back to index2017-04-09 What An Entry
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Please turn your Bibles over to John chapter 12. 00:00:17.320 |
I'll be reading John chapter 12 and as Elder Joe has read verses 12 and down, I'm going 00:00:21.700 |
to be reading verses 1 through 11 as we talk about just the beginning portion of this Passion 00:00:29.160 |
And we're going to look at both Saturday night leading up to Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. 00:00:34.240 |
So I'll be reading a section verses 1 through 11, John chapter 12. 00:00:37.520 |
And it says this, "Jesus therefore six days before the Passover came to Bethany where 00:00:43.600 |
Lazarus was whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 00:00:47.040 |
So they made him a supper there and Martha was serving but Lazarus was one of those reclining 00:00:53.680 |
Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus 00:01:02.000 |
And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 00:01:05.560 |
But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, was intending to betray him, said, 'Why was 00:01:10.600 |
this perfume not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor people?'" 00:01:14.840 |
Now he said this not because he was concerned about the poor but because he was a thief. 00:01:19.800 |
And as he had the money box he used to pilfer what was put into it. 00:01:23.440 |
"Therefore Jesus said, 'Let her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 00:01:30.120 |
For you always have the poor with you but you do not always have me.' 00:01:35.800 |
The large crowd of the Jews then learned that he was there and they came and not for Jesus' 00:01:41.440 |
sake only but that they might also see Lazarus whom he raised from the dead. 00:01:45.680 |
But the chief priest planned to put Lazarus to death also because on account of him many 00:01:50.040 |
of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus." 00:01:54.520 |
Our God we want to thank you for your truth and word and particularly God we pray that 00:02:00.000 |
our hearts will be filled with true gratefulness and appreciation for Christ who he is, his 00:02:06.760 |
work and I ask God that from an overflow of our heart being filled with the knowledge 00:02:12.920 |
of Christ, Lord we would render to you our attention, our worship, our lives. 00:02:22.560 |
So as we take a look at some of these events that take place, we do this each year. 00:02:29.680 |
Take a look at the story, we read the passages. 00:02:33.480 |
In many ways this season is a good memorial time of everything that's happened. 00:02:39.480 |
And one of the things that we want to make sure we do is not just say, "Okay, it's 00:02:43.640 |
Easter, I get it, Jesus passed and was resurrected, I know the story." 00:02:48.520 |
But continue to discover by asking what really happened, how did it go down and the altogether 00:03:01.400 |
Because that question oftentimes gets us to have a glimpse of both the heart of Christ 00:03:06.120 |
and also the heart of the people involved and that's incredibly important for us. 00:03:10.960 |
Right now I just read that section about Mary. 00:03:14.600 |
You know there's Mary, Martha and Lazarus and they're familiar characters in the Bible, 00:03:20.760 |
But here Mary expresses in quite profound fashion her love for the Savior and we want 00:03:29.240 |
What really happened, how did it go down and also why? 00:03:32.640 |
And that proves to be an incredible inspiration and a conviction for us. 00:03:38.340 |
Because especially in times of remembering Christ, we don't want to just simply remember 00:03:44.280 |
We want to make sure that we are appreciating Christ, okay? 00:03:49.120 |
So as we take a look at the example that we just read, I want to highlight just a couple 00:03:54.680 |
aspects of how Mary expressed her love for the Savior. 00:04:00.320 |
The first, there is just an incredible amount of boldness, you know? 00:04:06.000 |
The way that Mary came into the scene at this, there is just this boldness in something that's 00:04:12.040 |
surprising, something that's not, you know, just not expected. 00:04:15.840 |
I mean think about the fact that she came into the dining like everybody was reclining 00:04:21.500 |
and having the meal and clearly it wasn't just Jesus. 00:04:25.240 |
It was Lazarus was there, the disciples were there, they're seeing it, Judas is seeing 00:04:32.160 |
And I mean for some, especially let's say for the ladies, right? 00:04:36.240 |
If let's say you were looking for somebody, I'm just going to use Elder Joe as an example, 00:04:41.120 |
You're looking for him because you want to talk to him about joining praise or you just 00:04:43.840 |
want to express to him like, "You do a great job, you know? 00:04:47.800 |
The worship team as a whole does an awesome job. 00:04:51.600 |
So you're looking through the church, you get to an office room, you open it up and 00:05:05.880 |
I remember even one time there was just like three or four of us having a small group. 00:05:10.240 |
One of the sisters left their purse in the room, they opened the door and they're like, 00:05:14.760 |
