Scripture referenced 8 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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John 11:1-46 primary text read aloud covering Lazarus's sickness, death, and resurrection
1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.
2 It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.
3 The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.”
4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.
7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let’s go into Judea again.”
8 The disciples told him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”
9 Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10 But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.”
11 He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.”
12 The disciples therefore said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”
13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep.
14 So Jesus said to them plainly then, “Lazarus is dead.
15 I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.”
16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go also, that we may die with him.”
17 So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.
18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.
19 Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.
20 Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house.
21 Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.
22 Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”
28 When she had said this, she went away, and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here, and is calling you.”
29 When she heard this, she arose quickly, and went to him.
30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him.
31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”
32 Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept.
36 The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!”
37 Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”
41 So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me.
42 I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Free him, and let him go.”
45 Therefore many of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.
46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done.
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Keep this verse
John 12:1
Jesus comes to Bethany six days before the Passover
1 Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
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John 12:12-16
the crowd takes palm branches and shouts Hosanna at the triumphal entry
12 On the next day a great multitude had come to the feast. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
13 they took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet him, and cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”
14 Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it. As it is written,
15 “Don’t be afraid, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”
16 His disciples didn’t understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him, and that they had done these things to him.
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John 20:31
quoted as the stated purpose of John's gospel, that readers may believe and have life in his name
31 but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
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Luke 19:41
Jesus sees Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives and weeps over it
41 When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it,
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Psalm 118:25
source identified for the word Hosanna, meaning oh Lord save now
25 Save us now, we beg you, Yahweh! Yahweh, we beg you, send prosperity now.
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Zechariah 9:9
prophecy quoted that the king comes humble seated on a donkey's colt, fulfilled at the triumphal entry
9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
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Revelation 7:9-10
benediction describing a vast crowd from every nation holding palm branches shouting that salvation comes from God and the Lamb
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
10 They cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
On Palm Sunday 2019, Pastor Carl walked the congregation through the world Jesus entered when he rode into Jerusalem, using John 11 and 12 as the frame. He wanted people to feel the weight of that moment before celebrating it, so he started with the raising of Lazarus and the political storm it set off, building toward the triumphal entry and the question of who was actually ready to receive Jesus.
What was said
Before getting to palm branches and hosannas, Pastor Carl laid out the world those events happened in. Rome held power through a policy of tolerating any religion as long as people paid their taxes and honored the emperor. The Jews lived under that arrangement as unwilling subjects, divided between Sadducees who made their peace with the occupation and Pharisees who resented it deeply and held tightly to a literal reading of Scripture. Four hundred years of silence from God had only sharpened the arguments between those two camps.
The economic picture mattered too. There was a wide gap between the priestly aristocracy at the top and the laborers, lepers, and outcasts Jesus spent most of his time with. The temple courts had become a marketplace, with merchants selling sacrificial animals at a premium to religious pilgrims, which Pastor Carl noted felt familiar. Jesus himself had given up a tradesman's income to travel as a teacher dependent on the generosity of people like Susanna and Joanna.
Against that backdrop, Lazarus dies in Bethany, less than two miles from the temple, and Jesus deliberately waits more than three days before going to him. The delay was intentional. Jewish understanding held that three days was the limit for any hope of survival, so Jesus waited past that mark to remove all doubt. He raised Lazarus in public, with witnesses, and wept before he did it, because he was genuinely moved by the grief around him.
That miracle forced the hand of the leadership. The chief priests and the Pharisees, who agreed on almost nothing, suddenly found common ground: if Jesus kept this up, everyone would follow him and Rome would come in and take away what little authority they still had. Caiaphas declared it expedient for one man to die for the nation, and Pastor Carl pointed out that John flags this as unwitting prophecy. From that day, they planned to kill him, and Jesus knew it.
So when Jesus came into Jerusalem six days before Passover, the crowd that met him with palm branches was carrying a nationalistic symbol. The palm branch appeared on the coins minted under Herod's client kingdom, a sign of Israel's hoped-for independence. Their shout of Hosanna came from Psalm 118 and meant "save us now," a cry that was political and spiritual at the same time. They wanted the Romans gone and they wanted a king, and here was one coming in on a donkey's foal, fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy exactly, though his own disciples did not understand it until later.
Pastor Carl ended at an unexpected place: a group of Greeks at the feast who came to Philip and said, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." The religious establishment had rejected him. The crowds wanted a military liberator. But here were outsiders, earnestly seeking God, who simply wanted to find him. Jesus responded by saying the hour had come for the Son of Man to be glorified, pointing toward the cross that was now days away.
Pastor Carl closed with a quote from D.A. Carson about the church being made up of natural enemies, not natural friends, held together only by their common allegiance to Christ. Given everything he had described about left and right, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, it landed as more than an observation. The triumphal entry was already gathering exactly that kind of unlikely crowd, and the cross was the reason any of it held together.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Carl walked through the political, economic, cultural, and religious tensions of first-century Judea. Where do you see parallels between that setting and the world we live in now, and how does that change the way you read the Palm Sunday story?
- When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he waited two extra days before going, knowing Lazarus would be dead more than three days by the time he arrived. What does that deliberate waiting tell you about how Jesus works, and have you ever experienced a season where God seemed to be dragging his feet in your own life?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 9,556 words
0:00
Speaker 1Would you stand up and we will join together in song. Scott, would you come up and help out, please? I need it. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Hymn number three thirty seven.
