Thank you all very much, if you can forward to hearing the rest next Sunday. What time? Does next Sunday morning service start? Okay. Just want to be sure. Thanks. Hey, I don't normally do this at the beginning of the sermon, but he is not going to light me for this, but Barry Poole is going to be exiting us in about a week and a half. He'll be here this Sunday next, and Perry, we don't like the fact that you decided to leave God's will and move up to Gainesville, but we appreciate you and all you brought to the church. So, if you give us a chance to say thanks and goodbye to Perry, you got this Sunday and next, and then we're going to send him on up to North, well, I guess you call it North Central Florida or wherever, whatever part of the state you consider Gainesville to be a part of. So, we just know it's not here, so Perry, thank you sir, and we've got one week's warning that we're going to be saying goodbye to you this week, okay? Hey, this past week, somebody else who won't like my saying this, but Marty Bronze sent me an article by Peggy Nune, you know who Peggy Nune is, she is a national treasure. She was a speechwriter for President Reagan. If you remember the speech President Reagan gave after the challenger disaster, she wrote that, and if you remember that line, it's not original to her, but if you remember A line from that speech, you may remember when he said that the challenger astronauts have slipped the surly bonds of Earth and touched the face of God. Again, not original to her, but she's the one that crafted that speech. She's a treasure. And this article, she details how a week before last, he was at a dinner with some of the 114 living recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest military honor that anyone can win. She was at a dinner where some of those 114 were there. And I want to read just part of what she says in the article, I'd strongly encourage you to read her if you get a chance. Quoting here, she says, I met Nick Oresco. Nick is in his 80s, small, five-foot-fiberso, soft white hair, pale pink skinned, thick torso, walks with a cane. Just a nice old guy, you'd pass on the street in the airport without really seeing him. And his neck was a sky blue ribbon hanging from that ribbon, the medal. He let me turn it over. It had his name, his rank, and then won 2345 near Teddington, Germany. Teddington, Germany, Battle of the Bulge, US Army, Master Sergeant Nicholas Oresco of Company C, 300-second infantry, 94th infantry division, was a platoon leader in an attack against strong enemy positions. And this is the description of what he went through and why he won the medal. Deadly automatic fire from the flanks pinned down his unit, realizing that a machine gun and nearby bunker must be eliminated, he swiftly worked ahead alone, braving bullets which struck about him until close enough to throw a grenade into the German position. He rushed the bunker, and with point-blank rifle fire, killed all the hostile occupants who survived the grenade blast. Another machine gun opened up on him, knocking him down and seriously wound him in the hip. Refusing to withdraw from the battle, he placed himself at the head of his platoon to continue the assault. As withering machine gun and rifle fire swept the area, he struck out alone in advance of his men to a second bunker. With a grenade, he crippled the dug-in machine gun, defending this position, and then wiped out the troops manning it with his rifle, completing his second self-imposed one-man attack. Although weak from loss of blood, he refused to be evacuated until assured the mission was successfully accomplished. Through quick-thinking, indomitable courage and unswarving devotion to the attack in the face of bitter resistance and wild wounded, Master Sergeant Oresco killed 12 of the enemy, prevented it to delay in the assault, and made it possible for companies to see to obtain its objective with minimum casualties. And then Peggy Newton asked this question in the article, what kind of person does that kind of thing? And for what? And as she interviewed several of these men, she said, what kept coming up over and over again was they did it for freedom, and they would say with tears in their eyes, we are a free people. And we wanted to extend that opportunity to live as free men and women to others as well. I had that article very much in mind this week, because I was preparing for Palm Sunday. They didn't tell you the temptation when you were preaching, you were preaching Palm Sunday Easter Christmas. The temptation is to think, why not this story? Why not this story? I've read it a million times. Just take out your dirt, throw it against the Bible-dart board, and just pick Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Doesn't matter. So this week, I tried to take off my jaded preacher spectacles and just read the gospel accounts again of the triumphal entry, what we call the triumphal entry. As I read the four gospel accounts, and this is mentioned in all four gospels, I believe that God was directing me to preach out of John's gospel. So if you will read along with me from your own Bible or the Pew Bible, I think this is page 1671 of the Pew Bible. On the back of your bulletin as well, or watch up here on the screen. The gospel writer, John, John the Apostle writes in John 12 verse 12, the next day, the great crowd that had come for the feast, heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, that took Palm branches and went out to meet him shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed is the King of Israel. Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, sat upon it as it is written. Do not be afraid, O daughter of Zion. See your king is coming, seated on a donkey's coat. At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things have been written about him and that they had done these things to him. Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continue to spread the word. Many people because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, see this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you again for this word. We're living an active, you're inspired, inherent, infallible word that is alive and active in our lives. Father, my prayer is that you would make us alive and responsive to it. And as we read from this word, we would see in these pages, we would see clearly Jesus, our prophet, our priest and our king. We make our prayer in his name. Amen. Jesus was a man on a mission. He knew where he was going. He knew who he was and he knew what it was going to cost him to get where he was going. He knew who he was. He knew where he was going. He knew what the price was going to be to get there. Now why do I say that? Of course. He said, of course he knew who he was. Doesn't everybody know that Jesus was aware of who he was? No. Everybody is not aware of that. Many modern scholars talk about Jesus as though he was just a pawn in a game between the Romans and the Jews and the stakes kept escalating and got higher and higher. Then he just became basically just a chess piece in a game that was way out of his control and he is simply the most well-known, most famous example. What happens when you put yourself in a crossfire between the powers that be or powers that were in this case? For most of his public ministry, Jesus had avoided calling attention to himself. For most of his public ministry, what theologians call the messianic secret, Jesus kept his identity veiled to a certain amount, even his closest friends and quite often his enemies. He told him to be quiet, to pipe down. He veiled himself from their sight and from their understanding in terms of his own identity as Messiah. Think about the times where there were miracles and he showed his lordship over nature. Think about the healings where he showed his lordship over sin, over the Sabbath and over disease and then think about the times that he cast demons out of people showing his lordship over the spiritual realm and when he would do these things, when he would work miracles, when he would heal the sick, when he would cast out demons, when he would do these things, when the miracle worker, the healer, the lord over the spiritual realm, he would say to those around, hush, hush, be quiet, be still, don't talk about this, not yet. Well now, now, on what we call Palm Sunday, now he's calling attention to himself. Now he's letting everybody know who he is and what his intentions are and where he's going. Now he's saying, no more word games, no more parables, no more riddles, no more veiling of myself, no more secrets. Now he's letting them know he's riding up to Jerusalem, right off the main street, riding a donkey on the cult of a donkey to be precise and fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy. Right up to it. Look at verse 12 again. The next day, the great crowd had come for the feast that had come for the feast, heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, that he palm ranches and went out to meet him shouting, hosanna, blessed as he who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed as the king of Israel. Palms as I told you earlier, palms were a symbol for the people of Israel, more than what I told the kids, palms were a national symbol every bit as much as if we brought out an American flag and you know what it represented or the flag of whatever country you're from, palms were a national symbol for Israel itself. So when they put their palms before him, they were saying to him, we're with you Jesus, you represent our nation and our best and highest hopes, we're on your team. And it was a rallying cry too. Hosanna, Lord save, Lord save now, and when they would cry out, Hosanna, put down their palms, it was every bit as much of a parsing act as if you watched the Olympics. When one of our athletes does something great, you hear the chant, USA, USA, USA, that's what they were doing. It was nationalistic, it was a rallying cry for the people, blessed as the king who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed as the king of Israel. Again, it's now clear cut, it's now out in the open. No more secrets, no more valing, Jesus is announcing who he is, where he's going, Lord save, Lord now, he knew who he was, he knew who he was from birth, how can God not know he's God. And a little while later, in that very same week, if you still got your Bible with your place marked in John 12, if you still got one open, look down to John 13, the first part of the chapter there, just a few minutes later, very same week in an upper room and a house somewhere in Jerusalem, it was just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love, the evening meal was being served and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Now verse 3, Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, that he had come from God and was returning to God. So he got it from the meal, took off his outer clothing, wrapped a towel around his waist. After that he poured water into a basin, began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Jesus knew who he was, he knew that the Father had put all things under his power, that he had come from God, that he was going back to God, takes someone very secure and very sure of who he is to play the role of a servant, takes somebody big to be willing to be little yesterday at the service for, you know, he introduced himself to me as Manuel, his family all called him Raymond, Array, and just out of respect I almost always call him Dr. Dopply. At the graduation ceremony for Dr. Dopply yesterday, a lot of very kind and very true things were said about him. His daughter, Ludi, said something that kind of got a laugh, she said, amongst other things she said, he was a very humble man, which is sort of unusual for a physician. As she said it, not me, the doctor, the daughter of a doctor said that, but