and even without saying a word, they just like slowly closed the door, you know? 00:05:18.520 |
Because whenever that many people like look at you, you're just automatically very what, 00:05:23.960 |
You're timid, you're like, "Oh shoot, I bothered something," right? 00:05:26.800 |
I mean, how many of you ladies would sit there and be like, "No, Joe, I need to tell you. 00:05:30.920 |
Actually, I'm going to let my hair down and I need to speak to you now," you know? 00:05:35.960 |
This is what I mean when I say this is unusually bold, you know? 00:05:42.120 |
She takes the scene and what's more, she makes a big scene by taking something precious and 00:05:50.560 |
She makes a big scene by letting down her hair and wiping his feet. 00:05:55.560 |
This is an incredible bold show of her affection for the Savior, right? 00:06:01.560 |
And this really does just ask a question to us, you know? 00:06:08.320 |
In terms of our expressions of love and our care for Christ, our sense of that like, "Christ, 00:06:14.440 |
Truthfully speaking, there are times when seasons go by and we don't say those words 00:06:23.160 |
Because it almost feels just like if someone, like I don't know, a girlfriend forced you, 00:06:27.520 |
It's like, "I don't want to say it in public, man," you know? 00:06:29.840 |
I don't know what it is, but we're almost fearful of saying those words to our own Savior. 00:06:35.080 |
But here we have an example of Mary being very public and bold with her affection for 00:06:41.720 |
What's more, I want to focus in on the perfume, okay? 00:06:46.400 |
And it's just one facet of the story, but the story itself focuses on it by talking 00:06:51.880 |
about how, verse 3, it was a pound, very costly, pure, nard, and later Judas appears like, 00:07:02.720 |
There's already in the text an attention given to the perfume, okay? 00:07:08.360 |
Now as we think about this story, she takes this, it says here a pound of it, you know? 00:07:14.920 |
In other translations, it'll say a liter, like so. 00:07:17.360 |
Essentially, as I was looking at the commentaries, they're trying to gauge what the term was 00:07:21.760 |
but just imagine like a bottle of your 20-ounce Gatorade, mostly full, not all the way, but 00:07:32.160 |
And to think about this, she comes over and with oils and stuff, typically you just need 00:07:38.320 |
I remember back when I was in high school, I wore a lot of cologne, just confessing my 00:07:43.880 |
And you just wear cologne to impress people, you know? 00:07:47.520 |
So I remember back then, I don't know what people wear now, so I don't know, okay? 00:07:50.840 |
But back then, if you just wanted to be cool around your buddies, then you wore Hugo Boss 00:07:57.800 |
But then if you wanted to impress the ladies, then you wear that, what is it? 00:08:04.720 |
Anyway, so you wear the nice stuff, the one that smells all attractive and stuff, right? 00:08:09.600 |
Now what I'm getting at is you wear that stuff, again, it's just really fragrant. 00:08:14.160 |
Now when my buddies and I, I remember like just one spray of a bottle goes a long way, 00:08:21.840 |
Oh, there's another one, Cool Water, you guys? 00:08:25.840 |
So anyway, you wear that stuff, one spray is enough, but then there are those guys who 00:08:30.000 |
are like, "Shh, shh, shh," and then everyone's like, "Oh, dude, you're trying way too hard, 00:08:35.920 |
It's like, "Too much, two, three sprays and you're overdoing it." 00:08:39.560 |
Well, the reason why I bring this up is because she takes an entire bottle of pure concentrated 00:08:46.080 |
fragrance and pours it on his feet and it says in the passage, the smell just fills 00:08:57.840 |
But what I want to highlight about that is that perfume then, it's just this jar, jar 00:09:04.080 |
of this perfume and it kind of goes on to say that she takes this whole thing and pours 00:09:07.920 |
it out and then when Judas sees that, he gets all like upheaved about it and says, "What 00:09:16.800 |
See for Mary, she took this thing that cost an incredible amount of money. 00:09:22.320 |
The passage itself describes how this potentially has cost about 300 denarii and then it even 00:09:27.760 |
like gives a commentary saying this is about a year's wage of an average worker. 00:09:33.480 |
What's really interesting, the commentators say, I mean like average worker, so what is 00:09:38.160 |
Is that like engineer salary or is that like, you know, collegiate salary? 00:09:44.040 |
Well, the commentators say that when you talk about denarii, you're talking about like that 00:09:52.600 |
So a Roman soldier who would work the entire year would save about this much then. 00:09:57.400 |
So you're thinking in our day, kind of relative corollary cost, $30,000 to $40,000 on one 00:10:05.880 |
And even today, cologne is incredibly expensive. 00:10:08.960 |
Like a five ounce little bottle that you spray costs like what, $50, $60, right? 00:10:13.560 |
Likewise, this perfume was incredibly expensive. 00:10:16.160 |
As a matter of fact, most people say, I mean, it sounds to me like maybe that family, Martha, 00:10:20.920 |
