and therefore that means he owns me, I'm his

01:00:08.559 --> 01:00:10.599
subject, I'm his servant, he has full control

01:00:10.599 --> 01:00:16.519
over my life, then you'll have a stable faith.

01:00:17.739 --> 01:00:21.079
A solid walk. When the suffering comes or he

01:00:21.079 --> 01:00:24.139
doesn't answer like you hoped, you won't be tempted

01:00:24.139 --> 01:00:27.099
to walk away or to back off or to shut down.

01:00:27.280 --> 01:00:30.079
The right primary reason to follow Jesus is because

01:00:30.079 --> 01:00:35.099
of who he is. That's it. He is God's anointed

01:00:35.099 --> 01:00:38.559
one, the Messiah, the Christ. He is the rightful

01:00:38.559 --> 01:00:41.440
king and ruler over every life on this planet.

01:00:42.670 --> 01:00:45.349
He is the lamb who took our sins to the cross

01:00:45.349 --> 01:00:48.130
and paid our debt, our penalty. He is the Lord

01:00:48.130 --> 01:00:51.170
of all who rose from the dead and is coming again

01:00:51.170 --> 01:00:55.030
in glory. And if our faith is rooted in his identity,

01:00:55.210 --> 01:01:00.369
and through his identity we define our identity,

01:01:00.650 --> 01:01:04.130
then regardless of what we walk through in life,

01:01:04.190 --> 01:01:10.389
our foundation will stand solid. So as the king

01:01:10.389 --> 01:01:14.250
rides into your life today, have you been clinging

01:01:14.250 --> 01:01:19.449
to your religion? Not pure and undefiled religion,

01:01:19.550 --> 01:01:21.610
but maybe your routines, your structures, your

01:01:21.610 --> 01:01:29.869
traditions. You know? Well, you didn't do this.

01:01:30.829 --> 01:01:32.670
You know, I've had people over the years, you

01:01:32.670 --> 01:01:34.309
know, why don't you do communion every week?

01:01:35.769 --> 01:01:40.860
I'm like, why do you do it every week? I've gone

01:01:40.860 --> 01:01:42.940
back and forth over the years, right? Maybe we

01:01:42.940 --> 01:01:45.079
should observe Lent as a church. It's a beautiful

01:01:45.079 --> 01:01:49.639
tradition. But every once in a blue moon, there's

01:01:49.639 --> 01:01:51.260
someone that says, why don't you follow Lent?

01:01:51.260 --> 01:01:54.099
Like we're doing something ungodly by not following

01:01:54.099 --> 01:01:57.539
Lent. Or Advent or all the other things. I'm

01:01:57.539 --> 01:01:59.079
like, I love Advent, right? I get a calendar

01:01:59.079 --> 01:02:01.719
with candy in it for a bunch of days. It's beautiful.

01:02:04.400 --> 01:02:08.019
No, there's beautiful things in the traditions,

01:02:08.179 --> 01:02:12.210
right? But if we don't follow that particular

01:02:12.210 --> 01:02:15.230
tradition, does it mean we're somehow an unspiritual

01:02:15.230 --> 01:02:18.690
or ungodly church? Not at all. Because it's not

01:02:18.690 --> 01:02:24.130
about traditions. It's about Jesus. So have you

01:02:24.130 --> 01:02:26.409
been clinging to your structure and your traditions,

01:02:26.510 --> 01:02:28.809
or do you just have a living relationship with

01:02:28.809 --> 01:02:32.750
Jesus Christ himself? Does scripture govern all

01:02:32.750 --> 01:02:34.750
your thoughts and beliefs about who Jesus is,

01:02:34.869 --> 01:02:37.869
or have you been putting your opinions up there?

