Palm Sunday April 10th 11 am Serivce
First B Jackson
2022-04-10

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Good morning, everybody. How are you? Woah. That's that's pretty fun. Would you stand with me and we will go to Why Should He Love Me So?

This one's fun. I like this song. I don't think I had ever sung it before I got here. But Judy said this morning, she said, this is kind of a jazzy Sunday. And I think it starts right here with this kind of gentle sway.

Here we go. Why why should he love me so?

Love sent my savior to die in my stead. Why should he love me so? Nothing withholding sorry. Why should my savior to Calvary go? Why should he love me so?

Amen.

We've got, were you there? We're only going to sing the first three verses. We'll hold off on to the rising until next Sunday. Alright, we're to sing the first three. This is Palm Sunday.

We don't have the kids coming forward with Palm Branches singing Hosanna this morning. If that's what you're expecting, we missed out on that one but it is Palm Sunday and we'll get to that in the text today but were you there? Y'all can have a seat. Would you pray with me? God, I pray that we would experience you this week.

As we kind of look back on the eight days that changed the world between Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday, Lord. Will we walk that via Dolorosa with you? Walk through it. Listen to your teaching every day like you did in the temple that week. That we would listen to you, Lord, and have clarity and understanding.

That we would see who you are, Lord, and who we are. I pray, Lord, that we would put ourselves in the position of having seen Jesus. And, Lord, we pray that next week it'll be a meaningful experience of the resurrection of the son of God. In Jesus' name, amen. I've got a few announcements to do this morning.

Monday, Monday nights at first be with pastor Carl. That is not pastor Carl. I have no idea who that is. Sometimes these things just sneak up on us. I don't know who's making these slides but it makes me smile.

So Monday nights at First Be with pastor Carl. We're in the book of James. He's talking about faith without works or faith and deeds going hand in hand. That's happening tomorrow night, 06:00, same time as Awana is happening in the rest of the church. So the Monday nights at first be in the fellowship hall in Awana all over everywhere else.

Pour in scripture into the minds of the kids to reach their hearts. Prayer group, Wednesday morning. Several of y'all who are sitting here right now know about this and come to this group. In the church office at 07:30AM, there's a little gathering. If it gets to be too big for the office, we'll move it somewhere else, okay?

We'll move it in here. 07:30 in the morning. On Wednesday mornings, there's a prayer group that meets in there. It's kind of the heartbeat of the church. If y'all have a prayer request and you send it to the church, we'll share it with that team but we also pray for all of our missionaries every week.

It's a great time. It's been going on for a lot longer than I've been here. So it's good. Wednesday morning, 07:30AM prayer group. Net this week, there is a men's group.

The Jackson Hole Men's Alliance is meeting in the Fellowship Hall at 06:30AM. I don't think I have a slide for that one. But six: 3zero am, Jackson Hole Men's Alliance, which is First B, and all of the other churches in town. It'll be a a message for men. And I think that Jim Reed is going be sharing his testimony this week.

He he mentioned it. So if you want to come for that, that'd be great. The twenty twenty two church directories are available by the front doors. I think there are still a few left. If not, we'll find some more.

So, twenty twenty two church directories, if you want a paper copy of it, it's right there. And next week between services. So, I know a lot of y'all get here in time for Sunday school. Let me make that announcement too. Sunday school, adult Sunday school class at 09:00 is meeting in the fellowship hall.

And this is the book that they started the introduction of it today. Books are $10. If you want to be a part of that adult Sunday school class at 09:00 in the Fellowship hall, who should they let know? Judy Johnson? That's a lot of responsibility.

That would work. So this is Andy Stanley's The Grace of God, The Gift We Don't Deserve, The Love We Can't Believe. It's good. This is a great book. So they're starting that going through that one together next Sunday.

Started today but going again next Sunday, 09:00. And we might need to find somewhere else to meet since they're going be making breakfast in there because it's Easter and next Sunday at 10AM we're going to have breakfast during the connect hour between the two. Are there other announcements that I've forgotten? That's a very silent stone faced bunch of people right there. Alright.

We will glorify. How about that? Would we stand up together and glorify the king of kings, the Lord of lords, and this one repeats and has a key change and just there's my another musician buddy that's going to get the actual music. Thank you. We're gonna do all we can to stay together on this one.

We will glorify the king of kings. And the optional choral ending is Hosanna to the king. Hosanna to the king, Palm Sunday setting. So amen. Let's click on through that.

The lamb of God. Do you know this song? It's beautiful. Notice the change. It'll go.

The first verse and second verse say, my Jesus Christ, the lamb of God. The third verse kinda personalize it. So kinda pay attention to the changes there. So the last verse typically would change from, awash me in his precious blood, my Jesus Christ, the lamb of God. It's two verses like that, and then it says, awash me in his precious blood till I am just a lamb of God.