0:16
Speaker 2What can wash away my sin nothing but the blood of Jesus what can make me whole again nothing but the blood of Jesus oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow nothing but the blood of Jesus precious is the flow that makes me white as snow nothing but the blood of Jesus on the last this is all my hope and peace nothing but the blood of Jesus this is all my righteousness nothing but the blood of Jesus precious
2:30
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all sound good. The old rugged cross, we're building towards this to the sermon today is going be building towards next week. We're all looking forward to the cross on this Palm Sunday but the old rugged cross, hymn number three twenty seven.
2:56
Speaker 2On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross the emblem of suffering and shame but I love that old cross till my trophy's at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown oh the old rugged cross so despised by the world as a wondrous attraction for me for the dear lamb of God left his glory I will cling and exchange it someday for Amen.
6:25
Speaker 1Thank you. Y'all can have a seat. We have a few announcements this morning. If that thing can be plugged in, can will that work? It's it's come un undoing.
6:37
We have, if you don't know about it, there's a nursing mother's room downstairs. There's a video feed that goes on live at the same time as this service. And we do that for both services and obvious reasons, but that's down there. Down the stairs when you come to the bottom of the stairs out that way, you turn left and then back right. And that's there if you ever need it.
6:59
That we also are doing Monday nights at First B. That happens every Monday night here. Carl is preaching this week on the Holy Week. He's going to look forward to tomorrow night. He's going to just kind of go through the different events of Holy Week building up towards the cross by Friday.
7:15
So, that's happening. Monday night's meal, music, and a message every Monday night and that's fun. It happens at the same time Awana. At So, Awana is a kids club and it happens in this room. The big I'll start to say prayer circle.
7:28
The big game circle right here. They gather around and they start off in this room and they spread out. They're memorizing scripture, getting it into their minds to reach their hearts. So, that's good because kids matter to God. Precept study is happening on Thursdays.
7:44
That is a great study with interested people and they bring in colored pencils and they make a lot of different notes in the text and they let scripture examine scripture and they're up and about the last third of the book of Acts right now. It's Thursdays from nine to 11:30 in the Fellowship hall. Jane Kranenburg is the facilitator for that. This Refit, revolutionizing fitness. This is a Christian group that gets together in this church, in this room right here, 05:15 on Tuesday nights and they get together and they exercise together and it's fun and if you come by and there's a disco ball in the church, that's what's going on, alright?
8:19
I don't usually study to a disco ball but it is the norm for them to be doing a fitness class in here. My sister's closet is kind of, it's hard to explain this. It is for $10 entrance donation on Saturday, May 18. You'll be able to come in and into kind of a high end thrift shop that is just here for a little while, alright? People from the church and from the community will come in and donate things, nice things, like things that you would take from your sister's closet, right?
8:50
That that sort of stuff. Bring it in and for a $10 entrance donation, there they will you'll get to go in and kind of swap around and it's nice, nice stuff. So it's coming up, May 18. If you have any questions about it, talk to KC McCooey. She's pretty easy to get in touch with.
9:05
Immigrant hope. Do you all know these people? This is Ken and Lori McCune. Ken and Lori McCune have been ministering with Latinos in this valley for a long time now. Wes and Katie, Wes and Katie Clark, Katie's parents right here, Ken and Lori McCune.
9:20
They've been ministering here among Latinos and planting churches among Latinos in this valley and Teton Valley, Idaho. Right now they live down in between Big Piney down there, planted church there and they have a place in Driggs. And so these two, Lori of those two is in charge of immigrant hope. They meet here on Mondays and they try to help people get squared away as far as immigration goes. It's a good, good ministry.
9:43
They're looking for board members. So, if you have a heart for immigrants, you've got a heart for the other or others, other people groups. They do a lot of ministry between them. They're looking for board members. If you feel like God's laying on your heart, if you talk to me and I'll talk to them and get you put together.
10:00
If you miss a message and it happens from time to time for everybody, I missed one two weeks ago, right? And First Baptist has a podcast which we record these, the audio of em and it goes back now for about five and a half or six years audio. But if you miss one nowadays, you can go on Facebook, look up First Baptist of Jackson, Wyoming. If you look up First Baptist of Jackson, Mississippi, you'll see something different. But First Baptist of Jackson, Wyoming, and you'll see the Sunday morning service from the 09:00 service.
10:30
So even if you think I wanna hear this again, you can go back and listen to the 09:00 version of the sermon on on Facebook. So if you miss one, you can go back for it. Connect hour happens between the services. I think y'all, most of y'all know that. It's still happening down there.
10:47
And it seems like there was one more that I was, didn't wanna forget about. Kyle stood up and he said, next week the men are preparing breakfast for everybody. So the guys who wanna join in and help cook breakfast for the community, Dave Kaufman is here right now. He's in kinda in charge of that but 6AM next Sunday, guys, you wanna come in and help cook for breakfast starting at eight before services at nine and then they'll serve again at ten breakfast and then there'll be some of those guys that need to hang around and clean up afterwards. So that's the one that didn't make it into the slides.
11:19
One more. My mom and dad are here with us today. I'm gonna get them to stand up if you would, please. So, rather rather than introduce them 75 times, I thought I'd just do it at once. So, when I say right now that everything else is in the bulletin, all the other prayer requests and all that sort of stuff is in the in.
11:39
Please grab one. If you didn't grab one on the way in but I'm going to give you a chance now if you would. Greet one another. We had a baptism. That's the other one.
11:47
We had a baptism for two of the walk up girls. Sadie and Reina both were baptized this morning. That was the other one. Praise God. That was great.
11:55
If you would, stand up and greet one another and now, mom and daddy are fair game. So,
12:51
Speaker 2One more time. Let's do it again. Where are we, Judy? Where are we? One more time.
12:57
Alright. Alright. We will glorify the king of kings.
13:15
Speaker 1Amen. Thank you. Amen. I appreciate you keeping us on course. Good.