Mary, and Lazarus, they were pretty well off. 00:10:26.160 |
So most commentators say this is probably like an heirloom, something that's been passed 00:10:29.920 |
down from their family, something that was kind of hold as a precious like a collection 00:10:36.040 |
Maybe they had a family out far who knew them. 00:10:40.280 |
Maybe they knew somebody who were in higher ups and they gave it as a gift and they held 00:10:45.860 |
Because this wasn't something just readily available. 00:10:50.960 |
They say that this, you know, they don't know exactly what plant it came from, but they 00:11:07.000 |
They say from the mountains of northern India, you know? 00:11:17.600 |
Judas is all upset because he's thinking like, you just wiped it all off. 00:11:23.880 |
If you're going to clean, just clean with water and sell it, you know? 00:11:30.220 |
Because the heart affection of Mary is showing. 00:11:36.000 |
It's not voiced, but externally through action. 00:11:41.480 |
Every drop of this precious perfume, you are worthy. 00:11:54.880 |
Where this treasure that other people are looking at, I could literally pour because 00:12:03.440 |
The passage contrasts Judas to just show the value of Christ and the worthy of Christ as 00:12:12.240 |
it shows Judas reveal his perspective on the Lord Savior. 00:12:23.680 |
Luke's saying like, you know, and John knows, and everybody knows. 00:12:27.160 |
He didn't say this because he really cared for the poor. 00:12:32.400 |
He was always a selfish man looking for an opportunity. 00:12:38.440 |
But even then, when he says things like, "Why didn't we do something else?" 00:12:46.040 |
What that tells me is generally speaking, he does not see Christ as valuable as other 00:12:55.520 |
In his mind, there are other worthy causes that supersede this act that Mary is doing. 00:13:02.240 |
And you know, there are lots of people even this day, whether it's social justice, whether 00:13:06.080 |
it's whatever different ambitions and desires that they have, they're good. 00:13:11.800 |
But in light of this, there is this teaching. 00:13:15.240 |
If we do not understand the value of Christ, if we do not understand the value and treasure 00:13:20.800 |
of the person of Christ, then we don't understand worship. 00:13:24.840 |
If we don't understand worship, then we don't have a good scale of value system of anything 00:13:29.880 |
else and therefore we don't understand Christianity. 00:13:34.560 |
We need to understand the value of our Savior. 00:13:38.240 |
And when Judas is sitting here saying, "Why didn't we go and do this? 00:13:49.080 |
That in stark contrast, Judas never saw Jesus worthy. 00:13:53.020 |
And we know that in a few days, Judas will betray Christ. 00:13:58.320 |
And do you remember for how many pieces of silver Judas betrayed the Lord? 00:14:08.480 |
Here Mary just poured out 300 denarii, it's pretty much equivalent. 00:14:12.480 |
300 denarii, 300 silver coins essentially, pouring it out on Jesus' feet. 00:14:18.840 |
And Judas is sitting there saying, "Man, Jesus is even worth 10% of that." 00:14:25.640 |
That's the way that Judas' heart is thinking. 00:14:29.360 |
And so here we have this moment for us then, a moment of conviction as we see the heart 00:14:37.620 |
of Mary being poured out on the Savior and her expression of love. 00:14:44.120 |
Do you currently have a hard time mustering up that kind of affection for Savior? 00:14:51.880 |
You know, I talked about how we're in a season where it's like a memorial, you know? 00:14:56.020 |
And so that would be a lot like an anniversary for a wedding. 00:14:59.800 |
But what good would it be for a husband to put together like an album, put together like 00:15:04.280 |
a little history and like, "Look, we, you know, 10 years ago we met and then we had 00:15:08.080 |
this and we had that and we had the history and then said, 'Okay, I'm done.'" 00:15:12.520 |
What good would it be just to go and review all the details if in the anniversary He wasn't 00:15:17.440 |
appreciating, expressing, and saying, and rededicating, recommitting, and showing, "This 00:15:27.040 |
And as years go by, as I learn more, as I think and reflect and I have these years with 00:15:35.380 |
So I ask you, in terms of the affection in your heart, you know, in terms of the expressiveness 00:15:44.480 |
Because in this season is when we need to sit down and ask ourselves these kind of questions. 00:15:48.680 |
And then it is our ambition, it is the goal of every sermon, but especially in this time, 00:15:53.760 |
to ask how can we make sure that we bear in our mind, our heart, the presence of Christ 00:16:05.160 |
How shall we make sure that we especially move, are moved in our hearts with the deep 00:16:09.640 |
sense of gratitude, "Lord, we're so thankful for who you are and what you've done." 00:16:19.380 |
So in order to do that, what I hope to do is by covering that entry of Christ into Jerusalem, 00:16:26.760 |
I want to highlight for you now several aspects, three aspects of Christ's glory, of Christ's 00:16:36.680 |
The first I want to say to you is this, every single thing leading up to Christ's entrance 00:16:45.240 |