It's a capital l for him. Yes. He is the lamb of God. But we are like lambs to the slaughter. We are.

It's real. The suffering, the fellowship of the suffering of Christ. Lord, would you would you make it a part of our lives of who we are? The ushers are coming forward right now, Lord, to a time where we typically give back, Lord, financial resources, but it's not the only thing. Lord, for, what you have given us, this mercy and this grace and this love and this salvation.

As Hebrews says, so great a salvation. Lord, may we be sharers of it. May we be carriers of it. May we, Lord, live with such a peace. Peace that only you can give, that it would be a pervasive part of our personality and that it would be winsome and that other people would be drawn to you by the way we use our words and the way we use our life.

In Jesus' name, Lord, would you allow us the privilege of being the small l lambs of your kingdom. In Jesus' name, amen. Palm Sunday and that the year is wrong. I did not preach this exact message last year. Okay?

I just sometimes, I don't know exactly what to do when we get to these type Sundays. So you all know my typical MO is to take whatever comes next. We've been going into chronological Bible study for nine years and we're up to the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all at the same time. Harmony of the gospels approach seems like a great thing to do for Palm Sunday since it's mentioned in all four of the gospels but we're going to get to that in order eventually. So, I decided to step back from the harmony of the gospels for Palm Sunday But it was a struggle.

This week was a struggle because I like just staying in the flow. I really like that. And the next thing we're coming to together in our Harmony study is the parable of the four soils. But I think if we take this one this week, it'll cultivate the soil for us a little bit. So that's what we're going do.

We're going to talk about Palm Sunday. Hosanna, hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Quote from Zechariah. Quote from John, but Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Now John 12 starts this way. John 12, by the way, follows John 11. John 11 is the day before the next day. Okay. The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast, it's Passover time.

Passover is one of the three times where people all just flood into Jerusalem and they are like Jackson in the summertime, right? There are 10 or 12,000 of us and there are 70,000 people here. So it's like that, during Passover and Sukkot and a couple of other times a year. Three main times. But the next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

They heard it because they were listening. So they took branches of palm trees and they went out to meet him. So this is the day after John 11. John 11 is about the raising of Lazarus. So the raising of Lazarus happened very close to Jerusalem, to the Temple Mount.

And so they come out with palm branches waving and went out to meet him crying out, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Even the king of Israel, they're calling him the king of Israel. Now, if you're you've been tracking with me in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, there are some people who believe he's the king of Israel but it's not a huge, huge, huge group of people. It's a few disciples, a a bigger group of disciples that are kind of still on the outskirts.

And then there are a lot of people who don't know or haven't heard or they're opposed. That's what we get throughout. But this is a huge group of people and they're coming out. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Even the king of Israel.

That's quite the statement. So this in Hebrew and in Greek and then both of them mean the same thing. So so is the word in Greek, but Hoshana is in Hebrew and it means save now. Like now. It's it's it's an earnest cry, but it is a demand of God to save us now.

Oh Lord, I beseech you, send prosperity now. We've had enough of this opposition. We've had enough of this oppression. We've had enough of our enemies triumphing over us and keeping us under the heel of their Roman sandal. We don't want any more of this baloney.

Now the Psalms, of course, when Psalms written, it wasn't the Romans. It was somebody else. And if you look throughout history, there's always been somebody to be oppressed by. And typically, we feel like we are being oppressed. So to call out hosanna, hosanna, shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

We want to be saved now and we want to win. And we want your prosperity now, God. Now, Save us, we pray, oh Lord. Oh Lord, we pray. Give us success.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. That's Psalm one eighteen. It's a Psalm of ascent. So it's going up the hill every year for the Passover.

They would be singing this song as they walked up that hill. And walking up the hill is like walking to the top of the pass. From Jericho to Jerusalem is about the same distance and about the same elevation change from here to the top of the pass. Save us, we pray, oh Lord. Oh Lord, we pray give us success.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. There it is. I mentioned that's the Dead Sea, I think, right there. I mentioned in the first service, I've never been to the Red Sea.

I have been to the Red Sea. I went on a trip with this church. There were probably 10 people that said, I think he has. I I forgot. I was underwater part of that time.

There's an observation deck under the water of the Red Sea. And I went in it and I saw what it looks like to be walking through the Red Sea with air around me. And I just forgot it. I just went out. I was in a lot at the time.

Thank you, Nick for reminding me of that. You were there. I was with you, he said. So anyway, and Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, this is what it's about. Jesus found a young donkey and he sat on it just as it is written.

I tell you what, one of the reasons I like staying in the flow is because the story just keeps going and you can stay in it with it and the study and you did for last week's message sticks with you and y'all still remember it usually and I I still remember it usually and so, that's good but this one, it's a year between and I think, how many more times am I going to do this same sermon? You know, I've heard it so many times. I'm sick of it. So, I go to a different angle. Each comes up confessional preaching.