13:21
There is a redeemer. Amen. He can be known.
15:07
Speaker 2Forever in that holy place.
15:13
Speaker 3You, oh my father.
15:22
Speaker 2Your spirit to the work on earth is done. Would you pray for
15:36
Speaker 1us, God?
15:37
Speaker 3Let's bow our heads. Heavenly father, we are so grateful to be gathered in your name as we have been preparing our hearts for Easter Sunday. Lord, we thank today of the sacrifice you were getting ready to make and lord, it it humbles us because we've seen the other side. We know the glory and the grace that you you give to us. And, Lord, we are thankful.
15:57
Thankful to be in this place today gathered with folks that love you and and are growing in you. Lord, we ask your blessing upon this offering this morning that, as we give, we give cheerfully, and we give because your kingdom matters around the globe. So, heavenly father, we thank you, and we praise you for today. Bless this offering as you reach nations upon nations. In Jesus' name.
16:22
Amen.
19:19
Speaker 1Amen. Thank you, Judy. She said that's the last song she heard on the way to church last week and it was one that I hadn't heard since 1975, I don't think. But it's pretty. Looking forward to the cross.
19:32
It's really, really pertinent too. So we already did that, right? Palm Sunday. Here we are at Palm Sunday. Now, last week, I started second Peter and I got going in second Peter but I'm going to pull back for this Sunday and next so we can tell the story.
19:49
The story of Jesus and Palm Sunday is great leading up to the cross but I think we've got a little bit more as far as background for the cross and background for the climate of the day right there. So, I'm going to share that historical setting, that sort of stuff but Imma do it from mostly from the context of the gospel of John. If you haven't read the gospel of John lately, it is so good. Just so good. So, if you'd read the gospel of John in the next week and just fall in love with Jesus again.
20:20
It's about belief and it starts early and it keeps on throughout and you'll hear it several times a day about what you believe about Jesus because really that's what everything hangs on. So, Palm Sunday in the context from the gospel of John. I'm going to start out. I hope that this is not death by PowerPoint for y'all but I'm going to read a lot of this this morning because I just wanna get through it quickly. I could stand and talk about it all day, but I just wanna get through it quickly.
20:44
So historical background is this, the political setting, the economic setting, the cultural setting, and the religious setting. Are you with me? We have one of those ourselves. We have a political economic culture and religious setting ourselves and so we're looking at it from our day but I want you to understand their day. So, the political setting, the Roman government practice syncretism in the first century.
21:05
The Romans were the ones in charge and they had an empire and it was going strong. The Roman government practice syncretism that is they would accept any and all religious beliefs and bring them into the Roman They worship multiple gods, quite a few of em and the emperor also. So, anybody that would come in under their umbrella was exposed to all these other Roman gods but they would accept whatever people's people groups, whatever as they believe. They would accept their religious beliefs as long as they'd give praise to the emperor, pay their taxes. They would accept the philosophical teachings and even governmental ideologies that can be held together under the Roman system.
21:45
That was their belief and that time period was called the Pax, P A X, Pax Peace, Romana. Pax Romana was the Roman peace. That's the day they were living in. Some people believe we are living in the American peace. We are the ones who are kind of imposing peace on the rest of the world.
22:01
Religious freedom, political freedom, and freedom of thought for the individual were touted but the government did enforce its control and local matters to maintain the peace. If anybody got to be unruly with what they believe or what they thought, then, Rome would come in and quash that little rebellion. Judea, the land of the Jews, in Israel today, it is the southern part of Israel around Jerusalem. Judea was a client kingdom of Rome. So, they had the land of the Jews had their own little client king that was under Rome.
22:37
The Jews though held much distrust and often hatred for the Roman Empire. They did not like being ruled over. They had been a great and mighty people, right? They had been in charge for themselves. They were looking back to King David and King Solomon and they wanted to rule themselves.
22:56
They had some measure of rule but they were unwilling subjects and I say somewhat. The Pharisees or I'll get to em in a minute but the right wing really didn't like it at all and the left wing was a little more complicit with the government and they didn't mind it as much because it was expedient for them. So, Jewish resentment though of foreign Roman government, it was very very apparent. They wanted to rule themselves. The Jews understood the world to be divided in two types of people.
23:22
It didn't matter if you were sadducee or Pharisee. The Jews at the time believed that there were Jews and there was everybody else. So, Jew and Gentile, non Jew, Jews worked hard to disassociate themselves from the Gentiles having just been recently to Israel. Tanya and Pascal and I went with 18 others, 19 others that to Israel recently from this church and there are still Orthodox Jews that are very much considered to be theologically right wing Jews that are Orthodox that dress in a certain way, eat in a certain way, have certain customs and manner of life and they still don't associate with Gentiles. If they could, they would fly their own plane to Jerusalem.
24:04
Really, they don't really like it and did not communicate with us at all. That's not to say that Jewish people are bad people. I don't think they are at all But there's a certain orthodox movement that still takes this. They do not cotton to being ruled by Gentiles, not at all, or anyone that's complicit with them. So they had a measure of freedom in their governance system and maintaining their own traditions.
24:26
The governance system was mostly folks that were complicit with the Roman government because the right wing folks would not have anything to do with that foreign oppressor. Does that make sense? But they were strong in maintaining their own traditions and they continued to talk about when Moses led him out in of the of Egypt and through the wilderness and they continue to talk about that. The Roman government required that everything be ultimately subject to Roman authority. So, they had procurators and they had these folks that were political middleman really that were over the king that were supposed to keep the peace.
