0:00
Good morning, church. How are you? Good to see you. And it's filling up fast in here. I like that.
0:05
I like that. Hey. It's Palm Sunday. And, look in the back real quick. We've got a lot of kids.
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And if you're a kid and you go, I want one of those palm branches, you could have one. You could have one. But they're going as we sing this next song here, they're gonna come down and they're going to be waving these palm branches. But let me share why this verse here. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches, and they went down the road to meet him, Jesus.
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They shouted, praise God. Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hail to the king of Israel. It's about Jesus. So would you stand up, and we'll sing together, and these kids will wave.
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Alright. Hosanna. Hosanna. Glory to the king Amen.
3:00
Amen. Alright. Y'all can have a seat. Kids, you can wander your way back to your parents. Have fun with the palm branches.
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I've got a few announcements this morning. It's not a whole lot of em. I don't think. We have Awana Kids Club that meets here every Monday at six in the evening. So, Monday nights in this room around this big game circle right here because kids matter to God and Awana is pouring scripture into the hearts and minds of the kids.
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We have Monday nights at first B. Every Monday night, it's meal, music, and a message. Actually, we're not having it during spring break. No. But we're not at spring break yet, okay?
3:41
So, meal music and a message. This week, Carl is gonna divert from his study of Nehemiah. We're gonna go to the Easter and passion narrative. So, the week of Jesus's last pre cross week. Right?
3:56
Yep. So focusing on the Holy Week, on the Holy Week narrative, having communion during Monday night, and really focusing on Jesus' death and burial and just letting that sit with us this week because right? There's there's there's no Easter without Good Friday. Amen. You know, there's no good news without the bad news.
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We gotta take it all in. We're gonna soak in it. So, please feel free to join us tomorrow night.
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That's down the hall, Fellowship Hall, 06:00 tomorrow evening, meal, music, and a message. Connect hour happens between services. So, that's coffee and donuts down the hall. Renzy.
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Ray, we Blake forgot to put a passion of the Christ slide in to remind you to mention that.
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Thank you
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very So,
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this Thursday, Maundy Thursday, if you're of a tradition that knows what that is, Maundy Thursday, we're gonna have here at the church in the evening, in the fellowship hall. We'll have it set up like a movie theater and we'll be playing the passion of the Christ. What time, Renzy? 06:00. 06:00.
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We have blackout shades. I know that this daylight savings has just come back in but we have some shades. It'll be like a movie theater in the fellowship hall, Thursday night at 06:00, Maundy Thursday and we'll take in the passion of the Christ. There is a family fun night, a Friday night, family fun night. Thank you very much.
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April 15 through May 27. That starts at 05:30. Okay, thank you very much, Dan. Sorry, I didn't answer your Email. So, that's it?
5:20
Is that really it? Would you all stand up and greet one another warmly? Hosanna in the highest. High fives, handshakes, hugs, holy kisses. Yeah.
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Sing at your knee. At your name, let a mountain shake and crumble. At your name, the oceans roam in some boat. At your name, angels will bow to shout your name on Lord.
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And there's no one like our God.
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And there is no one like our God. We will praise you. Praise you. There's no one like our God. We will sing.
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We will sing. There is no one like our God. We will praise you. Praise you. Jesus is our God.
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We will save you. Lord of all the earth, we shout your name, shout your name, filling up the skies with. And this praise and this praise, how we awake. We love to shout your name, oh oh Lord, and sing lord of all the earth. Lord of all the earth, we shout your name, shout your name, filling up the skies one who's We're one worthy of of lord.
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That's our prayer and that's our song. Sing a new song to him who sits on heaven's mercy sings. Repeat that verse again. Worthy is worthy is thou who was saved.
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Call you holy lord.
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Is to come. With all creation, I sing. Praise to the king of kings. You are my everything, and I will adore you. Thing, and I will adore you.
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Let me
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sing our praise to you, God.
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Filled with wonder, lost wonder, at the mention and I will adore you.