That's the truth. Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. I thought, wonder what donkey means. Really? What does it mean?

Oh, he's a donkey. But I started studying that and all of the different places in scripture where it's mentioned and how important they were or not important. I read theological tomes and just other tomes about Homer and anytime they mentioned donkeys and mules and horses and what the order of them and all was. Well, it ain't a conquering war horse. Okay?

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. This is not a conquering war horse, and that's that's the point I most often hear from the pulpit, but it also has echoes from the past to see that Jesus is seated upon this humble beast of burden going in and having people proclaim him the king of Israel. So Zechariah nine nine is the main place. This is the place that I usually go. He is humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, on the foal of donkeys.

Three different ways of describing the same donkey. John quotes that, fear not daughter of Zion. Behold, your king is coming, and he's sitting on the donkey's colt. Same verbiage, same thing. It's a white donkey if you're concerned.

There are lots of different kinds and very subtle changes to the Hebrew make a big difference. Just as it is written, oh, I like this. God announces ahead of time some things that we can go back and say, that's what's going on right there. Because we don't always understand it all. In fact, his disciples didn't either.

But this is good to be thinking about. And when I mentioned I didn't know what exactly I was gonna preach, and I was kind of sick of preaching the Palm Sunday message, I wanted to preach the book of Amos. Have you all read the book of Amos lately? If you haven't, I I told this in the introduction to the first service. Please, if you would, I'm gonna be preaching on in the next little while.

I don't know exactly when. It's nine chapters long, so it's longer than Jonah. I just did Jonah. Jonah and Amos are next to each other in the Bible. And I mentioned during my sermon on Jonah that Jonah went to the king, Jeroboam the second, and said, everything's good.

We're all good. We're prosperous, and all God's blessing us, and everything's good. Two thumbs up, Jeroboam the second. And Amos came and said, that's not true. Just because we're prosperous does not mean that God's blessing us.

We have walked away from their asher poles. I was minding my own business. The word of the Lord came to me and said, blah. So read the book of Amos if you would. It's nine chapters long.

It's not very long. It's a minor prophet. But one of the things that Amos says, and this is only four verses after the most famous verse from the book of Amos. If you if you're thinking about Amos probably, Amos three three comes to mind most often. Amos three three says, can two walk together unless they be agreed?

Can two walk together unless they be agreed? I use it in weddings sometimes because if you're not agreed, you won't be walking together. And so through Amos the prophet now Jonah had said, everything's good. And Amos says, no, it's not. Are they agreed?

Now Amos was walking with God, and he was right. And Jonah was rough. It's not right. Even if some of God's people are walking with him, not all of God's people are walking. And he says you need to be agreed, and one of the reasons he says you need to be agreed is for surely the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants, the prophets.

He's not gonna it's not gonna sneak up on us, people. He's already delivered us a message that we can rest in and we need to agree on. So Amos, fear not daughter of Zion. King is coming. He's sitting on a donkey's colt, and his disciples did not understand these things at first.

Can I get a witness? His disciples didn't understand. Don't you feel that way? I'm not sure I get that, especially in our lives, and we see something happen and we go, I don't understand that. I don't get it.

His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, lifted up, glorified. When they then they remembered. When Jesus was glorified, praised, lifted up, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and that had been done to him. So do you all know the song farther along? We'll know more about it.

Farther along, we'll understand why. Yeah. In the first service, I quoted further on down the road, which is a blues song. Farther along, we'll understand why. Cheer up, my brother.

Live in the sunshine. We'll understand it all by and by. They remembered it, the things that had been written about him and the things that had been done to him. So what are these things? Well, in this case, they remembered Zechariah nine nine.

Mounted on a donkey on a colt, the foal of a donkey. The crowd that had been with him in John 11. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, they continued to bear witness. I imagine they did. If you saw a dead man raised to life, you would have a hard time not telling people about it, wouldn't you?

So you'd be telling everybody who would listen that, yeah, I just saw this guy raise Lazarus from the dead. Actually, there's Lazarus. Ask him. They're testifying about it, continuing to bear witness. So think about that context and think about where it was.

Now he'd already raised we just covered a few weeks ago, the widow of Nain. He raised her son from the dead. He could do this anytime he wanted to. But Nain's a long ways away from Jerusalem. Bethany, where Mary Martha, Lazarus lived and where he raised Lazarus from the dead, is between here and the maverick.

Okay? It's that close. So if this is the temple, it's between here and the maverick. That's close. That's close to the very center of Judaism where heaven touches earth at the temple.

Right? And Messiah, one of the hallmarks of Messiah is he would raise the dead. And there are a bunch of people who saw him do it. And so they're telling everybody. The crowd that had been with him when he called, that's the crowd number one.