25:01
Are you with me? We'll see more of that next week but Jewish citizens were under the authority of the Jewish court system, the Sanhedrin, yet all the rulings for the death penalty had to be sent to the Roman government because they were not supposed to be able to do that. Under Rome, they weren't allowed to do that. Now, stonings and all of that sort of stuff were part of Jewish law. They could impose a death penalty but under Rome, they were not supposed to do that.
25:28
Jewish religious and governance system of the time was divided between two parties and I put em this time. I put em on left and right. As you see em, Sadducees were on the left. Pharisees were on the right. The Sadducees typically were wealthy leaders, typically.
25:45
They were wealthy religious leaders. They had rejected many of the Jewish traditions because they were complicit with Rome. Are you with me? The guy over them is saying, that that one I don't like so much. And they would say, well, you don't have to take that literally.
26:00
I think we can work with that. And they would accept payment in some ways and political and religious cooperation with the religious with the Roman government, irreligious Roman government was the sadducees way of life but the Pharisees were not that way. They were the people's party. There were more Pharisees than there were sadducees. There were more of the have nots than there were the haves.
26:24
Are you with me? I'll get to that in economics but we taught the law. They they taught the law and the traditions of Israel's patriarchs and they were strictly conforming to the Jewish law. So, these are the two groups. Sadducees, Pharisees.
26:39
The Pharisees believed in a literal interpretation of scripture. Including resurrection because the Bible speaks of it and heaven because the Bible speaks of it and the spiritual realm because the Bible speaks of it and they stood on that. Now, the sadducees did not. They didn't believe in resurrection. They didn't believe in angels.
26:56
They didn't believe in demons. They just figured this was it. Now, for four thirty years, there's an intertestamental silence. They had Torah. They had the prophets and they were looking back on that.
27:09
The sadducees honestly didn't care as much about it. They just felt like, come on people. Why are you, why are you quibbling over this? Does this sound familiar? It's not really that big a deal.
27:19
Be nice to meet each other, right? But the people of the book, the Pharisees, these folks, they believe in a literal interpretation of scripture and God has been silent for over about four hundred years and so in that four hundred years silence, they are writing about, well, this means this and this means that. They've got commentaries on the scriptures and they're going by and they follow after different rabbis who teach about the Bible and they tend to go with them and they're strict in their interpretation. They are people of the book. Now, Baptist, let me just say, we're usually known as people of the book and when I preach, I preach more often about falling into the ditch of legalism because you're more likely to do that.
27:58
Does that make sense? Then to be complicit and not believe that it's really true. There are other denominations. I wish that there weren't but there are other denominations that have kind of shunned the book and gone in to what's politically and socially expedient. Drawing us to the center is what Christ is doing but the Pharisees have their ideas about it because they've developed them over four hundred years.
28:23
In this country, two hundred years is a long time. They have been without an authoritative word from the Lord in four hundred years and they've been talking about it since. They know the prophets. They've studied them. They know exactly what each of them say and they know some of em they know the prophecies of what's coming.
28:42
That's where we are. Political setting, economic setting. King Herod, the great, had employed a lot of labors. He's a client king of Rome. He has plenty of money and plenty of labor.
28:53
And he's taken under these great infrastructure projects, roads and bridges maybe but definitely palaces and ports and fortresses. Capernaum was one of his palaces if you've ever been I mean, sorry, Caesarea is one of his palaces if you've been there. Masada was one of Herod the Great's palaces. Stadiums, ornate carvings, that sort of thing. That's an economic setting.
29:17
His son now is the guy in charge, Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas is one of Herod's sons and he is ruling over Judea in particular at this time. Economically, he is still carrying on in his father's footsteps and he is doing big works, public works, and especially, I mean, Herod the great had done the temple. The great, he rebuilt Solomon's Temple. Renovations, upgrades, don't even begin to describe it.
29:44
Forty six years of working on the temple under Herod the great. Herod Antipas is carrying on in his father's footstep. This is one of the coins that was minted by this client kingdom of Judea under Roman rule. The Romans let them print these coins. But these coins were minted and I'll come back to that in a minute.
30:02
That's just happens to be under Herod Antipas' reign. There was a very large disparity between rich and poor. The upper class was made up, as far as Jews were concerned, upper class was made up of temple priest and priestly aristocracy, mostly including the Sadducees. The middle class was comprised of traders and merchants, artisans, stone cutters, masons, sculptors, that sort of thing. Jesus was a technon.
30:27
He was a builder. We say carpenter but probably more likely in that area a stonecutter. And he would have been in the middle or lower middle class. Started out really poor, we know. But had a good trade.
30:39
The middle class was comprised of traders and merchants, artisans, stone cutters, masons, sculptors, and craftsmen, metal, wood cloth, that sort of thing. Pharisees, sages, scribes, and teachers were also part of the middle class. The lower class was made up of laborers and Jesus spent a lot of time with people of the lower class whether they were slaves, lepers, blind, insane, or crippled people. They were considered unemployable and they live mostly off of the alms of the people. Jesus spent a lot of time with those folks.
31:09
That's the economic setting. They were also required to give temple sacrifices. I'm not spend a lot of time on that because that's not where the message is going today but in the form of money, usually purchase and sacrifice animals offered to the priest. Traveling teachers made their living by traveling from town to town and accepting gifts from those who came to hear them. That's an interesting one because Jesus had been part of the middle class and had a trade and then after his baptism and his temptation in the wilderness, he began to be an itinerant minister and as he's going around and he's teaching, he is receiving from the people.
31:46
It's a hard switch to throw when you've grown up especially in The US and you want to make your own, pull your own weight, and then you go from earning your money to be in reliant on the people of God. To help but Jesus did that. It says, Susanna and Joanna and several other ladies went along with them and they gave out of their resources so that Jesus and his disciples could live in their ministry. That had been going on for three years for Jesus. I want you to say that economics of the situation.