if you knew Manuel, if you knew Dr. Dopply, if you knew Raymond, he was humble, he was, that was, he was a picture of humility, takes somebody big to be willing to be small to play the role of a servant, Jesus knew how big he was, he knew exactly what he was, so he was quite willing to be small. What kind of a man does this? What kind of a man is willing to make himself small for the sake of other? Well Jesus knew who he was, he knew where he was going, he knew where he was going, look at verse 14, Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written, do not be afraid of a daughter of Zion, see your king is coming, seated on a donkey's coat. Verses 14 and 15 here are an echo of Zechariah chapter 9 verses 9 and 10, they are not exact quote, they are only just the start of the passage, but it was a passage so familiar to the readers of John's gospel that all he had to do was give him the first few words. If I were to say to you, Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a pony, you know the rest of it is stuck up there in his cap called Immaculate, all right thank you. If I say to you, Patrick Henry, give me liberty or give me death, okay, a little weaker on that one. All right. How about if I say to you, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do, whoo, maybe I should go back to the Yankee Doodle thing here, okay. You know these things, you know these expressions, you know them by heart, you're very familiar with them. All I have to do is just give you the start of it and you know what the rest is, that's what happens here. These verses were such a part of the people of Israel's collective consciousness that all John had to do is mention the first couple of verses and they had the rest of it, read it with me if you will, Zechariah 9 verses 9 to 11, rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion, shout daughter of Jerusalem, see your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey on a cult, the fall of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war horses from Jerusalem and the battle of Boe will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations, his rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth, as for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Let's unpack this just a little bit, first of all, why a donkey? Why a donkey? I mean, if you're going to make a big entrance someplace, wouldn't you have chosen something a little more imposing, a lipis-honored stallion or at least a thoroughbred something but a donkey? Donkeys are not the rocket scientists of the animal community, they're ever spending quality time around a donkey. You know the old expression, you got to hit them between the eyes with a two by four just to get their attention. Donkeys are not bright and they're not really nice either. Why a donkey? Riding a donkey was a way of saying, my kingdom will be a kingdom of peace. It will not be another violent overthrow of another violent regime. No my kingdom will come as a kingdom of peace. I want to acknowledge a very indebted man named DA Carson for the following applications of that. We make three applications of what this means, Jesus coming to town, gentle and riding a donkey. First of all, the coming of the king means the end of war, what's the Psalm 46 put in? He breaks the bow and burns the spear to the ends of the earth. The coming of the king means an end to war. The coming of the king means the proclamation of peace to all nations, peace that will only come in his fullness when all nations are under the government, under the rule of the Prince of Peace, all the other movements that aim for world dominion, to aim for world domination, think about them, think of communism, Marxism, think of Islam. They all move forward, they all seek to convert by force, think what we think, believe what we believe, do what we tell you or else. Chairman Mao probably his most famous utterance is this, every communist must grasp the truth. Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. All related movements to communism, Marxism, advanced by force, Islam. I'm going to be very politically incorrect this morning. I saw a survey this past week that said 46% of all Americans have a negative view of Islam. 46% my immediate response was, what are the other 54% not paying attention? Are we blind here? These are not little ladies from Scandinavia strapping hand grenades to their cells and blowing themselves up in hotels, in crowded streets, in mosques. These are radical Islamic terrorists that are seeking to kill and to destroy. I do not hate Muslims, I do not want to encourage you to have any kind of hard feelings or ill will toward a Muslim that you happen to know. But let's call it what it is, folks, radical Islam is the enemy of the gospel of Christ for sure. It's the enemy of civilization. Tony Blair said very recently, he said very well, this is not a clash of civilizations. This is a clash over civilization. 46% have a negative view of Islam. If you're in the other 54% wake up, folks, we seek, we Christians, we seek to persuade, we seek to move the kingdom of God into every corner of this world, but our weapons, and our hand grenades and our machine guns are not tanks and bombs, our weapons are the weapons of love, acts of mercy, deeds of grace, sacrificial service in the name of the suffering servant. That's how we seek persuade by taking the moral and the philosophical and the theological high ground, not at the end of the gun. The king riding into Jerusalem, gentle and riding upon a donkey means the end of war, means the proclamation of peace to all nations, united under the rule of the Prince of Peace, and it also means the coming, the coming of the king means the blood of God's covenant, it spells release for the prisoners, freedom, the blood of God's covenant, bringing release for the captive, freedom, and the price is the blood of the sacrificial lamb, the suffering king. Behold, John