01:02:38.559 --> 01:02:43.719
Right next to the word of God. Have you been

01:02:43.719 --> 01:02:48.820
going, well, the Bible says he's my king. But

01:02:48.820 --> 01:02:51.760
my opinion is that means something different

01:02:51.760 --> 01:02:56.940
than he has full ownership of my life. Are you

01:02:56.940 --> 01:02:59.739
just watching or admiring him from afar? Or are

01:02:59.739 --> 01:03:05.300
you following him? Right? Does Jesus as the king

01:03:05.300 --> 01:03:11.380
simply have some input? into your life? Or are

01:03:11.380 --> 01:03:13.380
you denying yourself, taking up your cross and

01:03:13.380 --> 01:03:20.619
following him as Lord? This king, this perfect

01:03:20.619 --> 01:03:26.619
God who came in the flesh is inviting all of

01:03:26.619 --> 01:03:32.400
us this morning to go from our routines to a

01:03:32.400 --> 01:03:36.489
relationship with him. Not to say the routines

01:03:36.489 --> 01:03:39.309
are evil, but no, they aren't the point. He's

01:03:39.309 --> 01:03:42.550
the point. He's inviting us to open the word

01:03:42.550 --> 01:03:45.690
and let God correct our understanding and deepen

01:03:45.690 --> 01:03:48.489
our understanding. He's inviting us to say, hey,

01:03:48.510 --> 01:03:50.789
great, you have opinions, awesome. But if they

01:03:50.789 --> 01:03:54.030
contradict with my word, give up those opinions

01:03:54.030 --> 01:03:58.550
and live according to my word. He's inviting

01:03:58.550 --> 01:04:04.280
us to follow him. not just watch. And so when

01:04:04.280 --> 01:04:07.619
the king rides in, my prayer this morning for

01:04:07.619 --> 01:04:09.260
all of us is that we don't just wave a branch

01:04:09.260 --> 01:04:13.159
and then go home unchanged, but instead we open

01:04:13.159 --> 01:04:15.599
the gates of our heart and we invite him in and

01:04:15.599 --> 01:04:18.519
we yield ourselves to him as Lord because that

01:04:18.519 --> 01:04:24.119
is who he is. Amen? Let's pray. Father God, we

01:04:24.119 --> 01:04:33.409
love you. And Lord, I pray, God, that you would

01:04:33.409 --> 01:04:40.690
move amongst us your people to submit ourselves

01:04:40.690 --> 01:04:44.710
to you as king. Lord, there may be some in here

01:04:44.710 --> 01:04:46.889
today that have never truly surrendered to you,

01:04:46.909 --> 01:04:49.250
given their life over to you. Maybe there's some

01:04:49.250 --> 01:04:52.469
here this morning who have wandered off and just

01:04:52.469 --> 01:04:55.590
need to return to you, Lord. And God, I pray

01:04:55.590 --> 01:04:57.449
that as your Holy Spirit has been knocking on

01:04:57.449 --> 01:04:59.780
their heart this morning, that That they would

01:04:59.780 --> 01:05:03.260
be able to simply just pray to you and say, Lord

01:05:03.260 --> 01:05:07.280
Jesus, I see you riding into Jerusalem as king

01:05:07.280 --> 01:05:12.019
and as a lamb of God. And I confess, Lord, that

01:05:12.019 --> 01:05:17.260
I've maybe trusted in my own efforts or my traditions.

01:05:19.199 --> 01:05:21.920
Or maybe I've trusted in my own opinions or even

01:05:21.920 --> 01:05:28.460
my own way. God, I'm tired of the... emptiness

01:05:28.460 --> 01:05:31.519
of a man -centered religion. I'm tired of just

01:05:31.519 --> 01:05:37.179
watching you from a distance. Jesus, I believe

01:05:37.179 --> 01:05:39.280
that you died on the cross for my sins and rose

01:05:39.280 --> 01:05:43.559
from the dead. Today, God, I choose to turn from

01:05:43.559 --> 01:05:47.320
my sin. I choose to turn from being my own ruler

01:05:47.320 --> 01:05:52.519
and I ask you to forgive me, to save me, and

01:05:52.519 --> 01:05:57.500
to be my king. Help me through the power of your

01:05:57.500 --> 01:06:02.780
Holy Spirit to follow you as a disciple, as a

01:06:02.780 --> 01:06:09.219
servant every day. Help me to be who you've created

01:06:09.219 --> 01:06:15.360
me to be. Lord, I trust you. I believe in you.