32:19
During the first century, temple courtyards had often become a marketplace. It's huge by the way. The old city of Jerusalem is point nine square miles. It's less than one square mile. It's tiny and then the temple takes up a big chunk of that.
32:34
I'll show you in a map in a minute. During the first century, the temple courtyards had become a marketplace. They were set up like the farmer's market downtown here. Local merchants would sell sacrificial animals at a premium in order to turn a profit from the tourists. Where are we right now?
32:52
Is any of this stuff sounding like it's pretty common and pretty close to our reality? There's a strong left. There's a strong right. They don't agree about anything. They're selling their sacrificial animals at a premium in order to turn a profit from the tourists, the religious seekers that would come to the temple.
33:11
So, that's the economic setting. Cultural setting is this, the population, villagers around Judea and Galilee, what is now Israel, though that was part of the land of Israel, the the promised land that God gave to them. So, most of the people around there were Jews but there was also some diversity of Syrians and Greeks and Romans, a lot of Roman soldiers because if you're going to impose peace, you have to have an occupying force and they did. The major city of the Jews was Jerusalem which was more cosmopolitan and contained a far greater ethnic diversity and it still does. So that's the most fought over piece of land in the world, less than one square mile and you've got Muslims and Jews and Christians and within the Muslims, you got at least two different major sects and within the Jews, you got at least three or four different major sects and within the Christians, you've got six major ones just in the downtown of Old City Jerusalem alone.
34:09
It's a place of great ethnic diversity. Lots of nations represented, families represented. Language, common language of the Roman Empire was Greek. That's what the New Testament was written in as Koine Greek. However, at the time it was common for Jews also to speak Hebrew.
34:25
They still do. They still have Hebrew school after school. Practicing Jews still study Hebrew and they did know it at the time and spoke it well. Jesus would have spoken both Greek and Hebrew but Aramaic was his everyday language. Latin was spoken to.
34:42
Rome comes in and they have Latin but they had accepted so many of the tenants of the Greeks with their gods and everything else and they kind of tried to improve on their language even. Latin, they assimilated it, simplified it, make it something they could use. The village life, the hub of the village was the marketplace and shops much the way it is today, right? Dotcom means .commerce, okay? And for the Jewish village, the synagogue was a central meeting place in the seat of the local Jewish government.
35:12
So, that's the cultural setting. A religious setting is this, Jewish people then and now still believe in one God, monotheism, and to be Jewish was to know one God and they said it over and over and over and over and over again from the day a child was born until throughout his life the whole time and so for them to to believe in a triune God would have been a real stretch. It's not something they would have thought of or heard of before this. Although it's there, Old Testament had been concealed until the New Testament revealed it. In contrast, the surrounding cultures believed in many gods, polytheism, and they often were represented by images or idols.
35:51
One of those would make an image to the emperor. People had to give to it. That'll come up too later. Jewish tradition centered on the Sabbath day. You know that every time that Jesus did anything good on the Sabbath day, they just blasted him for it.
36:05
These were people of the book that believed in miracles but they still blasted him because he wasn't paying attention to the rules or they didn't think he was. It should have been a day of rest and when he didn't, the conflict arose with the people who should have really been agreeing with him. Jewish people were seeking a messiah or savior. Some of them very literally seeking a Messiah or savior and thought that the Messiah or savior would overthrow the Roman oppressor oppressors. According to their understanding, he was going to bring him spiritual renewal, political freedom from centuries of foreign oppression, and currently the Roman Empire which they just flat hated.
36:45
Major religious holiday during this time and still is Passover feast. We celebrated the deliverance of the Jewish people out out from their slavery in Egypt. I actually preached on that for three weeks just about a month ago. Celebrating the deliverance of the Jewish people from their slavery in Egypt. During the Passover, many Jews would travel to Jerusalem in order to celebrate in the holy city.
37:06
It would, I'd say most Jews did that. Good, observant Jews would go. Didn't matter where they live. They would make the pilgrimage to get to Jerusalem for that feast and Jesus was mostly in Capernaum for his ministry, kind of a home base. It's 83 miles from Capernaum to Jerusalem.
37:23
That's like driving from here to Smoot, Wyoming, okay? And he walked it. That brings us to the week before Passover with Jesus and his disciples. So the date line right here is Roman Judea, and I say that because Rome's in charge, Judea is where it was. Late March, early April of AD thirty, right around this time of year.
37:44
John 11 is gonna be our immediate background. And I'm not gonna start with Hosanna. I'm not gonna start with the palm fronds. I'm not gonna start with triumphal entry. I wanna start just a little before that.
37:54
This is John eleven one through 46. Forgive me if I just read this morning. I'm gonna do a lot of reading because the story is the story is the story is the story, okay? And it's beautiful. But if you understand that political setting, you understand how charged it was, it's charged today, right?
38:10
You can see a little bit of that. And now, they're coming up on Passover. They've made the 83 mile walk. They're getting there. Now, certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany.
38:27
The village of Mary and her sister Martha. We met Mary and Martha before, right? Mary and Martha. Martha works real hard and Mary sitting there learning at the feet of Jesus. We've thus that Mary and Martha.
38:37
Here's a little map. Old City Jerusalem is right here. The temple, you see how much of it is taken up with temple. Mount Of Olives right up here. Bethpage and Bethany.
38:51
Lazarus was of Bethany right here. Actually, that's easier. Right there. It's less than two miles to the temple. Certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary, and her sister Martha, and it was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair.