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God, you deserve adoration and praise, and so we are here to meet with you and to give you adoration and praise as well. Thank you for being so good to us and so faithful. Thank you for what you endured during Holy Week. You are good. It's it's a kind of an overwhelming thing to think of of what Jesus went through.
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You know, tend to to to really get excited about the resurrection, but everything that led up to the resurrection was huge, and it was very heavy. And I think of the verse from Isaiah in Isaiah 53 says he was despised and rejected. A man of sorrows acquainted with deepest grief. He was pierced for our rebellion. He was crushed for our sins.
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He was beaten so that we could be made whole. And I think it's good just to let that sit with us, to resonate with us, to go, okay. God, Jesus, you you died in my place for my sin, and and you carried it out. When you were beaten, when you were abandoned, when you were struck down, you you carried this mission out. And that is so amazing to think about, isn't it?
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Believe in that
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praise honor.
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Lord, it's hard. It's hard to even put into words how grateful we are for what you have what what you've done. And as we participate here in this worship of giving, we it's a way to just to say thank you. Here here's life with an open hand. Thank you, God, for all you've given.
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But right now, I'm concentrating on the life of your son, that which you endured. For the joy set before you, you endured the cross, and it scorned shame. And it's just amazing to think about how much you truly love and care for your people and that you still love and care for your people. And I'm I'm asking God if there are those who are just really not feeling that, not experiencing that. Holy Spirit, would you make it known?
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Do that good work of convicting and convincing that you are God, that you truly do care for your people so much that you would send your only son to die for us and then raise to life. We set our sights on you, and we thank you in Christ's name. Amen.
22:14
Alright kiddos, you head down to children's church. You can leave your palm branches. And if y'all wanna fill in from the back and wanna come up, take some of these open spaces, you're welcome to. I think I said that about 50 times and I don't think I've ever seen one person actually do it but you are still welcome no matter what. There's plenty of holes up here.
22:39
So, where we are in our study right now, we've been going through chronologically. Y'all know that but where we are in our study at the moment is we're up to Romans two twenty five but it's Palm Sunday. You know, we're gonna do an excursus, okay? A detour. A detour through the gospels and it's this is a story that's mentioned in all four gospels.
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It's something we have lots of information about but I want to go through this. We'll start in Romans though, okay? We're gonna start in Romans because I feel like it'll end out this section. For indeed, circumcision is a value and actually somebody came in while we were in Galatians. They started coming to church in here when we were in Galatians and he, his wife asked him when he got home, she had to work that morning.
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What did he talk about? He goes, I don't know but he said circumcision about 50 times. Here it is. Third word. For indeed, circumcision is a value if you practice the law but if you're a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
23:39
So, if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision. You know, Paul's been putting everybody, pagans and Jew, Jewish Christians, pagan Christians, Jewish Christians. They've been putting them in the same boat for the last month. Every sermon has been the same and he was physically uncircumcised. If he keeps the lawfully, not judge you, though having the letter of the law and circumcision are a transgressor of the law.
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For he's not a Jew who's one outwardly nor a circumcision that which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew who's one inwardly devoted to God, God's people. But he is a Jew who's one inwardly and circumcision is that which is of the heart like many of the prophets had said, not by the letter, by the spirit, not by the letter, and his praise is not for men but from God. So, why is it so important? Why does this come up so often? Because to us, it really doesn't seem that important.
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Seems almost like a non issue. In the Bible, why is it so important? Well, primarily, it has to do with Jewish identity. That's why they completely were absorbed with this especially in the time of second temple Judaism which is first century Judaism. It was about their identity.
24:55
It was given as a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham and Paul in chapter four is gonna get to that covenant with Abraham. So, he's heading that way in Romans but primarily, it's about Jewish identity. It's also a tangible sign, physical sign of obedience along with Sabbath observance, dietary guidelines, I'd say social justice, moral purity that's outlined in the Torah, and temple worship. Temple worship was really, really important to the Jews too and they went there at least a couple times a year. One of those being Passover, one of those feast of booths.
25:28
So, they go at least a couple of times a year and they were signs of obedience to God as his people. So, that's why it's important. So, it comes up so often. I read something not this past Friday, but the Friday before. This guy is a Jewish guy, modern day, Charles Krauthammer.