Every single thing that happens at Jerusalem, every single thing post His sacrifice, everything 00:16:58.640 |
When you look at even the time of Jesus in that, you know, the dinner with the family 00:17:10.000 |
What's happening is Jesus is just making His trek and His path to Jerusalem and it's just 00:17:16.220 |
And then surprising to everybody else, Mary comes in and does this expressive show of 00:17:22.720 |
Now here's an interesting statement that Jesus says. 00:17:26.440 |
When Jesus rebukes Judas and says, "You leave her alone," right? 00:17:32.560 |
Well, if you take a look, He says, "Leave her alone that she may keep it for the day 00:17:40.920 |
Now if you think about that carefully, on one sense, you might be like, "Wow, Jesus 00:17:52.600 |
And so He says, "Oh, you know, this is in preparation." 00:17:56.200 |
But I actually think, "Wow, even in this, the anointing of Christ through the love of 00:18:07.480 |
Jesus is preparing for His own path to His own burial, right?" 00:18:12.760 |
I mean, if you think about it, just even the way that Mary is doing everything, it is really 00:18:21.560 |
And my case to you is going to be even the preparation leading up to this point is all 00:18:26.800 |
in the sovereignty of Christ, the glorious sovereign hand of Christ. 00:18:31.240 |
There's a passage in Luke chapter 18, verse 31 through 33. 00:18:36.760 |
We're going to, because of the parallel Gospels and stuff, we're going to look at different 00:18:42.120 |
Well, here in Luke chapter 18, verse 31 through 33, Jesus is teaching the disciples, okay, 00:18:50.200 |
"And taking the twelve, He said to them, 'See, we're going up to Jerusalem, and everything 00:18:57.640 |
that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.'" 00:19:03.240 |
And then He says, "For He will be delivered over the Gentiles, He will be mocked, He will 00:19:08.000 |
be shamefully treated and spit upon, and after flogging Him, they will kill Him, and on the 00:19:17.000 |
I mean, to the detail of what the Gentiles are going to do, how He's going to be treated, 00:19:21.520 |
He knows what's coming, and my case to you is going to be, He is absolutely sovereign 00:19:27.840 |
And as a matter of fact, even in the preparation to get there, He's completely sovereign. 00:19:33.160 |
And that's why, even long before, when does He start preparing to go to Jerusalem? 00:19:37.480 |
In Luke chapter 9, verse 51, He says, "And when the day drew near for Him to be taken 00:19:42.120 |
up," in some of your passages it'll say, "the ascension," "He set His face to go to Jerusalem." 00:19:47.880 |
And what I'm saying is, especially in this Passion Week, what's something glorious about 00:19:55.880 |
our Lord Jesus Christ is that, even though there is an angry mom, even though even in 00:19:59.960 |
the story read, the Pharisees are mad, even though the Pharisees are scheming to kill 00:20:04.360 |
not only Jesus, but the evidence of Jesus' power, which is Lazarus, the man, you know, 00:20:13.880 |
Even though all that's going on, Jesus is absolutely sovereign. 00:20:24.880 |
Reading a parallel passage of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. 00:20:29.600 |
And I want you to kind of pay careful attention to the sovereignty of Christ in all the preparation 00:20:39.320 |
I'm going to start reading from verse 28, okay? 00:20:45.920 |
"After He had said these things, He was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 00:20:51.160 |
When He approached Bethage and Bethany near the mount that is called Olivet, He sent two 00:20:57.800 |
of the disciples, saying, 'Go into the village ahead of you. 00:21:01.400 |
There, as you enter, you will find a colt tied on, which no one yet has ever sat. 00:21:09.680 |
If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' 00:21:14.840 |
So those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them. 00:21:19.060 |
As they were untying the colt, its owner said to them, 'Why are you untying the colt?' 00:21:26.040 |
They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. 00:21:31.040 |
As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. 00:21:34.160 |
As soon as He was approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of 00:21:38.720 |
the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which 00:21:43.640 |
they had seen, shouting, 'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! 00:21:51.740 |
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, 'Teacher, rebuke your disciples!' 00:21:55.280 |
But Jesus answered, 'I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out.'" 00:22:01.840 |
Okay, I want to highlight for you something interesting here. 00:22:06.040 |
I'm highlighting the idea that Jesus is sovereign. 00:22:10.880 |
I mean, I think to me, in my mind, this is a hilarious thing. 00:22:15.520 |
I mean, everything again from the bottle to even the donkeys is under the sovereign hand, 00:22:22.720 |
Because Jesus tells them ahead of time, the two disciples, I'm presuming that maybe Luke 00:22:27.400 |
is one of them because the Gospel of John doesn't have this, but Luke does. 00:22:31.480 |