And then it says, the reason why the crowd went out to meet him. So this is a different set of people. These are people who had heard the message that he raised someone from the dead, and they went out to meet Jesus up on the hillside. They heard that he had done this sign. So this is a rally.

It's a call to this guy who might be, maybe, could it be that he's the deliverer, the one we've been looking for to throw off of all of this oppression? I call these people Jewish nationalists. Y'all might think that's too strong a term. I don't think it is. They were nationalists that went out to meet him because they're tired of putting up with the nonsense of Rome being in charge.

And if you question it, the branches of the palm trees is what tells me. They go out waving. What would we wave? A flag? I mean, what would we wave?

Red flag, blue flag, just red, white, blue flag. I mean, what would we wave? Branches of palm trees. They went out to meet him. So if you look at this, this is a coin of the Hasmonean revolt or the Hasmonean dynasty became a dynasty.

Shimon and John Hiercanus, the Maccabees. Have you ever heard of the Maccabees? If you have a revised standard version of the Bible, you probably have the Apocrypha in there. It's not just a Catholic Bible. It's a books of history.

They don't even count them as the canon. Okay? It's not. But it is a book of history, first and second Maccabees. And first Maccabees says, what happened, and I'll actually go to that next right here.

Simon regains the citadel at Jerusalem. Imagine that you had been pushed out of Jerusalem. You're the Jews. You've been pushed out of Jerusalem. You can't get back in there.

If you do go in there, you are just under oppression, and it's still Roman oppression. This is in one forty one BC. One forty one BC. So a hundred and forty one years before Christ. I didn't do the math, but a hundred and forty one years ago, if you do the math, it gets us back there.

Right? You think about what's going on here. It's still very, very, very much in their memory when they kicked those oppressors out, and it was Rome. And we want that to happen again. We want to be liberated.

Then they, the oppressors, cried out to Simon. They had been sieged, and they cried out to the leader of this revolt and to make peace with them, and he did so. But he expelled them from there, and he cleansed the citadel from all their pollutions. And on the twenty third day of the second month in one hundred seventy first year, that's 141. It's not Passover.

It's not Sukkot. It is not a time, right then for the normal traditional palm branches, but it says, on the twenty third day of the second month in the one hundred seventy first year, the Jews entered into it with praise and palm branches, and with harps, and with cymbals, and stringed instruments, and with hymns, and with songs because a great enemy had crushed and removed from Israel. Do it again, Lord. Right? That's what you gotta be thinking in the first century.

Simon decreed that every year they should celebrate this day with rejoicing, and he strengthened the fortification of the temple along the hillside, along the citadel, and he and his men lived there. And honestly, that's a hundred and forty one years before Christ's time, and at this time, it's a very grand and glorious temple mount, but the Antonia Fortress is higher and looking down on it. The Antonia Fortress named after Mark Antony is looking down on the temple. It's a very present even while you're worshiping, you gotta see there are the Romans right there. They shouldn't be anywhere near here.

Can you feel it? The Hasmonean coin I mentioned a minute ago, around a hundred and thirty five BC, has a palm branch on it. That palm branch is a symbol for action and rebellion. And the Hasmonean dynasty lasted a little while, and we want that to happen again. We wanna kick these sorry old Romans out of here.

Now in Jesus' day, this is the coin of Herod Antipas, the one that Jesus is gonna go before for his trial within the week. This is a coin of Herod Antipas. And you see right there? There's a palm branch right there. That's with Roman oppression, but the Jews are given a certain they're a puppet kingdom, but they are given some level of self governance.

And with that level they have, they stamp coins. And we hear a lot on the news these days about a dog whistle. It's something that some people hear, but not everybody hears. And so this palm branch is a call to action. Let's throw off these Roman oppressors.

We're stamping our coins with it. Coin of Herod Antipas is right there. That's concurrent. That was in circulation when Jesus was walking around. And if you look a hundred and thirty five years later or so, there's the Simon Bar Kokhba revolt.

And you think about that, the temple's destroyed in seventy AD. And this is sixty something years after that. This is so this is so history laden. I'm looking around at y'all's faces like, does this matter to anybody but me? It does.

I promise it does. So this is a hundred and thirty five years after. So this is AD. Hundred and thirty five. Right?

Look at what's on this one. This is the temple. This is an image of the Jewish temple, which has been destroyed sixty something years ago. And this is a lulav. In English, looks like lulav.

And that is a palm frond that's sticking up in the middle of it. It's actually four different kinds of palms, but there's a reason for that too. But that's a palm frond. If you look at another that's that palm frond. And if you look at the next coin, it's more obvious.

Right there is a palm frond. Actually, if you look at what it says around it, it says, for the freedom of Jerusalem. How's that for a rebellious little coin? A lot of things are reactions to other things, are they not? This coin and this last one, this one and this one were both struck this is interesting.