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If you don't know who he is, he's a you probably don't watch Fox News for crying out loud. Anyway, Charles Krauthammer is conservative Jewish guy in the modern day. He wrote an article. He writes for the Washington Post. The news and guide picks it up on Fridays a lot of times.
25:58
He wrote an article a couple weeks ago called The Holocaust and Jewish Identity. It was really well written, and it was not at all political. That's why I bring it up. Okay? Somebody had asked Bernie Sanders, candidate for president, who's the most successful ever Jewish candidate for president.
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If he was trying to hide his Judaism, and he said, no, I'm not, and then immediately he went to something that for Krauthammer seemed unusual. This guy is a Jewish guy, raised in by Orthodox parents, and knows Judaism very, very well. And he was surprised when asked, what identifies you as Jewish? He was surprised that, oh, there's a whole article right there. Can you read that?
26:36
That was up there. He said that he figured that what he would answer is about the practice. Judaism as embedded in their life through religious practice. Practice in the traditions of the Jews, the festivals, the dietary guidelines, that sort of thing, the culture, transmission of culture through teaching the children or Tikkun or Tikkun Olam. Tikkun Olam is the concept of social justice, repairing the world and that is something that the prophet spoke very, very highly of, that that was what was to come, and he, Krauthammer, says that's why most Jewish people vote Democrat because they see the ideals of social justice being played out as a prophecy of tikkun olam, which is reparation of the world.
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But he said what he answered was the holocaust, and his Jewish identity is found in the after effects of World War two. And that was strange for Krauthammer who is Jewish and says not religious though. He says, he's not religious but he's very much Jewish. It was interesting he said that they locate their identity in the holocaust and I started thinking about identity. Well, the book of Romans is all about this because there are Jewish flavored Christians and there are Gentile flavored Christians.
27:50
They've accepted Christ and they've come together but their traditions are what's causing a little bit of friction and animosity. So, y'all seen this slide a bunch of times. Apostle Paul's writing in the winter of fifty six, fifty seven AD from Corinth to Rome, writing to a mixed Jewish and Gentile Christian group and so that's why he spends the time on circumcision and on on all of that. It's about identity. Y'all seen this a bunch of times before.
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In '49, the emperor Claudius expelled Jewish Christian leaders from Rome. They went out and after he was out of office in '54, they filtered back into a Jewish, a Gentile Christian majority church and so Paul is trying to write Romans as plainly as he can so that everybody understands their identity in Christ. Your identity is found. If you're a Christian in Christ and as the Gettys and Townins would say, in Christ alone, you find your identity as a Christian. So, Romans has a great deal to do with finding your identity in Christ, okay?
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Now, here's what we do where we detour to Palm Sunday. Alright? Sorry. Bad pun. I was gonna cut that part about circumcision but I just decided not to.
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Sorry. Sorry. This slide contains spoilers right here. Let's back up about thirty six or thirty seven years and I actually did my math wrong. Twenty six, twenty seven years.
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That gets us into the four gospels, okay? All four of em. We're in Roman Judea now, not in Rome but it is a client kingdom of Rome, okay? The Pax Romana, a Roman peace has taken in lots and lots of different peoples and so, we're gonna be today in Roman Judea instead of Rome, instead of Corinth. During the last week of Jesus's pre cross ministry.
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Now, if you don't know, Palm Sunday preceding Easter Sunday, Easter is about death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Resurrection Sunday next week but this is the last week of Jesus's pre cross ministry. So, I want you to steep yourself in first century 30 AD historical background. The political setting, the economic setting, cultural setting, and the religious setting. So think about this.
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If you see anything that corresponds to us in our day, hold on to that. Think about it. Political setting, first of all, and this is, I hope not death by PowerPoint but I wanna remember all this stuff. So, here it is. Roman government practice syncretism.
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That is accept all religious beliefs, philosophical teachings, and even governmental ideologies. They believe that they can be held together under the Roman system. It's multicultural. Alright? Religious freedom, political freedom, and freedom of thought for the individual were touted but the government did enforce its measure of control and local matters to maintain the peace, okay?