Luke says, "Jesus told us exactly what the owner would say." 00:22:36.920 |
Jesus told us what we're to say and then we would get the donkeys. 00:22:41.440 |
And I just want you to think about this hilarious moment in Scripture with me, okay? 00:22:46.280 |
There's two guys, they're sitting there like, "Oh man, we gotta go get some donkeys." 00:22:52.600 |
I don't want to be the guy who looks like he's going to steal a donkey, you know what 00:22:57.520 |
I mean, essentially, because that's what they're doing, they're going to go over, they're going 00:22:59.600 |
to untie this donkey and pull it over and then some guy is going to be like, "Hey, you, 00:23:05.520 |
But instead, the owner is like, "Why are you untying my donkey?" 00:23:08.760 |
And I could just imagine the two guys sitting there like, "Um," and then they're like, 00:23:14.680 |
And they're like, "Oh shoot, he just said what Jesus said he would say." 00:23:19.440 |
And then one of them goes, "The Lord needs it." 00:23:42.320 |
Please turn in your Bibles to Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9. 00:23:45.320 |
Jesus fulfills sovereignly, prophecy down to the very detail of even the animal that 00:23:54.320 |
In Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9, this is what the passage says. 00:24:07.200 |
He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the 00:24:16.880 |
I mean, before this passage, I've never been so amazed by a donkey before. 00:24:24.720 |
It's so specific to the Scriptures that it says right here in Zechariah 9 verse 9, the 00:24:31.320 |
second part of it, notice how it says, "He comes with salvation, humble, mounted on a 00:24:35.840 |
donkey," and then he says, "Even on a colt, a fowl of a donkey." 00:24:42.440 |
If you study the passage and you compare the different parallels, some passages will say 00:24:49.000 |
But Luke is more specific because I think he was involved. 00:24:54.360 |
I had to Google what is a colt because I have no idea what a colt is. 00:25:02.960 |
A colt, you can say a colt is a baby horse, a baby donkey. 00:25:06.520 |
And so that's why Jesus says there hasn't been anyone who's even ridden this one yet, 00:25:13.920 |
And what's interesting is because the baby colt will only follow the mother, they've 00:25:18.320 |
actually brought both and Jesus had the option of riding the mother donkey, which is bigger, 00:25:23.920 |
or the baby donkey, fulfilling prophecy to the very last detail, he rode the colt. 00:25:34.680 |
And I think about that and I say, "My goodness, the glory of Christ in fulfilling all of these 00:25:41.920 |
And truthfully speaking, if you were to just research the various things, everything from 00:25:46.160 |
the words that people say, the words "Hosanna," everything from the words that people say, 00:25:50.440 |
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," everything in terms of what the people 00:25:57.800 |
This as you know is one of the most prophesied, incredible moments of all history. 00:26:05.560 |
And what I'm saying is there is glory in our Savior, Jesus Christ, because he is absolutely 00:26:13.160 |
But what's amazing about all that is the second part, his glory is expounded because not only 00:26:18.440 |
is he so powerful and sovereign, he comes in so ridiculously humble, so humble. 00:26:28.880 |
And the obvious is there, he comes in riding in, everyone's like, "This is the Messiah, 00:26:35.680 |
victory, we're going to have our revolution." 00:26:40.480 |
And then he's coming in on this little donkey, like slow going, you know. 00:26:48.800 |
But I want to show you a different kind of humility, a kind of humility that's willing 00:27:06.240 |
There is a prophecy in Psalm 118, verse 25 to 26 that says, "Save us, we pray, O Lord. 00:27:15.400 |
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:27:19.560 |
That prophecy, people recite every year, actually multiple times a year, different festivals 00:27:28.440 |
And they recite this Psalm from Psalm 113 to 118, anticipating the Messiah. 00:27:38.480 |
You know, like for me, there was a time when, you know, you watch basketball games on TV. 00:27:43.200 |
There's an amazing shot and everybody goes wild, like, "Whoa!" 00:27:46.840 |
You know, you at your house might go wild, "Whoa!" 00:27:51.720 |
But it's different when you're actually there at a game. 00:27:54.320 |
Like I got a chance to go to a Laker game before, and I remember the feeling of having 00:28:03.200 |
But remember at this time, there are not just hundreds of thousands of people. 00:28:09.160 |
There are commentators who kind of differ on like how many people. 00:28:11.880 |
There are people who like literally looked into record books. 00:28:14.280 |
Well, interestingly enough, they had record books of how many sacrifices are given at 00:28:21.120 |
And so you can kind of tell how many families reside in Jerusalem as a demographic, meaning 00:28:26.880 |
outside of Passover, how many people reside in Jerusalem. 00:28:31.480 |
The fact was that in Jerusalem, there was close to 200,000 people. 00:28:35.040 |