01:06:18.599 --> 01:06:22.860
It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. You know, if

01:06:22.860 --> 01:06:25.469
you gave your life to the Lord today, on this

01:06:25.469 --> 01:06:31.190
Palm Sunday. Hallelujah. Your life is changed

01:06:31.190 --> 01:06:37.849
forever. Yeah. If you're watching online, you

01:06:37.849 --> 01:06:40.969
know, responding to the King is the most important,

01:06:41.190 --> 01:06:43.849
the most influential, the most impacting decision

01:06:43.849 --> 01:06:47.289
you could possibly ever make. Now, are you going

01:06:47.289 --> 01:06:51.170
to be a perfect person? No. Are you going to

01:06:51.170 --> 01:06:53.860
never make a mistake again? No, you're going

01:06:53.860 --> 01:06:57.119
to make mistakes. But the point being is now

01:06:57.119 --> 01:06:59.059
get into the Word of God. Start studying the

01:06:59.059 --> 01:07:00.880
Word of God. Make it a habit of your life every

01:07:00.880 --> 01:07:06.500
day. Worship Him. Pray. Yes, take serious this

01:07:06.500 --> 01:07:11.119
relationship you have with Jesus now that the

01:07:11.119 --> 01:07:13.400
religion you express in your life would be pure

01:07:13.400 --> 01:07:18.860
and undefiled, Christ -centered, selfless. Because

01:07:18.860 --> 01:07:22.989
today was the day. He was making that point.

01:07:23.130 --> 01:07:27.869
You have to make a decision. And if you've chosen

01:07:27.869 --> 01:07:30.070
to submit to him and follow him, you're saved.

01:07:30.349 --> 01:07:34.710
You're saved forever. You are now a child of

01:07:34.710 --> 01:07:37.150
the king. You're a subject of the kingdom. Praise

01:07:37.150 --> 01:07:41.090
God. Hallelujah. And it's not about follow this

01:07:41.090 --> 01:07:43.369
list and do this rule and all that. He loves

01:07:43.369 --> 01:07:46.809
you anyways, no matter what. But if you do things

01:07:46.809 --> 01:07:51.260
his way, life is better. So ask him to empower

01:07:51.260 --> 01:07:55.059
you to do that. Ask him to teach you and to mold

01:07:55.059 --> 01:07:57.860
you and to shape you. Not so that you earn his

01:07:57.860 --> 01:08:01.780
favor, you already have it. But so that you just

01:08:01.780 --> 01:08:06.400
live a life that glorifies your king and professes

01:08:06.400 --> 01:08:10.699
the faith you have and experiences the blessings

01:08:10.699 --> 01:08:14.320
that your king has for you. I look forward to

01:08:14.320 --> 01:08:16.420
seeing all of you this Friday at our Good Friday

01:08:16.420 --> 01:08:19.350
service as we reflect. on the death of our Lord

01:08:19.350 --> 01:08:22.930
and Savior Jesus Christ on the cross. I look

01:08:22.930 --> 01:08:25.750
forward to seeing all of you this Sunday as we

01:08:25.750 --> 01:08:29.449
celebrate the resurrection. This week is full

01:08:29.449 --> 01:08:31.109
of all those details that changed everything

01:08:31.109 --> 01:08:36.210
for us. For many of us, we have unsaved friends

01:08:36.210 --> 01:08:38.789
and family that won't come to church with us

01:08:38.789 --> 01:08:41.909
except on the holy high holidays. We'll invite

01:08:41.909 --> 01:08:47.310
them. Bring them. Oh, my car's not working. Guess

01:08:47.310 --> 01:08:51.850
what? Hey, I could pick you up. Pray that God

01:08:51.850 --> 01:08:54.890
would give you the opportunity to invite those

01:08:54.890 --> 01:08:58.149
you know that don't know Jesus Christ. Because

01:08:58.149 --> 01:08:59.949
this Sunday, as we talk about the resurrection

01:08:59.949 --> 01:09:02.010
of the Lord, I believe God is going to speak

01:09:02.010 --> 01:09:04.390
directly to their hearts about the resurrection

01:09:04.390 --> 01:09:09.050
he desires to do in their life. But for today,

01:09:09.189 --> 01:09:13.529
let's live, let's walk, let's breathe. Let's

01:09:13.529 --> 01:09:17.260
act like. Let's live like servants of the King.

01:09:17.340 --> 01:09:19.100
Amen. God bless you guys.