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Judea was a client kingdom of Rome. So, they had a government that was at least pseudo Jewish. The Jewish leaders in the Sanhedrin, the Sadducees, even Herod, Herod was raised as a Jew. But he was really kind of a puppet for the Roman government. That's why everybody hated him, okay?
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And when I say Herod, there are five different Herods. Two of em will mention the day, okay? The Jews held much destruction, often hatred for the Roman Empire. They were somewhat unwilling subjects. Jewish resentment of the foreign Roman government was very very apparent.
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It was muttered all the time. The Jews understood the world to be divided into two types of people, Jewish and Gentile. That's non Jew. The Jews worked hard to disassociate themselves from the Gentiles and they did not cotton to being ruled by Gentiles or anyone complicit with the Gentiles for the most part. There were some people that were very complicit.
31:56
It benefited them financially. We'll talk about them in a minute. But that's where the political divide in this in that country was. Now you might look at that and say, Christians say, there are two types of people. There are Christians and non Christians, saved and unsaved.
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And so, if you see something that looks like it fits for our day, put that shoe on and wear it, okay? The Jewish people had a measure of freedom in both their governing system, a measure of it, and in maintaining their own traditions. Yet, the Roman government required that everything be ultimately subject to Roman authority. So, that's church and state. We would call it, Roman said, state wins, alright?
32:31
Over church. For example, Jewish citizens were under the authority of the Jewish court system. That's the Sanhedrin. Yet, all rulings for the death penalty were sent to the Roman government. We've talked about Paul being a Roman citizen and had certain protections by being a Roman citizen.
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Jesus was not a Roman citizen. No, he was born in this area under a time when Rome was in charge. He was not a citizen, a Roman citizen. So, the Jewish religious and governing system which the two were combined at the time. Over the time, we're divided between two parties.
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We've got Pharisees and Sadducees. We hear about em a lot. I walk back and forth across this stage a lot talking about. One's on one political side and one's on the other. The Pharisees were the people's party who taught the law and traditions of Israel's patriarchs and were strictly conforming to the Jewish Torah, the law, okay?
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So, that's the Pharisees. They're most people seem as the right wingers, okay? Typically, Sadducees were wealthy leaders because they were complicit with the Roman government. They had rejected many of the Jewish traditions in favor of political and religious cooperation with the Rome, Rome, okay? Everybody with me so far?
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So, that is people's party and then these wealthy leaders. The Pharisees believed in a literal interpretation of scripture including resurrection, heaven, and the spiritual realm and the sadducees did not. Do you remember in Acts where Paul starts a fight on purpose to get people's attention away from himself? It's between Pharisees and Sadducees because he knows if he throws the political grenade out there, they'll go for it and they do. So, that's just getting you steeped in the political setup.
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The economic setting, client king Herod, Herod the Great. You've heard of the Herodian Temple? You've probably heard that the Temple Of The Jews was rebuilt. At least the Temple Mount was really augmented during Herod the Great's reign as a client king under Rome. He had employed many labors by commissioning many public works.
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So, it was like the CCCs or the WPA, work project administration in the thirties around here and back home. There's a lot of government sponsored public works. Extensive renovations to the temple, Temple Mount, Jerusalem, palaces, ports, fortresses, stadiums, ornate stone stone carvings, and that sort of thing. Making jobs. His son, Herod Antipas.
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So, Herod, the great was the guy in charge when Jesus was born. He's the one who's responsible for the slaughter of innocence around Bethlehem. He was a pretty evil dude, okay? He's the one that had John the Baptist beheaded because John the Baptist was calling him out for his wedding, his marriage to somebody he shouldn't have been married, okay? So, his son, Herod Antipas, carried on in his father's footsteps of building large scale public works including the city of Sepharus which is right outside of Nazareth.
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It's about four miles from Nazareth probably since Jesus was a mason, a carpenter, a builder. He probably worked in Sephora on some of those public works things. He and Joseph together in in his childhood. And the palace at Tiberias, not too far from there either, and Herod Antipas is in charge of that. Herod Antipas minted coins.