During Passover, where people take pilgrimage, you have literally millions of people coming, 00:28:40.480 |
I just want you to think about the craziest football stadium, the craziest basketball 00:28:45.160 |
event, the craziest anything you've ever experienced, where a mass of people were screaming something 00:28:55.160 |
I'm going to try something with you guys, just for the sake of effect. 00:28:58.560 |
Okay, not with the mic, but we're going to just say on the count of three, one, two, 00:29:12.680 |
On the count of three, let's just yell, "Hosanna!" 00:29:26.580 |
When you are at stadiums at max, you're at 30. 00:29:38.480 |
But the thing about it is, the reason why I say this highlights the glory of Christ 00:29:42.320 |
is because the night before, he was preparing for his triumphant entry. 00:29:49.880 |
The night before, he was preparing and anointed for his glorious entrance into Jerusalem. 00:29:56.860 |
A Saturday night, he was getting prepared for his burial. 00:30:01.060 |
Everybody else, the masses and ignorance is singing, "Yes! 00:30:05.340 |
Now it's time for resurgence of the Jewish people, overthrow of the Roman government. 00:30:15.220 |
He said, "The thing about it is, they praised him and said, 'You are a savior.' 00:30:26.060 |
But then they got palm branches and said, 'We're going to make you king to overthrow 00:30:30.340 |
What's really interesting, I believe, I could be wrong here, but I think the palm 00:30:46.300 |
There's no prophecy of him becoming this kind of king here and there because what the 00:30:51.300 |
Scripture tells us is that first he's going to come to suffer and then he's going to 00:30:58.100 |
But my point is there's a glory in Jesus Christ because nobody understands him. 00:31:02.880 |
Not only do the masses not understand him, even his own disciples don't understand him. 00:31:07.460 |
The people who are closest to him don't understand him. 00:31:09.660 |
And he is now walking this path alone, in a sense, surrounded by a million people who 00:31:18.260 |
Have you ever felt alone, surrounded by a lot of people because people don't understand 00:31:23.820 |
Have you felt what it feels like when people misinterpret what you say? 00:31:30.620 |
They misjudge you, consider things that maybe alter your motives to you. 00:31:37.020 |
It's humbling for you to sit there and still walk the path, maintain your composure. 00:31:43.880 |
If I, because I'm prideful, was there, I would rebuke not the people, but everybody. 00:31:57.940 |
This past Friday I was teaching the collegians and as I was just thinking about what Christ 00:32:05.700 |
did and especially in this season, there are certain things that Jesus said and I said, 00:32:09.820 |
in this time, in this season, Jesus said some of the most truest statements ever. 00:32:16.960 |
When he said, "Father, forgive them because they have no idea what they do." 00:32:21.660 |
These people have no idea what they're asking for, no idea who they're looking at, and Jesus 00:32:28.780 |
And there's a great amount of humility for him to be able to bear underneath that kind 00:32:39.940 |
But walk with me a little bit down some other passages because I want to highlight, you 00:32:46.260 |
know, I want to highlight another aspect of Jesus' glory as we, you know, follow this 00:32:59.420 |
Here's an interesting idea and I'm just going to carry it along from the idea that the people 00:33:07.580 |
don't understand what he's really doing but Jesus is still set. 00:33:16.500 |
Scriptures would say that he set his face like flint and he was just going, right? 00:33:22.780 |
Well, what's really interesting is what people did not understand was again, everybody expected 00:33:31.260 |
Everybody expected him and they wanted to wave those palm branches. 00:33:34.460 |
And I made the case that Jesus is humble because they were mistaken to wave those branches 00:33:39.500 |
Well, we asked the question, did ever Scriptures talk about palm branches, that he would come 00:33:50.300 |
If you actually turn your Bibles over to Revelation chapter 7, verses 9 through 12, here's where 00:33:59.980 |
Revelation chapter 7, verses 9 through 12, this is where palm branches appear. 00:34:07.340 |
And I think you guys already understand where I'm going with this. 00:34:10.660 |
For we know in hindsight and we know because Scripture has told us that there is going 00:34:15.980 |
to be a time when Jesus is going to come and he's going to be such a righteous king, such 00:34:24.420 |
And this is what it says, "After this I looked," starting from verse 9, "After this I looked 00:34:28.380 |
and behold a great multitude that no one could number even greater than that was in Jerusalem. 00:34:33.300 |
From every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and 00:34:37.060 |
before the lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out 00:34:42.380 |
with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb.' 00:34:48.140 |
And all the angels were standing around the throne, around the elders and the four living 00:34:52.380 |
creatures and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God saying, 'Amen, 00:34:59.020 |
blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God 00:35:08.060 |
Now if you would turn to chapter 19 of Revelations, starting from verse 1, okay? 00:35:12.460 |
So flip over a couple pages, go to chapter 19 of Revelations starting from verse 1. 00:35:18.980 |
It says, "After this I heard what seemed to be a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven 00:35:27.180 |
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God for His judgments are true and just.'" 00:35:33.260 |
So same theme, same motif of Jesus Christ coming in and everybody singing, hosts of 00:35:48.180 |
"Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse. 00:35:53.180 |
The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True and in righteousness. 00:35:59.260 |
His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written 00:36:06.660 |
He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name by which he is called is the Word 00:36:11.900 |
And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white 00:36:19.020 |
From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule 00:36:23.540 |
them with a rod of iron and he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of 00:36:29.380 |
On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords." 00:36:36.460 |
So I'm making a long thought here which is first, Jesus is misunderstood and that shows 00:36:45.820 |
his humility because he's still able to walk the path. 00:36:49.500 |
But as we see, there is an incredible misunderstanding but yet he's so determined to do this even 00:36:56.100 |
though he could have come with the way they expected. 00:37:01.180 |
And my point is going to be we see the glory then of Christ, not simply in his sovereignty, 00:37:14.780 |
Because if he came the way they expected, everybody would die. 00:37:21.960 |
If he came the way they wanted, everybody will be accursed, everybody will be judged 00:37:26.980 |
because if he arrived the way they anticipated, he would have to come with judgment and wrath. 00:37:36.340 |
He would have to come in glory and sinners cannot stand in that kind of glory. 00:37:42.420 |
The glory that we experience on his entrance into Jerusalem is the glory of his humility 00:37:49.660 |
Is the glory of him coming determined not to come as the lion but the lamb. 00:37:55.340 |
That is mercy and mercy and mercy upon the people, everybody there and that's why he's 00:38:00.380 |
expressing his heart to them, "I'm having mercy on you as I enter in on a cult." 00:38:08.060 |
And I always wondered, what does Jesus look like? 00:38:10.900 |
I wish I was there to see him because everyone's just dancing and they have their palm branches 00:38:16.420 |
and they're crying out but I wondered what Jesus looked like because he could see through 00:38:25.440 |
He knew the other category of people who were still kind of like, "I don't know about this 00:38:29.780 |
He knew the other people who were like, "I don't know what's going on but I'm just following." 00:38:32.180 |
He knew what was going on in the hearts of people. 00:38:35.620 |
But what's more, he knew that what he was accomplishing. 00:38:42.100 |
Well, thankfully for us, the scriptures tell us. 00:38:46.580 |
If you turn in your Bibles back to Luke chapter 19 verse 41, Luke chapter 19 verse 41, it 00:38:57.380 |
says in this passage, okay, that after his entry towards Jerusalem and after the greatest 00:39:06.180 |
human reception into Jerusalem ever, it says in verse 41, "When he approached Jerusalem, 00:39:14.460 |
he saw the city and he wept over it saying, 'Only if you had known in this day even you 00:39:24.520 |
But now they have been hidden from your eyes for the days will come upon you when your 00:39:28.980 |
enemies will throw up a barricade against you and surround you and hem you on every 00:39:33.100 |
side and they will level you to the ground and your children within you and they will 00:39:37.620 |
not leave you, leave in you one stone upon another because you did not recognize the 00:39:47.860 |
So we wonder, what was on the face of Christ as he was entering into Jerusalem while everybody 00:39:53.100 |
was singing and everybody was in the hoopla, there were tears. 00:39:58.540 |
The sovereign Savior who is preparing everything, who is so powerful, he's orchestrating all 00:40:05.620 |
The humble Savior who is walking in, even though everybody is shouting all this kind 00:40:09.540 |
of stuff and he still has people who are antagonistic to him, he's in tears. 00:40:14.180 |
And to me this is such a rebuke as he sees the sin of a nation who is so wrought in their 00:40:21.060 |
self-righteousness, in their, yes, proper doctrines, but they're still wrought in their 00:40:26.300 |
sinful, depraved self-righteousness of Judaism. 00:40:34.660 |
And although he knows these people are going to be the very ones to cry out for his crucifixion 00:40:39.740 |
and then to bury him and reject him, yet he cries over them. 00:40:44.780 |
I'm going to tell you honestly, you know, there are times when I'm all arrogant and 00:40:48.020 |
I think I'm like the most patient guy ever, but I'm not because I have sinful thoughts 00:40:53.780 |