said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus knew where he was going, his coronation would take place, not in a palace, surrounded by falling attendants and admirers, surrounded by men, evil and hateful men who would mock him, try him, spit on him, scourge him and crucify him. He would take place, not seated on a gold and diamond and crusted throne, but on a mountain on a hilltop, a bear, a bear and God for a sacred place called Golgotha, the place of the skull with executed criminals, and the lowest of the low, not on a throne, but on an old rugged cross. And his crown would have not diamonds and rubies, but thorns. Jesus knew who he was and knew where he was going, why would he do this? What kind of man is willing to go through these things for the sake of others? Verse 16, at first his disciples, back in John chapter 12, at first his disciples did not understand all this. Many after Jesus was glorified, did they realize that these things have been written about him and they had done these things to him? That's the benefits of hindsight, that's the benefits of looking in the review mirror, and I just confess to you, I'm terrible at this. I'm so bad about looking behind me to see where I've been. I find myself so busy all the time that I don't stop and think about where I've been the last few days, months, years, that's probably why I end up repeating my mistakes so often, I don't stop to think about what I've done and whether it paid off or not. The disciples had the benefit of hindsight, it's like going on a sightseeing trip, and maybe this has been your experience with your family, you're going on a sightseeing trip, but the driver, usually dead, says, sorry, we don't have time to stop and see that waterfall, that mountain, the Grand Canyon, we don't have time for that. We've got to get to Pukipsi or Dallas or New Orleans or two Beans, Arkansas, wherever we've got to get there by nightfall, you end up not getting to see anything, but you're making really good time. The disciples were so caught up in what was going on around them, they didn't take the time to sit and discuss the finer points of the Old Testament prophecy, isn't it comforting for you to know that the 12 men closest to Jesus didn't really understand the Old Testament either. Make you feel better, a friend of mine always says to me, son, when in doubt, always preach for the Old Testament, that way people have no idea if you know what you're talking about. It's not true, by the way, I love the Old Testament. And the disciples would understand all of this later. Same Gospel, John, chapter 14, verses 25 and 26, all of this I have spoken while still with you, but the counselor, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send to my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Do you want to know how you understand the Old Testament? It points to Jesus, either directly or indirectly. I'm going to show you a passage that is extremely pivotal to your understanding of what we call the Old Testament was for the disciples, it was their Bible. Let me point you to a passage in Luke chapter 24 that will tell you how to understand the Old Testament. This is on the road to Emeas, the night after the crucifixion. Two disciples, we don't know who they are, they're walking along, discussing these things, they're in darkness and despair, Jesus appears to them, they don't know who he is. Jesus appears to them, and he said to them, how foolish you are and how slow, hard to believe, all that the prophets have spoken, did not the Christ have to suffer all these things and then enter his glory and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said and all the scriptures concerning himself. You understand the Old Testament? It points to the Messiah who is to come. You understand how the New Testament, it points to the Messiah who has come. Theologians call that the Christocentric focus of the Bible or a Christological understanding of the Bible. You can just say you read the whole Bible, all the Bible through the grid of the gospel of Jesus. The Messiah who was to come, the Messiah who has come, and that's how we understand the Old Testament. Jesus knew who he was, he knew where he was going, and he knew what it would cost him to get there. Verse 17, now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard they had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. There was a convergence of two crowds on that day we call Palm Sunday. There was a crowd that had either lived in Bethany or around Bethany. They had either seen what Jesus did in calling Lazarus out of the tomb or they had heard about it or maybe they had even seen Lazarus. Well that kind of news gets around, even without I amming in text messaging and cell phones. That kind of news gets around. Then there was another crowd, these were just the pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. And it was a huge crowd and they met together on this main road leading up into Jerusalem to see Jesus, the miracle worker, the teacher, the rabbi, the healer, the man who raised Lazarus from the dead, to see him going into Jerusalem that day, to see if this tells us at one point there was me, is 2.7 million pilgrims thronging to Jerusalem for the feast. He may have exaggerated a little bit, but you get the idea this was a loud and vocal crowd versus 19. So the Pharisees said to one another, see this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him. Here's an instance where the Pharisees got the picture much more clearly and much more quickly than the disciples did. In fact, there are only really two parties here that really grasp what's going on. The Pharisees and Jesus and the Linder drawn, folks, because if this is the King of Israel, if this is the King of Israel, then Pontius Pilate is nothing more than the figurehead or the face of the oppressive Roman imposing, invading, occupying army. If this is the King of Israel, then