35:53
You could tell he's complicit with the Roman government because no no graven images for Jews, right? He didn't really care. So he printed money with his symbols and his name on it. So the economic setting, there was a very large disparity between rich and poor in this time period. The upper class was made up of the temple priest and the priestly aristocracy including the sages.
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Those were leaders, government leaders, but also religious leaders, complicit with Rome, like I said. Middle class was comprised of traders and merchants and artisans, stone cutters, masons, sculptors, craftsmen. The Pharisees usually had another job. They weren't just religious people. They were religious guys who also had a day job.
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Mom and pop, businessmen. Usually part of the middle class and then the lower class was made up of laborers, weavers, stone carriers, slaves. They were taken into slavery because of debt. And they were an unemployable, lepers, blind, insane, and crippled, that sort of thing. So, that's the economic setting.
36:56
They're also required to give sacrifices to the temple. That was a temple tax. So, they also were required to give some to Rome. So, tax collectors were seen by the people as just being aggravating. You hear that when they say like a Gentile or a tax collector.
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Traveling teachers made their living by traveling from town to town and accepting gifts from those who came to hear em. So, itinerant preacher was a job and temple courtyards had often become a marketplace. Local merchants would sell sacrificial items at a premium in order to turn a profit from tourists. If anything sounds like it fits today, hold on to it, okay? Or religious seekers that would come to the temple.
37:39
So, that's the economic setting. Cultural setting, the village areas around Judah and Galilee post mostly populated by Jews. If you ask people in this country what they are, most of em will say Christian. Now, your definitions and their definitions may be different but mostly, they'll say Christian but if you get into the major metropolitan areas like for them, Jerusalem, it was more cosmopolitan, contained more ethnic diversity in the bigger cities. The language at the time and the Roman Empire was Greek.
38:08
That's what people spoke. That's what Paul wrote in. However, at the time it was common for Jews to use Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin. Latin was the official language of the government. Getting to be more and more so most people spoke Greek.
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Jesus, everyday language was Aramaic. So he had an accent in Greek. Alright? He had an accent. It's a Semitic language.
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It's a Hebrew type language. He was a bit of a he was a bit of a minority, an outsider. The hub of the village was the marketplace, the Agora, the marketplace, and that's kind of where we are, right? We're a consumer society. And the shops, as for the Jewish village, the synagogue was a central meeting place of church and the seat of the local government.
38:53
When you see something like the passion of the Christ, if you know the setting, it makes things a lot easier and they do a pretty good job of bringing that up but I want you to think about this for a bit. The religious setting, the Jewish people, the Jewish people, as a people, they've been called to be apart from everyone else. God had given him circumcision. He had given him temple worship. He'd given him lots of things to get him there.
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In contrast, everybody around them were polytheistic. Everybody else believed in many gods. The Roman government officially said you can believe whatever you want but we've got these gods and this is really real. Okay? Jewish tradition was centered on Sabbath day.
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Friday at sundown, Saturday at sundown, started with prayer, candles, a joyous supper, was considered a day of rest and worship. All you did was honor God on Sunday on Sabbath day, sorry. That's my culture showing. The Jewish people were seeking a Messiah or savior. They felt extremely oppressed by the government.
39:55
They felt like they had been run down and pushed back and their beliefs were not honored at all. They were seeking a messiah or savior who according to their understand would bring them spiritual renewal and political freedom from centuries of foreign oppression. Currently from the Roman Empire. Okay, you got that? It has been death by PowerPoint so far, hasn't it?
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The major religious holiday was Passover and the major place to be was the temple and that temple was in Jerusalem and people from all over the area if they were Jews would walk. Galilee where Jesus spent most of his time. Capernaum was 80 something miles, 80 something miles from there. It's like from going from here to Smoot, Wyoming. 80 miles.
40:45
That brings us to the week before Passover with Jesus and his disciples. Now, want you to consider that and then consider this. There's a linkage here that I think a lot of times we miss. If you read the rest of the gospels, you don't see it as plainly as you do in the book of John but if you read the book of John and read it, kinda straight through. It's amazing how this links up.