People's sin are exposed to me and I'm like, "Dang, what's wrong with you?" 00:40:57.580 |
People's sin are exposed to me and I'm like, "How did you allow yourself to get there?" 00:41:01.620 |
People's sin are exposed to me and I think, "I just need to fix you. 00:41:15.300 |
Sees the sins of the entire nation gathered together in one city and he just weeps. 00:41:20.880 |
There are a lot of times Jesus weeps, but his mercy overflows as his soul is turned 00:41:27.500 |
and he weeps over them and he says, "Only if you knew who is visiting you. 00:41:32.860 |
Only if you knew how you could have true peace." 00:41:42.060 |
Not just in crazy like strength and power like, "Rawr, you're all dead." 00:41:46.180 |
But this crazy power combined with mercy and humility. 00:41:57.500 |
And so again, although the many people don't understand and they might be thinking, "Jesus, 00:42:05.980 |
And maybe his 12 disciples, you know, they were the ones who were like, "Bring down your 00:42:15.060 |
And Jesus is constantly teaching them, "You don't understand. 00:42:27.220 |
I bring it back to this is a time where we're supposed to examine our hearts and ask, "Do 00:42:35.020 |
And let me exhort us, let's not be like the multitude who had ulterior desires for the 00:42:43.220 |
Remember in 1 Peter, if you guys are in our study, I've been teaching that Jesus is the 00:42:47.980 |
He is the cornerstone, the central piece of redemptive history. 00:42:51.580 |
He's the cornerstone of our church and he's the cornerstone of your lives. 00:42:56.540 |
But then the passage in 1 Peter said, "He is a precious, precious possession for those 00:43:01.980 |
But those of you who don't, he becomes the what? 00:43:06.860 |
That is the case with every single person who's in the masses saying, "Oh, Jesus, come and 00:43:12.060 |
Once they realize that Jesus is not going to do that, they say, "Get out of the way. 00:43:19.540 |
If we have ulterior desires, if ulterior motives and passions in our lives that are desiring 00:43:24.460 |
the things of the world, not only is Jesus going to be irrelevant to you, he is going 00:43:32.700 |
And your only option will be to try to eliminate him from your life. 00:43:36.380 |
He's going to become your great stumbling block. 00:43:39.620 |
Let's make sure that we don't fall into the same sin as the masses. 00:43:43.820 |
But secondly, secondly, let's not make the same error of both the masses and the disciples, 00:43:56.780 |
If you're having a hard time after, you know, trying to remember that Christ, the sovereign 00:44:02.020 |
which you humble to himself, after remembering that Christ is merciful to us, so dedicatedly 00:44:07.860 |
most merciful to us, but you're still saying like, "I can't muster up that kind of affection, 00:44:14.020 |
I'm having a hard time really being thankful." 00:44:19.660 |
It could be perhaps because your mirror is dirty. 00:44:27.980 |
You're not looking at yourself the right way. 00:44:30.020 |
A gross presumption in every single individual at that time is they did not understand when 00:44:36.460 |
they say, "Bring your kingdom, bring your authority," they presumed, "Of course, I'm 00:44:43.340 |
What they should have presumed is like, "Wait, hold on. 00:44:52.220 |
"Depart from me," is what they should have said if they really saw themselves. 00:44:59.900 |
Going back to the example of Mary, did you notice that she did not anoint the head of 00:45:09.140 |
When you anoint somebody, you anoint somebody on the head. 00:45:14.060 |
You anoint them on the head with a little bit of oil to consecrate, to bless, and all 00:45:21.020 |
But Jesus, when he was sitting there, Mary came and she only poured that on his feet. 00:45:25.660 |
Then she untied her hair and started to wipe and clean his feet. 00:45:31.140 |
She's expressing to him, "Lord Jesus, you are of infinite value to me. 00:45:42.180 |
Just like John the Baptist said, "I can't even touch your shoelace." 00:46:00.300 |
Then I'm going to disturb you because I need you, because I am a sinner in need of you." 00:46:06.020 |
Remember Jesus was saying, "There are those individuals who are just going to knock, and 00:46:08.780 |
then there are those individuals who are going to knock persistently. 00:46:17.180 |
Blessed are those who recognize they're bankrupt, they're meek, and they realize they absolutely 00:46:25.500 |
Remember it was Jesus who was teaching us who is truly thankful, who overflows with 00:46:36.340 |
That has to be a perspective you see of yourself. 00:46:40.340 |
If you can't muster up affection for Christ, it could be because of a number of things, 00:46:44.500 |
other desires, but it could be because we don't see ourselves appropriately. 00:46:51.020 |
The challenge for us today is as we think about Jesus' entry, remember this glory of 00:46:57.820 |
a sovereign Savior dedicating to be merciful to those who don't deserve it. 00:47:06.060 |
We want to make sure that our hearts are overflowing with gratitude, remembering, "Lord, thank 00:47:11.540 |
you that that's the way you came and not how I see it in Revelations."