So they're Roman coins that somebody took a file and filed off the Roman surfaces and took their own and struck them themselves using the silver and the bronze and whatever brass, whatever copper. They used their same coins. They just ground the images off of them and smacked them with their own image for the freedom of Jerusalem. Do you think it was important? It was a hundred and forty years before Christ and a hundred and forty years after.

Do you think it was important at the time? It was. There's one more. I just threw it in here. This one, I threw in because it's so Jewish.

And around it, it says, for the freedom of Jerusalem and its trumpets because that's the great mighty day of the Lord signaled and heralded by trumpets. A lot of us, a lot of y'all are looking forward to that great mighty day, and the liar is what David played. Right? So backstory, context, raising of Lazarus is really important. Now I'm going to go forward and kind of change gears here real quick, and then I'm going change gears one more time before we end.

A few weeks ago, we hit this in Matthew 12. And Jesus said, you know, the men of Nineveh will rise up against this generation because they repented, and y'all are being stubborn. And then the queen of the South will rise up against this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because she came from the very ends of the earth to hear the wish wisdom of Solomon. She wasn't Jewish. She didn't have any heritage in the faith, but she heard that Solomon was wise.

And so she came and it says, behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Jesus said that himself, greater than Solomon. This is Solomon's the kind of the pre story for Solomon's coronation as king. Now David is the king. David is old by this point.

If you read first Kings one at the very first, it says that David is very, very old. He can't get warm. He's having a hard time, and he's not gonna live very much longer, and he knows it. There is someone who has risen up called Adonijah. Adonijah was not going to be the next king.

According to David, he's not the next king. But Adonijah had invited a whole bunch of political allies, and he was gonna take the throne of David. He was planning on it. He had invited together a big rally of people who were gonna do that. They were literally gathered together and planning the coronation ceremony all in one place.

At the same time they're doing this, King David said, summon to me Zadok the priest. Hadn't been invited by Adonijah to the party. And Nathan the prophet also not invited to the party by Adonijah. But Benanai, the son of Jehoida. Nope.

Not invited. And Solomon was not invited. Now Solomon was David's son and the one that David said would be king. And the king said to all of these folks, take with you the servants of your Lord and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule. This humble, gentle beast of burden, very similar, depending on who you listen to, to the one that Jesus was riding on.

The mules and donkeys are different. I did I spent way more time in animal husbandry this week than I than I wanted to. Okay? But but it's still reminiscent of it, and everybody in that crowd would have thought about it. It's the it's the throne of David that will have no end.

And the way that Solomon entered in was on this humble beast of burden. Bring him down to Gihon and have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel and blow the trumpet and say, long live king Solomon. Solomon was very much the king. David had already said that he would be. He's making the plans right now to make him do that during the time when Adonai just having a rally to make the party bigger.

And they hear the cry, long live king Solomon, or they hear the roar of the crowd. And when they hear this roar of the crowd, they say, what was that all about? They had missed their opportunity because Solomon was gonna be the king of Israel. Wisest man ever. Something greater than Solomon is here.

Jesus said, you who ride on white donkeys. It was a white donkey. I didn't know that, but it was a white donkey Jesus rode on. In Judges five ten in the story of Deborah kind of points to it too. And you who travel on the road, shout in praise.

Zechariah nine nine, we've read before, rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion. Shout out in triumph, oh daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just, as Jesus just he is. And he's endowed with salvation.

He can freely give it. Humble and mounted on a donkey, even a colt, the foal of a donkey, and that's what they quote in John. I think of this from Luke, and I think of this. This is just before the triumphal entry. It says that when he approached Jerusalem and he had to go over a ridge to get there from Bethany, when he comes over the ridge and he looks and he saw the city, he wept over it.

He cried over it saying, if you, Jerusalem, ones who kills the prophets, right, you had known in this day, if you understood right now the things which make for peace, you would accept me. But you'd have none of it basically is it. If you had known in this day the things which make for peace. And so when he shows up coming off of the hill, Mount Of Olives, I think there, Lord, I beseech you, save now. Send prosperity now.

They're calling out resting in God's faithfulness. I think that's actually good. God is going to be faithful, and he has a plan for his people. Yes. Great is thy faithfulness.

But what always strikes me about this story and one of the things that's hard about it is great is our fickleness. Right? Because at the beginning of the week, he's assembled this crowd. And yes, there was a crowd of people who saw it who probably believed in him. There's a crowd of people who didn't see it, but believe the people who saw it, and they are a little bit less so, but this is our guy.

It's gonna be our guy. And then there's the pharisees who oppose him and the sadducees who oppose him for different reasons. And at the beginning of the week, the people are saying, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. But by the end of the week, they're saying something else. I'm gonna read just the first few verses of great is thy faithfulness.