41:07
So, chapter 11 and chapter 12. Chapter 12 is a triumphal entry. It's just a few verses but chapter 11 precedes that. So, the date line right now, Roman Judea. Late March, early April, eighty, thirty, and I know some of you are gonna say, but it was '33.
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Okay, That's fine. I won't arm wrestle about it. 80, thirty, thirty three. John eleven one through 46 and I'm gonna read it. If you wanna close your eyes because the PowerPoint's bothering you, then close them.
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That's fine. Just immerse yourself in this. Now, certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany. The village of Mary and her sister Martha and we know these were Jesus' friends. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair.
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That's as much as we get on that. Whose brother Lazarus was sick? So, the sister sent word to him saying, lord, behold, he whom you love is sick but when Jesus heard this, he said, this sickness is not to end in death but for the glory of God so that the son of God may be glorified in it. How many times has Jesus told them up to this point? It's not my time.
42:15
It's not my time. My hour has not yet come. It's not my time and now he's saying, this sickness is not to end in death but for the glory of God so that the son of God may be glorified in it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that he was sick, he then stayed where he was for two days longer.
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That didn't make any sense, does it? Well, it does if you're Jesus. He knows his time is coming. He knows that the hour for him to be lifted up, made famous, glorified, is at hand. So, when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days longer.
42:51
Then, after this, he said to the disciples, let us go now unto Judea or let's go to Judea. Again, now, if you look at this, this is Bethany is right here. That is where Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived. You see the scale here one mile. This is the temple.
43:07
So, it's less than about, it's about two miles from the temple. The Mount Of Olives is what's between. So, we have to go over that huge mountain. Mount Of Olives. Not for y'all.
43:17
It's not a huge mountain. Bethany, two miles from the temple at Passover, it's big time. It is the time where so many people are coming in and since the Jews will not walk through Samaria which is right here, coming from Galilee and all other parts they go over to the Jordan, come down to Jericho, and then come up. Almost everybody's coming through there. Bethany, Bethpage, Mount Of Olives.
43:44
The sickness is not the end of death but for the glory of God so the son of man be be glorified in it. The disciples said to him, rabbi, teacher, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you. Are you going to go up there again, really? Jesus answered, are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world but if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light's not in him.
44:09
This he said and after that he said to them and actually, if you see all those little asterisk there, this is the historical present in John. He's going and he says and he says, instead of using the past tense, he's using present tense to get us into the action and he says to him, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I go so that I may awaken him out of his sleep and the disciples then said to him, lord, if he's fallen asleep, he'll recover. Sleep's good for you. No. Now, Jesus had spoken of his death but they thought he was speaking of literal sleep.
44:37
So, Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead and I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you may believe. Look at that. So that you may believe but let us go to him and therefore, Thomas, who is called Didamus, we call him doubting Thomas, said to his fellow disciples, well, let us all go so that we may die with him. Don't sound like there's any doubt. He's going with it.
45:03
So, when Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now, Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went out to meet him but Mary stayed at the house. Martha then said to Jesus, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. She had faith in Jesus, right?
45:28
She had faith in Jesus power to heal. She'd seen it happen before and she had great faith in him. My brother would not have died and even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give to you. She already knew that he could do miracles. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again and Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.
45:50
Now, what party was Martha? She was of the Pharisaic party. She's the people's party. She's not a wealthy woman but she believed in the resurrection. That's that says that she was maybe a right winger.
46:05
At least in that day. On the resurrection and the life, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he does and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Direct question of Martha and she said to him, yes, lord.
46:23
I have believed that you are the Christ, the son of God. Even he who comes into the world. When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, saying secretly, the teacher is here and calling for you and when she heard it, she gets up quickly and was coming to him. Now, Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha met him. Then, the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
46:55
Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was and she saw him and fell at his feet saying to him, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Who just said that? Martha, her sister, her hardworking sister. This is the one who is at Jesus' feet, adoring him, listening to his teachings. Both of them believed in him.