Herod, Herod Antipas, he's just a pretender to the throne. If this is the King of Israel, then the Pharisees' days are numbered in terms of their ability to ride Herod and ride roughshod over the people of Israel. Look how the whole world has gone after him, they said, it's still going after him, one way or the other, it's still going after him, witnessed the uproar over the Da Vinci code. And now this past week, over the so-called gospel of Judas, we won't talk anything about them this morning, we'll be dealing with them more in weeks to come, especially the Da Vinci code. We won't talk a whole lot about them this morning, but do you think we will be talking about any of this stuff if the Da Vinci code or the gospel of Judas had reference to the life and the possible offspring of Socrates or Augustin or Pope Gregory the Great? Do you think there'd be this much interest in it if we were talking about anybody but Jesus and Nazareth. The whole world has gone after him. Jesus was a man on a mission, he knew who he was, he knew where he was going. And he was going to cost him to get there. Let me ask you a question this morning, this story is not about us, it's about Jesus. But let me ask you a couple of questions about the way of application this morning. You know who you are? I don't mean your name, your social security and all that kind of offense. Do you know who you are? The Bible is clear that you are either an adopted child, an adopted son or daughter of God Almighty, adopted into his family through the work of Christ or you're a stranger in an outcast. Do you know who you are? The Bible says you're made in God's image, crowned with glory and majesty, a little lower than God. You're also a sinner, radically and pervasively depraved, both are true. You know where you're going? Do you know? The Bible is also clear that when we die we stand before God, it's appointed unto man once to die and after this judgment. And those who profess Christ as Lord who've trusted in Him for their salvation, they spend an eternity with God forever, those who have never trusted Christ, they spend an eternity separated from Him. Friend of mine says, says, everybody lives forever. The only question is one of location, location, location with God or without Him. You know who you are? You know where you're going? Do you know what it'll cost you to get there? If you know Christ as Lord, you already know He's paid the price for you. If you don't know Christ as Lord, you don't have to cost this for you. Well, it's nothing because you can't buy it. But it's this. You've got to recognize who you are before a holy God, a sinner separated from Him and deserving of His wrath. And you've got to humble yourself. Be willing to confess and acknowledge who you are and what you are. You want to repent of your sins to lay them down to the further cross and say, I reject these, I repudiate these, I'm sorry for these in view of the cost to the Son of God. That's what it'll cost you, honest assessment of who you are and rejection of your sins. Jesus was a man on a mission. He knew who he was. He knew where He was going. He knew what it would cost him to get there. And he forced ahead. He knew the cries of Hosanna, blessed as He who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed as the King of Israel. He knew in just a very few days those same people will be crying out, crucifying Him. We have no King, but Caesar, away with this pretender Jesus knew, and go back to almost the very end of Peggy Newton's article. Talking about this country, and I remind you, I haven't agreed with what she said, but this is not about America, this is not about the United States, but she makes such a good point here. She said, we fought a war to free slaves. We sent millions of white men to battle and destroyed a portion of our nation to free millions of black men. What kind of a nation does this? We went to Europe, fought, died, and won, and then taxed ourselves to save our enemies with the Marshall Plan. What kind of a nation does this? Soviet Communism stalked the world, and we were the ones who stealed ourselves and taxed ourselves to stop it. Again, what kind of nation does this? Her answer is only a very great one. Maybe the greatest of all. Again, I happen to agree with her assessment, this is not about the United States, this is not about America. What kind of man rides into Jerusalem, knowing these, putting himself on a collision course, with men who are going to arrest him, mock him, spit on him, beat him, scourge him, and crucify him, and he's going to do all that for people who are either his sworn enemies or people who don't even care. What kind of man does that? Only a great one, only the greatest one of all, the God, man. Why would you do that? Why would the Son of God sacrifice himself for people like us? Well, Sergeant Nicholas Oresco and the others, this sacrifice themselves so that men could be free in this life, the Son of God sacrificed himself so that we could be free for all eternity. Will you pray with me?
Our Father and our God, we thank you for the ministry of Christ, how he took upon himself the sins of the world, soldered them, satelied on a donkey and rode into Jerusalem anyway, knowing full well who he was and where he was going, what was going to cost him, Father that we would have a greater appreciation of who he is and what he's done for us and that those people who are here today are listening to this later on in a recording. We either have a deep and sense of gratitude and a deep and sense of commitment to live a life of response to that sacrifice of Christ, we would open our hearts and our minds to him for the very first time. But we pray this for your glory, for the building up of the body of Christ, for the advance of your kingdom in Jesus' name, amen. Now go in the love of God the Father, grace and mercy of God the Son, fellowship and companionship of God the Holy Spirit, and live the life, amen.