39:15
Every time that we meet Mary, she's at Jesus' feet. Actually, we're going to see her one more time. I might skip over it but she is mentioned three or four times and every time she ends up at the feet of Jesus. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So, the sisters, Mary and Martha, sent word to him saying, lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.
39:38
Ain't that great? That he loved him and that they knew it? Even the apostle John, the guy who wrote this book, called himself the beloved, the one whom Jesus loved. When baptized Reina, the littlest walk up girl that got baptized this morning. They told me before they had one sentence they wanted to say before they got baptized and and she said, I'm getting baptized because I love Jesus and Jesus loves me.
40:04
Amen. 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 by it. He says, not to end in death. He didn't say he wouldn't die. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
40:31
So, when he heard that he was sick, he then stayed two days longer. Wait a second. Did he translate that right? He heard that he was sick and when he heard that he was sick, when I hear one of y'all is sick, I wanna get to see you in the hospital. I, you know, I I was in Israel when I heard John Courtney was in the hospital.
40:48
Y'all are all praying for him, I know. But I couldn't get there until this Monday. And I I would have loved to have gotten there quicker than that. But Jesus it says, when he heard that he was sick, he said, two days longer in the place where he was. He dragged his feet and then after this, if you ever see an asterisk in the New American Standard Version of the Bible, there's there gonna be several right here.
41:10
John is telling the story and he's so present with it. He's using what's called the historical present in Greek and it it it it kind of is a sense of urgency and it's putting you right in the midst of the story. He says, and then after this, he says to the disciples, he says, let us go again to Judea. I'm going to skip over something. Actually, right after he said this, he said, let us go again to Judea and Thomas and the rest of the disciples said, you know, they were trying to kill you in Judea, right?
41:41
And he says, yep, it's time. I'm going. And Thomas says, let's all go with it. So doubting Thomas gets a bad rap because he was believing Thomas and ready to die with it. Anyway, that was what I skipped.
41:55
There's therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw him and she fell at his feet saying to him, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Mary was confessing Christ and his power and knowing that he had the power to save her brother but he missed the opportunity because now he's dead, right? If you had been here, my brother would not have died and when Jesus saw her weeping and he saw all the Jews that came with her also weeping. He was deeply moved in his spirit and he was troubled and he said, where where have you laid him? And they said, lord, come and see and Jesus wept.
42:40
Praise God that we have a savior who knows what it feels like to feel pain. He understands what it feels like to empathize with people. As limited as we are in our understanding, he knows that and gets it to see our human frailty and in his humanity, he wept. So, the Jews were saying, see how he loved him. See how much love pictures into this story?
43:10
But some of them said, could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind man, could he have kept this man also from dying? They recognize this power. Even these others, they aren't even named or mentioned further than this but some of them could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind have kept this man also from dying. That's expressing some measure of faith right there. So, Jesus, again, being deeply moved within.
43:36
He was tempted in every way just as we're tempted yet. He was without sin. We don't have a high priest who can't understand. Jesus, again, being deeply moved within. He comes to the tomb.
43:47
That was a cave and stone was lying against us and Jesus says, remove the stone. Martha, practical Martha, always practical, said, to him, lord, by this time, there will be a stench for he's been dead four days. So, the Jewish law actually said, three days. Just check to see if somebody might come around. Three days.
44:11
But at the end of three days, they're dead. No doubt. There's no swooning after three days. Three days is it. And Jesus had dragged his feet for two days.
44:21
Why do you think Jesus dragged his feet for two days? He wanted it to be more than three days when he got back. He's fixing to show them something that they say that they believe. They say that they believe. There are more people that were after the literal interpretation of scripture and more people lean towards the Pharisees and the sadducees because the sadducees were complicit with the government.
44:45
Remove the stone. Martha, the sister of the deceased, says to him, lord, by this time, there'll be a stench for he's been dead four days and Jesus says to her, did I not say to you that if you believe, there it is. If you believe, you'll see the glory of God and so, they removed the stone and then Jesus raised his eyes and he said, father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me but because of the people standing around, I'm saying this out loud so that they may believe that you sent me. There it is again.
45:18
So that they may believe, right? Gospel of John. Actually, he tells us the reason he wrote the book. Twenty thirty '1 says, these things have been written so that you may believe and believing have life in his name. Because of the people standing around, I said it so that they may believe that you sent me.
45:35
When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth and the man who had died came forth. Oh, look look at that sentence. The man who had died came forth. He was bound hand and foot with wrappings. So, he saved him and he was still bound hand and foot with wrapping.
45:55
And his face was wrapped around with a claw and Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. I'm not going to preach this sermon like this but Jesus saved that guy from death and then, he commanded the people who were following him to take care of getting him out of the situation that he was in. The bound up situation. Therefore, many of the Jews came to Mary and saw what he had done and believed in it. Amen.
46:23
Anytime that people really see a clear picture of Jesus and what he does and his power and his love, some of those people will believe and that's what happened right there but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. That sounds kind of neutral but it sounds a lot like tattle tale, tattle tale, hang your britches on a nail too, doesn't it? They went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Therefore, because they learned what Jesus had done two miles from the temple. The chief priest, they were sadducees, left wingers at the time.
47:02
The chief priest and the Pharisees, oh my goodness. Now, we've got strange Beth fellas. These guys are getting along. The chief priest and the Pharisees convened the council and they were saying, what are we doing here? For this man is performing many signs and if we let this go on, if we allow this to go on because we're the ones in power, right?
47:20
We don't like y'all and y'all don't like us but we really don't like this guy. If we let this go on, all men will believe in him and the Romans then will come and take away both our place and our nation. But one of them, Caiaphas, who was priest that year, the high priest that year, said to them, you know nothing at all. Does that sound just like somebody that doesn't like those folks? You know nothing at all.