47:13
Both of them knew. If he had been here, that brother would not have died. Why do think Jesus waited two days? Jesus waited two more days so that he wouldn't be there. When Jesus, therefore, saw her weeping and the Jews who came out with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and he was troubled and he said, where have you laid him?
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And they said to him, lord, come and see. Jesus wept. The shortest sermon I've done since I've been here is Jesus wept. He felt it. He cares for you.
47:45
Cast all your cares upon him because he cares for you. Jesus wept. So, the Jews were saying, see how he loved him but some of them said, could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind have kept this man also from dying. So, these people are incredulous. They don't, they're thinking, man, he's done all these other miracles.
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Could he have done that too? Really? They're seekers. Questioning whether it could be true or not. Some of y'all might be seekers.
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Question whether this thing that so many people have gone for could be true. So, Jesus again, being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now, it was a cave and stone was lying against it and Jesus said, remove the stone. Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him, lord, by this time, there will be a stench for he's been there dead four days. King James says, he stinketh.
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Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God so they, if you believe, you'll see the glory of God. So, they removed the stone then Jesus raised his eyes and said, father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know, knew that you always hear me but because of the people standing around, I'm saying it. So that they may believe that you sent me. When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice.
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Lazarus, come forth. The man who had died came forth. It's about the resurrection. Now, whose political party just got proved right? When he'd said these things, he cried out with a loud voice.
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Lazarus, come forth. The man who died came forth, Bound hand and foot with wrappings and his face was wrapped around with a cloth and Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary, these were people who were mourning with her. Many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he had done believed in him. Amen.
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Praise God. They just moved from the non saved to the saved. They just found their identity in Christ. Amen. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
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Wait a second, Pharisees, we usually see as bad guys. These are the guys of the political party that just was proved right. The right thing to do is go to the Pharisees and tell em, hey, dude, really? Jesus just resurrected somebody. This is, I saw him dead.
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I saw him raised. Therefore, the chief priest and the Pharisees, chief priest, Sadducees, complicit with Roman government. Chief priest and Pharisees convened a council. So, they got both political parties together and we're saying, what are we doing for this man is performing many signs? If we let him go on like this, all men will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.
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You're telling me that it's political expediency. Oh my goodness. They'd rather believe in their political ideology that keeps them in power than what the political ideology actually says. Both of them, both sides were saying, we can't do anything to upset this apple cart, but one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year because Herod Antipas had made him high priest that year, complicit with the government, said to them, you know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people. And that the whole nation not perish.
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Now, he did not say this on his own initiative but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was gonna die for the nation and not for that nation only but in order that he might also gather together into one, the children of God who are scattered abroad. So, from that day on, they plan together to kill him. The only thing that get these two guys together, Therefore, Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews but went away from there to the country near the wilderness in a city called Ephraim. It's a little bit further east than Bethany and therefore, and there he stayed with the disciples. Now, the Passover of the Jews was near and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves.
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So, they were seeking for Jesus and were saying to one another, as they stood in the temple, what do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all? Is he scared? Now, the chief priest and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he was to report it so that they might seize him. So, this is where that was happening.
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Jesus is hanging out out here off of the beaten path on the other side of the river so that he wouldn't be in the flow of the public eye at the time. Just a couple miles away where he raises this guy the week before Passover. That's big time. His hour has come and he knows it and he knows what he's gotta endure but the people don't. They're looking for a messiah to set him free.
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One like David. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? Go out and fight him by himself. No. And this is what Jesus does when he's heading in.
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This is a painting eighteen ninety two. He wept over her. He wept over Jerusalem. That's based on Luke nineteen forty one. It says, and when he was coming, he was looking down on Jerusalem and he wept.
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They did not know the hour of their visitation. He knew what was coming. Gustave Dore, entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, old print. That's the Mount Of Olives. Just outside of Jerusalem.
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This is looking from the Temple Mount looking east. That's what it looked like in July 2009. I haven't ever been there but I stole these pictures off the internet. It rises a whopping two sixty two feet above the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Y'all might not call that a mount at all.