Think about this. Dwell on it for a second if you would. We sing this. Great is thy faithfulness, o God my father. There's no shadow of turning with thee.

You're a loving and merciful God. You reach out. Israel was supposed to be a light to the nations. They weren't, but you are reaching out to them, Lord. There's no shadow of turning with thee.

Thou changest not. Thy compassions, they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever it will be. Pardon for sin, a peace that endureth, thine own dear presence to cheer and to God. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

Blessings all mine with 10,000 beside. Oh, those red letters up there. That's the Carl special. This is the guitar chords over the he puts he makes it so easy for us in the first service on Monday nights. Great is thy faithfulness.

Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I've needed, your hand is provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. It it's heartbreaking for Jesus to know and to walk out that faithfulness and know that the people are gonna accept him and then turn on him.

Fickle. So it's an adjective. This is straight up English. I'm not going back to the Greek on this one. Marked by a lack of steadfastness, constancy or stability given to erratic changeableness.

That's us. Yep. That's us. This is this is not someone I normally would quote in church, but it's it's Machiavelli. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and again.

Right? This is a I think this is true. Of mankind, we may say in general that they are fickle, and they are hypocritical, and they are greedy of gain. That's true for the Pharisees on the one side and the Pharisees on the other and on us, if we're honest. Outside of being spirit led, this is what is pretty much true about us, fickle, hypocritical, greedy of gain.

So why do I do this and kinda it's kind of a downer for Palm Sunday. Right? We're supposed to yell, Hosanna, have the kids come forward. But I it's hard for me because we go Sunday to Sunday. A lot happens in Holy Week.

A lot happens. Jesus is teaching in the temple every day. He's there, and he's showing them the way every day. And there are people that come together that would never be together. They only come together to fight, and they're coming together against Jesus.

And by the end of the week, it goes from blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord to this. Pilate went out again and so then Pilate took Jesus and he scourged him. Had him beaten, cat of nine tails. Right? Lots of lashes.

The soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put it on him a purple robe, and they said, hail king of the Jews. Now they were saying, hail king of the Jews the week before. There were a lot of people saying that, and Rome just thinks it's hilarious because they still have the power to do whatever they wanna do. They said, hail king of the Jews, and they struck him with their hands. And Pilate then went out again, and they said to him, behold, I'm bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no fault in him.

He passes judgment as this guy's innocent. Actually, you read the text, he passes that judgment seven different times. He's innocent. Behold, I'm bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no fault in him. And Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.

And Pilate said to them, behold the man. Therefore, when the chief priest and officers said to him, they cried out saying, crucify him. Crucify him. Wow. What a change.

In less than a week, Pilate said to him, you take him and you crucify him, for I find no fault in him. It wouldn't be right to do that. I mean, we do stand for law and order. We're wrong. From then on, Pilate sought to release him.

He declared him innocent seven times. He kept saying he was gonna do it. His wife told him not to have anything to do with the man's death. But the Jews cried out saying, if you let this man go, you're not Caesar's friend. How did they threaten him?

Politically. Whoever makes himself a king speaks out against Caesar. Isn't that true? At the same time, they wanna be delivered from Roman oppression. They don't want this guy to do it.

When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and he sat him down in the judgment. And he said to the Jews, behold your king. But they cried out, away with him. Away with him. Crucify him.

And Pilate said to him, shall I crucify your king? Kind of and the chief priests answered. Think about this. The chief priests, head religious leaders, probably Sadducees, not Pharisees in this case. Chief priests answered and said, we have no king but Caesar.

Wow. You're supposed to be in charge of the house of God. Chief priest answered, we have no king but Caesar. Then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and they led him away.

How can it go? How can it go? So Machiavelli was first. This one's Ralph Waldo Emerson. We are a puny and fickle folk.

Avarice, that's greed. And the Sadducees were greedy for power and the Pharisees were greedy for power. They're puny and fickle folk. Avarice, hesitation. Hesitation is that, I don't know what to do, so I'm doing nothing.

Hesitation. Avarice, hesitation, and following are our diseases. Yeah. I'll go to that rally. Why not?

I've told you this a few weeks ago, but when we were in Italy, we got the orientation talk from Aurelia Getsi. She said, she said, whatever you do, if you see a mob forming, go the other way. Don't be a part of a mob. Individual people can think. Mobs don't think.

We are a puny and fickle folk. Adverse hesitation and following are our diseases. So is the story just gonna repeat itself where we say, blessed are you, Lord, and within the same week, are we gonna bless and curse? Is the story just gonna repeat itself? Is what we say about our leader and what we do with our lives gonna match, or is it going to be hypocritical based on our circumstance, greedy?