47:44
You're not getting this at all. Nor do you take into account that it is expedient for us that one man die. It's expedient for you that one man die for the people and that the whole nation not perish. Now, he did not say this, John's editorial note here. He did not say this on his own initiative but being high priest that year, he speaks for God and he prophesied there that Jesus was going to 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, not just that little group of people but everybody, not just the little mouse, Israel but all the big cats surrounding it, everybody.
48:29
So, from that day on, they plan together to kill it. They can't get along on anything but they get along on that and they made their plan and therefore, Jesus, knowing his time was coming and had was very close, had the audacity within two miles of the temple to raise a man from the dead which he knows is going to get pressed, right? Therefore, Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews but he went away from there to a country near the wilderness into a city called Ephraim and there, he stayed with the disciples. Now, this is a week before. It's just a week before the crucifixion, not even a week before the crucifixion.
49:09
So, there's Jerusalem. If you're trying to get your orientation here, the Dead Sea is right here. Mediterranean Sea is right here. Big star in the middle right there is the center of Judea is Jerusalem. That's the center of the world.
49:21
They call it the obligo, the belly button of the whole world. It's where Europe and Asia and Africa all meet right there in Jerusalem, center point of all of the world and there's Ephesians. A little ways away, it's a longer walk than Bethany. That's Bethany beyond the Jordan over here. Bethany is pretty close there to the East.
49:39
So there we see it, Jerusalem and Ephraim. And if you're wondering how close that is together, this star is on top of ninety West Kelly First Baptist Church right here, and that star is on top of the Craig Thomas Discovery Center at Grand Teton National Park. Okay, so it's 13 miles. You can walk there in four hours. It's not a big deal.
49:59
I mean, modern people can walk there in four hours. I imagine they were trekking pretty good back in those days. But he walks up to Ephesians far enough away that he's in a quiet place. It's a country town, small. Passover, the Jews was near, biggest, biggest feast of the year, biggest celebration of the year, and good Jews all went to Jerusalem for this and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves.
50:27
So, they were seeking for Jesus. They'd go there into the pools and do their ritual purification before they came to the Passover. So, they were seeking for Jesus and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, he had talked there for several years, right? He'd been every time that he comes in. That's where he stood up and said, I'm the breath of life.
50:47
That's where he told him he was the water of life. So, they're seeking for Jesus and they were saying to one another as they stood in the temple. What do you think? That he'll not come to the feast at all? That's hard to believe.
51:00
The reason they were wondering if he'd come, 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. Doesn't say kill him right there but does say seize him. They were planning on killing him but Rome had to approve that. Jesus therefore, six days before the Passover, this is the first verse of the twelfth chapter John. Jesus therefore, six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
51:29
Think about that. Where Lazarus was, this guy who formerly was dead, was walking around and Jesus, six days before the Passover comes, to the guy who he had raised from the dead, right there, just right there. It's close at hand. On the next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast, they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem and they took palm branches or the branches of palm trees and they went out to meet him. Now, why palm branches?
52:01
Do you know? Any idea? When I showed you that coin earlier, I'll show you again but there were palm branches on it right there. That's a palm branch. So, Herod is a client king of Rome.
52:12
He knows the people hate the Roman occupation. Palm Branch is a symbol of Israel. Palm Branch is a nationalistic symbol of Israel and it's a signal for victory and triumph that was saying, we are going to throw off this oppressor even though we had to ask him if we could mint this coin. We're going to throw these people off and this is a victorious symbol and so they come with palm branches in their hand, ready. They took the branches of palm trees.
52:40
They went out to meet him. And when, oh, I'm going to take something from Luke here. That overwhelming compassion that Christ had continues and it seems like the closer we get to the end of the passion narrative, it intensifies. So, when he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city from the Mount Of Olives, you're 262 feet above. You're looking down on the city and the Temple Mount is the thing you see the most clearly.
53:10
When he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and he wept over it saying, if only you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace. But they were unwilling. They wanted to fight. Right was fighting left. Both of them fighting the Romans.
53:28
Some harder than others. They didn't like anybody from the outside. If you had known in this day, even the things which make for peace. I think right there too of Isaiah's, I think it's Isaiah thirty fifteen where he says, in rest and repentance is your reward but you would have none of it. So, he he, this is a painting by James Jacques Tissot.
53:54
Jesus beheld the city and wept over it. It's based on Luke nineteen forty one. Actually, by the way, there's a James Jock to to so painted from 1886 to 1896, he painted three fifty paintings of the life of Christ and it was they were narrative painting like a children's storybook would be today but they were full size paint. Can you imagine painting that? I know we got some painters in here.
54:17
He painted three fifty paintings in ten years on the life of Christ. Jesus beheld the city and wept over it. Took the palm branches. They went out to meet him. They began to shout.
54:27
You can see those palm branches actually in that painting right there. They began to shout what? Hosanna, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel. Amen.
54:39
Jesus finding a young donkey, sat on it as it is written. Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's coat. We've got the other three gospels that tell us the story of Jesus sending for that donkey. He sends two of his disciples and they go and they bring back the donkey. Actually, brought back the donkey and a donkey's foal.
55:00
Matthew tells us. Mark and Luke both tells us they brought it back. John says, he finds that donkey, sits on it, and as it is written, fear not daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming. Hosanna. You know what Hosanna means?
55:16
Hosanna. Some of you are in the first service saying, yeah, I know what it means. So, there it is in Hebrew and here it is in Greek. That's that. That's that.
55:29
It's from Psalm one eighteen twenty five in this case. Oh Lord, I beseech you, save now. That's what it means. Save us now. It is rough around here.