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It'd be but it doesn't have the same Mount Of Olives. Olive Butte just doesn't have the same sound. In Georgia, that's a mountain. So, Temple Mount, two sixty two feet higher is the Mount Of Olives. The Garden Of Gethsemane is down at the bottom of that mountain.
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This is where Jesus is going to pray that great prayer from John 17. We still got a lot of area to go. He's got the whole upper room discourse. He's got the whole Olivet discourse. And this is where we get to Palm Sunday, right at 10:00.
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On the next day, the large crowd who had come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him. Why palm branches? For us, it's fun for the kids to play with. You might have grown up Catholic and you remember you've got a cross hanging somewhere in your house made out of a palm branch but why palm branches for them? It was a national symbol.
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Palm branches were also symbol of victory. They used them all over the ancient Near East. Greeks used them but for the Israelites, they were a symbol of victory for Israel. It was a national symbol. Actually, the coin that Herod Antipas minted against God's instructions not to make any graven images had a palm branch on it.
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He was trying to win the favor of nationalistic Jews. These people, when they came out with their palm branches, they began to shout, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel. Hosanna, what does it mean? This is what it's from. That's Psalm one eighteen twenty five.
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That's what it says in that's what it is in Greek. This is what it is. Oh Lord, I beseech you. Save now. Save us now.
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This is the time. This is the best shot we've got. You're him. Come on. This is Old Testament prophecy and we're going for it.
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Psalm one eighteen twenty five. Save now. Send prosperity now. Send prosperity now. That's what they wanted.
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So, save us now. That's what they were shouting out to Jesus and you know what? That's what he was doing. That's exactly what he was doing. He grabbed that donkey according to prophecy.
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Everything that he had done, lived that perfect life and he's headed towards the cross but that doesn't look like salvation the way they wanted it. Jesus finding a young donkey sat on it and as it is written, fear not daughter of Zion. Behold, your king is seated on the donkey's colt. Zechariah's prophecy. These things his disciples did not understand at the time but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of him and that they had done these things to him.
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So, the people who are with him, when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about him. It it'd be hard to forget that you had seen somebody raised from the dead, right? And they keep on telling people about it. For this reason also, the people went and they met him because they had heard that he performed that particular sign, this sign. So, the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you're not doing any good.
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Look, the whole world is going out after. Ain't that sad that your politics gets in the way of what it is that you believe? So let's fast forward. Our setting. Nineteen hundred and eighty six years later, here we are.
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Twenty sixteen places The USA instead of Rome or Corinth, the Roman Judea. Palm branches are replaced with old glory. Every candidate is wrapping something in the flag. You don't see anybody with anything but red, white, and blue. Right?
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Doesn't matter who who they are. The American government practices syncretism, accepting that all religious beliefs, philosophical teachings, and even governmental ideologies can be held together under the American system. Is that true? Yeah. Religious freedom, political freedom, and freedom of thought for the individual are touted, but I'm not gonna do all these.
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If you consider our political, our economic, and our cultural setting, and even our religious setting, if you're calling on anybody else but Jesus to save you, you're gonna be disappointed. Just like those folks were before the next Friday when they're yelling, crucify him, crucify him. Hosanna, save now. You can still cry out. Hosanna, save now and Christ will.
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That's what he does. He did all this so that he could do that. I think that's it. This is amazing love. God is so good and he wants for us to call out to him.
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He wants for us to adore him. He wants for us to welcome him into our lives. Would you stand with us?
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And daughter, the king of glory, the king above all kings. Rules in nations with truth
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Amen. If you call out on Christ to save you, he will. Amen. If you put your trust in him, he will save you. Amen.
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Hosanna, he will save you now. If you want to talk to me afterwards, be feel free. If you want to talk me to me this week, feel free. I'm here. I'm looking forward to this.
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Revelation seven, nine, and 10 says, and after all of this, I saw a vast crowd, too great to count from every nation and tribe and people and language standing in front of the throne and before the lamb and they were clothed in white robes and they held palm branches in their hands and they were shouting with a great roar. Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the lamb. Amen. Let's live like that. Amen.