I'm going to read a prayer. I wrote it down and kind of doctored on it a little bit and thought about it a lot, and I wrote it down. I don't usually do this, but I'm going read this off if you would. You can close your eyes or keep them open and read if you want to, but it's an earnest prayer based on this text. Actually, Palm Sunday is always a hard one for me because I I see the fickleness, and I prepared these slides ahead of time, and then I listed them under still didn't use it.

I still didn't use it because I think this is what we need to hear. Lord God, we come to you confessing that we are indeed a fickle people. We say we want you to be in our life and we applaud you, but we often wander. Oh, Lord. Prone to wander, Lord.

I feel it. We don't always want to listen to the truth that you're teaching us about ourselves. There are times, Lord, when we don't want to hear your truth at all. So if you won't tell us what we want to hear, or if your truth makes us uncomfortable, we will often listen to someone else. Today, Lord, you're calling us to be more loving and more compassionate.

You're calling us to arrest our fickle behavior, to fully trust in Jesus, to strengthen ourselves in the faith. You want for us to trust that you love us. You want us to know and trust Jesus. Not religion, nor procedure, nor protocols, nor politics, tradition, or even education. You're calling us to love you with all our heart and our mind and our soul and our strength and with everything that we have in this world.

And we put our relationship with Jesus first, and in so doing, we'll begin to love our neighbors as ourselves. So you want for us to do our part to help make this world a place that's free from any form of hate or brutality. You want for us to fill this world with your unconditional love and your compassion through living out the gospel. So Lord, would you show us how? Exactly, Lord.

We don't want to be like misunderstanding. We don't want for we don't want to be unbelieving. We want to be able to go forward in belief and confidence. Would you show us how? You want us to demonstrate the kingdom of heaven on earth by loving others in such a way that you could call others to your grace and to your repentance?

For them to earnestly seek your face and your truth and you say that you'll be found by him who earnestly seeks after you? You want us to be with you forever and ever and not shrink back in fear or pull away in pride. I pray that you'll speak and teach and that we will listen and learn. Amen. Now I said I was gonna change gears one more time.

This is the responsorial part of the sermon. Psalm one thirty six. I mentioned the lesser Halil was one eighteen. Psalm one eighteen, and we've covered that several times. Psalm one thirty six is the greater Halil.

This is a further on down the road kind of song, and it is singing God's praise. And it's it's a repetition over and over for the ways that God has been good to us, his people. And so it's a psalm of ascents going up to Jerusalem for the festival. All of the people of the Jewish people would have heard this recently, and it's a good reminder for us today. Psalm one zero six, one zero seven, and one eighteen all begin with the same verse, and it's this.

I've got it up here in white and purple. I'll read the white parts if y'all will read the purple parts. Okay? It's responsorial. I'll say something and then you'll say something, but you are gonna get to say the same thing over and over again.

Alright? For the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever is your part. And this one, along with one zero six, one zero seven, one eighteen, is the way that Psalm one thirty six begins. And here we go. I'll pause and interject a little bit, but we just wanna concentrate our minds on the steadfast love of the Lord.

I could have translated it mercy or is the Jewish word, the Hebrew word, and it means love that is just sticks to you. Love that stays with us. So, oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the God of gods for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.

It's 26 verses long if you're already wondering. Okay? For his goodness. We just thank God for his goodness. To him who alone does great wonders, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.

To him who by wisdom made the heavens, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. To him who laid out the earth above the waters, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. To him who made great lights, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. The sun to rule by day, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. For the moon and stars to rule by night, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.

That's about creation. It's about what he has done, what he has made, and it's wondrous and he's the only one who has done it. Ex nihilo, out of nothing, he made everything that was made. I don't know how he did it, but he did it and I believe it for creation. To him who struck Egypt in their firstborn, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.

And I know what you're thinking. He struck the firstborn of Egypt, and his steadfast love is enduring forever. What does it say about pharaoh? Let's let's read the rest of it and then we'll talk about that. Okay?

And he brought out Israel from among them for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. To him who divided the Red Sea in two, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. And made Israel pass through the midst of it, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. But he overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. So this might look unloving to you that he slew the firstborn.

But what does it say about Pharaoh? He hardened his heart. It says it over and over. He hardened his heart. So the word of the Lord was presented to him by Moses and perhaps before that and quite possibly after that.

But he hardened his heart, and there is a consequence for hardening your heart against God, against the delivery of his message and his good news and his word. It is open for all. To him who led his people through the wilderness, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. To him who struck down great kings, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. And slew famous kings, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.

Sihon, the king of the Amorites, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. And Og, king of Bashan, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. A heritage to Israel, his servant, for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. This is for his gracious provision in the past. Everything that we just said, he brought them out of Egypt.

He brought them out of oppression. He brought them out of slavery. He led them through the wilderness. Not all of them. Right?

There were a lot of people who died in the wilderness because why? They hardened their hearts against God. So this is actually a picture of my dad at the sawmill. If I talk about it for very long, I'll cry. But it's up there for me, for his gracious provision in the past.