55:40
Economically, it is rough around here politically. It is rough around here religiously. They want us to do things we don't want to do. It's rough around here all over and oh Lord, I beseech you, save now. Oh Lord, I beseech you, send prosperity now.
55:55
What are we crying out for now? Salvation and prosperity. So, save us now was what they were crying. Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, your king has come and seated on a donkey's colt.
56:09
I could say here too that he wasn't riding on a war horse. He wasn't riding on a big white steed and coming in under military backing. He came in on a donkey's foal, a little donkey that had never been ridden before. And he fulfilled this prophecy, prophecy from Zechariah nine nine. Rejoice greatly, oh daughter of Zion, shout in triumph, oh daughter of Jerusalem.
56:34
In this service, y'all might know this better. Clap your hands all you people shout unto lord. Y'all don't know this? Anybody catch up with me? Clap your hands all you people shouting to God with a voice of triumph.
56:47
Clap your hands all you people shouting to God with a voice of praise. Hosanna. Hosanna. Shouting to God with a voice of triumph. Praise him.
56:56
Praise him. Shouting to God with a voice of praise. Amen. I my mom and dad were the only ones that knew it. No, I'm just kidding.
57:04
They taught it to me but this is rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion. Shout in triumph. Oh daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you and he is just and he is endowed with salvation. He is humble and he's mounted on a donkey even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. These things John says, he admits their limitedness.
57:26
He says, these things the disciples did not understand at the first but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered these things and that were written of him by the prophets and they had done these things to him and so, the people who were with him, when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, that's why I started with that. It makes all the difference in the world if you see all of this stuff coming together. This was forcing the issue that we're going to encounter next week, okay? The people who are with him when he called out Lazarus out of the tomb, they had seen it. Resurrection.
57:59
There was no telling them that it didn't happen. It happened. And he raised him from the dead. They continued to testify about him. So, it's gathering a throng as they go.
58:10
And for this reason also, the people went and they met him because they heard that he had performed this sign and so the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you're not doing any good. Look, the whole world's going out after him. They had said, if we let him keep on doing this stuff, everybody's going to believe in him then, what are they going do with us? Now, there were, this is where I'm going to end. It's an odd place to end but I'm going end there.
58:35
Now, there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast. Now, that in itself is kind of odd. It was a place where there were lots of other cultures but these were people who were interested in that one God that the Jews were proclaiming, living under, and so there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at this feast. They had an idea of God. They had heard and they were going to worship and these then came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and they began to ask him saying, sir, we wish to see Jesus.
59:12
This is why I'm stopping here. If you wish to see Jesus, my goodness, read John again. Fall in love with him again. Read the book of John again. These Greeks, people who are earnestly seeking to worship.
59:24
Sir, we wish to see Jesus and Philip comes and he tells Andrew and Andrew and Philip come and they tell Jesus and Jesus answers them saying, the hour has now come for the son of man to be glorified. We are approaching the cross and he knows it. He had his triumphal entry and were they, the Jews that received him? Were they the religious leadership that received him? No.
59:56
It was the people who trusted and knew the prophecy and were looking to him and saw and believed. He was the one that fulfilled what they believed. And it was those others who were earnestly seeking after God that saw him. This is what Jesus has been preaching. It's happening.
1:00:16
So, we're going to. Till next week, okay? I want to read something. Because of all of those groups, it made me think of this quote. DA Carson wrote this and he said, and I say this often when we're doing communion.
1:00:37
I'll say that what brings us together is this, the death of Christ. The church is not a collection of natural friends. Ideally, he says, the church itself is not made up of natural friends. It is made up of natural enemies. What binds us together is not common education, not common race, not common income levels, not common politics, not common nationality, not common accents, not common jobs, or anything else of that sort.
1:01:16
Christians come together not because they form a natural collocation but because they have all been saved by Jesus Christ and owe him their common allegiance. In the light of this common allegiance and in the light of the fact that they have all been loved by Jesus himself, from youngest to the oldest. They recognize that Christ loved them and has welcomed them in. In light of the fact that they have all been loved by Jesus himself, they commit themselves to doing what he says and he commands them to love one another. In this light, they are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus' sake.
1:01:59
So in our setting today, political, historical, religious, cultural setting, I think that we have developed among ourselves a bunch of others, and we have gathered ourselves into this narrow little band and we're going to sing the hymn if you would come forward, Judy. I surrender all and normally, that's an invitation hymn and it is an invitation. If you want to meet Jesus and know who he is and fall in love with him, please come forward. We'll talk about it But if you're sitting there and you're thinking, yeah, that sounded like me on one side or the other there. I I'm asking you.
1:02:35
I'm asking you to submit to what Jesus was saying by coming in peace. When he preached his first sermon, he started that Isaiah scroll in '61 and when he started, he proclaimed the favorable time of the Lord and he stopped right there. He didn't talk about the vengeance of God. He talked about the favorable time to receive and we are living in an age of grace where God is leaning towards you and wanting you to put your faith and your trust in him and believe. So, we can sing I surrender all but I mean, all, okay?
1:03:07
Just stand and sing with us. Scott, would you come up?
1:04:55
Speaker 2I
1:05:02
Speaker 1surrender all
1:05:07
Speaker 2to thee my blessed savior I
1:05:13
Speaker 1surrender all. Amen. For the benediction today, I've got a verse from Revelation actually. This is looking forward. Pass the cross and looking forward to the great and mighty day of the Lord and in heaven.
1:05:28
After 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, symbols, victory, and triumph. 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. God, would you give us the peace this morning that passes understanding? Would you convey your gracious love towards those who are desperate and looking for someone to save them now.
1:06:03
Amen.
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