How has it been that God has provided for you in the past? If you were to say your own Psalm of ascent where you thought about how God had provided for you in the past, What would it be about? For me, five generations back, it'd be that sawmill, right, which is running. It started back up in 2014, and nowadays when I go there, it it doesn't look all, you know, run down. It it's still kinda run down, but it doesn't look all beat up.

It's used daily to make lumber. You know? It's cool. For God's gracious provision in the past for my particular family, just to personalize it. Who remembered us?

Oh, it's about humility. It's always about humility. Who remembered us in our lowly state for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. And he rescued us from our enemies for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. We're on verse 24.

And so far, you can look and you can just say it's us. It's about us. It's about us. Who remembered us in our lowly estate? There you go.

You got it. Who rescued us from our enemy? For the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever, but there's a turn right here at verse 25. And here it is, who gives food to all flesh for the steadfast love of the Lord endures for it's not just about us. God's who gives food to all flesh.

Think about this. It's not just me, my four, and no more. If there is a criticism that is oft repeated about the church these days, it's that we only care about ourselves. And that shouldn't be true. It shouldn't be true.

It's sometimes true. If the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever and we are the people of God, then we should care for everybody. So it's not just about us. Think about this too. And if you're still thinking, well, he slew the firstborn in Egypt and he got Pharaoh's men in that Red Sea.

And Og and Sihon, those guys, Og and Sihon, he knocked down. It's not just about us. Well, doesn't seem like he's reaching out to those others. They did have their chance. They did.

This is a reminder right here. Don't harden your heart against God. His steadfast love is what endures forever. You might translate it, His mercy endures forever. And there are lot of folks these days who have universalist ideas that everybody will eventually come into the kingdom.

That's a hopeful thought. It doesn't really match up with scripture. It's the only hard thing about it. Remember Rahab the harlot and the spies that were going in? The Israel Israel spies are going in, and Rahab the harlot harbors them in her home.

And she has a little soliloquy, little speech. It goes further than this if you wanna look it up. But this is what she says, for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt. We heard it. You know how they heard it?

Because Israel kept on repeating it all the time. Because why wouldn't you? If God had delivered you, why wouldn't you tell people? We've heard how the Lord, capital l, dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of G Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted right here in this city, neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you for the Lord your God, he's the God of heaven above and on earth beneath.

If we praise God, sincerely, if we praise God, not point out how wrong everyone else is all the time, we do a good job of that. If we will praise God, it won't just be praising God. It makes a difference on the people who hear those praises of God. Does that make sense to you? It made a difference for Rahab.

She recognized that she wanted to be on the side of the Lord, not against him. Who gives food to all flesh for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. So it's not just about us. In our habitually praising God, God will make a way for others to know and to trust him. He listens to our praise and he uses it in ways we might not expect.

So Hosanna, save us now. There's also salvation. Yes. We agree, Lord. Salvation.

Yes. We accept it. Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. And that's the that's the way that psalm closes. So 26, usually that means it's alphabetical.

It's something you can remember. It's a mnemonic device so that we can remember it. And that repetition of for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. If that sticks with you, that'll give you a heart to go forward even when you feel like you're unjustly oppressed. That'll give you a heart to go forward when you feel like you're experiencing the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ.

The steadfast love of the Lord is forever. It's available for everyone, but not everyone will accept it. That's just the truth of the matter. There are people who will harden their hearts against it. No one is gonna stand the judgment without it.

But with that steadfast love of the Lord, there's not one of us that will ever be defeated. Even if we're martyred, we won't be defeated. The steadfast love of the Lord is pervasive and it's everlasting, and that in itself is worthy of praise. So, oh, give thanks to the God of heaven for the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. I think that's the last slide.

I'm gonna ask Judy if she'll come forward. We're gonna sing near the cross. Now it is holy week. If you wanted to to go back and look that over, there's something that happens on every day this week. And a couple of years ago, we we sent out gospel conversations about that.

We have not put them back up on the website, but I think I do want those to go back up. Understand though, and you might wanna put this in the blurb about it. It was two years ago. We were we were in we were in our houses, so it's probably gonna be from my living room and Blake's house and Carl's office. So the three of us are having a conversation about what happened each day of Holy Week.

But between hail the king of the Jews and hail the king of the Jews in mockery and crucify him, crucify him. There's a lot that happens in this week. I pray that God keep our hearts near the cross. Would you stand with me and we'll sing hymn number three nineteen.

Jesus, keep me near the cross. Bear a precious mountain. Me to all the healing stream

Amen. May we walk in the love of God. This is from first John four sixteen. It says, and so we know the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. We know it.

And so we know and we rely on the love of God that he has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them. Lord, may we walk out the love, mercy, forgiveness, grace that we have received from you. May we act like it.

In Jesus name, Amen.