Ascension Presbyterian Lord's Day Worship

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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March 24, 2024

00:00: Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to our corporate worship of our God.
00:05: Please stand and hear God call you to worship through his word. Sing, O daughter of Zion.
00:13: Shout, O Israel. Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
00:20: The Lord has taken away your judgments. He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the
00:27: Lord, is in your midst. You shall see disaster no more.
00:33: The Lord, your God, is in your midst. The mighty one will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness.
00:42: He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.
00:48: Let us pray. O Lord, you are the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise
00:55: God. You are the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in an unapproachable light, whom no name has seen or can see.
01:12: To you be honor and eternal dominion. We bless the God and Father of our
01:18: Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. In Christ, we praise the glory of your grace that chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
01:36: We thank you that in love you predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ.
01:42: We rejoice that we have been sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit of promise, who has given to us as a pledge of our inheritance.
01:53: We worship and adore you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Open the eyes of our hearts that we may know the hope of your calling, the riches of the glory of your inheritance and the surpassing greatness of your power towards us in Jesus Christ.
02:12: All of this you have brought about in Christ when you raised him from the dead and seated him at your right hand in the heavenly places.
02:21: Receive our worship and our praise to your glory, to the glory of your grace.
02:28: We ask this in Jesus's name, amen. Please kneel as you are able for the corporate confession of sin.
02:52: Let us join together in confessing our sins. Most holy and merciful
02:58: Father, we confess to you and to one another that we have sinned against you by what we have done and by what we have left undone.
03:07: We have not loved you with our whole heart, mind, and strength. We have not only loved our neighbors but ourselves.
03:16: We have not always had in us the mind of Christ. You alone know how often we have prayed to you by wasting your gifts, by wandering from your ways.
03:27: Forgive us, we pray, most merciful Father, and free us from our sins.
03:33: Renew in us the grace and strength of your Holy Spirit for the sake of Jesus Christ, your
03:39: Son, our Savior. Amen. Please stand and receive these words of comfort in our assurance of pardon.
03:49: God, who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, he has not dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our iniquities.
04:03: For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy for those who fear him.
04:11: As far as the east is from the west, so far he has removed our transgressions from us.
04:19: My brothers and sisters in Christ, rejoice, your sins are forgiven. Amen.
04:24: Amen. Amen. Please take up the hymnal and turn to hymn 277.
04:31: Christ the Lord is risen today, hymn 277. Please take up the insert and look for the
08:14: Psalm of the week, Psalm 64. We had sang this last week and it was to the tune of our
08:21: God, our help in ages past. Psalm 64, God, hear my voice.
09:00: Amen. Please remain standing for the public reading of God's word from Revelation chapter 18.
10:31: Hear now the word of the Lord, Revelation 18. After these things,
10:36: I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory.
10:43: And he cried mightily with a loud voice saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit and a cage for every unclean and hated birth.
10:57: For all the nations have drunk of the wine, the wrath of her fornication. The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.
11:10: And I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her my people, lest you share in her sins and lest you receive of her plagues.
11:19: For her sins have reached heaven and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her just as she rendered to you and repay her double according to her works.
11:29: In the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure, give her torment and sorrow.
11:40: For she says in her heart, I sit as queen and am no widow and will not see sorrow.
11:46: Therefore, her plagues will come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be utterly burned with fire as strong as the
11:55: Lord God who judges her. The kings of the earth who committed fornication and live luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, alas, alas, that great city
12:14: Babylon, that mighty city, for in one hour your judgment has come. And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her for no one buys their merchandise anymore.
12:25: Merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron and marble and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots and bodies and souls of men.
12:54: The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you and you shall find them no more at all.
13:06: The merchants of these things who became rich by her will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing and saying, alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, for in one hour such great riches came to nothing.
13:28: Every ship master, all who traveled by ship, sailors and as many as trade on the sea stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, what is like this great city?
13:40: They threw dust on their heads and cried out weeping and wailing and saying, alas, alas, that great city in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she is made desolate.
13:54: Rejoice over her, O heaven and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has venged you on her.
14:01: Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, thus with violence the great city
14:09: Babylon shall be thrown down and shall not be found anymore. The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore.
14:19: No craftsmen of any craft shall be found in you anymore and the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore.
14:27: The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore.
14:33: For your merchants were the great men of the earth and by your sorcery all the nations were deceived and in her was found the blood of prophets and saints of all who were slain on the earth.
14:46: This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let us continue our worship by confirming our
14:57: Christian faith in the singing of the Apostles' Creed. ♪ I believe in God the
15:04: Father ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ is only conceived by the
15:20: Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Born of the Virgin was crucified dead ♪ ♪
15:35: He descended into hell the third day he rose again ♪ ♪
15:44: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God ♪ ♪
15:55: From there he will come to judge the living and the dead ♪ ♪
16:01: I believe in the Holy Spirit ♪ ♪
16:06: I believe the Holy Catholic Church ♪ ♪ The communion of saints the forgiveness of sins ♪ ♪
16:17: The resurrection of the body ♪ Please take up the
16:34: Trinity Hymnal once more and turn to hymn 248, Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended?
16:43: Hymn 248. ♪ Jesus, how hast thou achieved this all?
20:30: ♪ Please now turn to hymn number 276, Up From the Grave He Arose.
20:37: Hymn 276. ♪
20:50: Jesus, my Savior, He arose from the grave ♪
23:06: Amen. Please take up the insert, I bind unto myself today,
23:13: St. Patrick's Pressplate. St. Patrick's Pressplate.
23:25: ♪ To myself today, in vocation
23:36: I am.
24:03: ♪ ♪ His burdens stemmed from a stable earth.
25:33: ♪ ♪ The deep salt sea around the old eternal day.
25:47: ♪ ♪ It is mine to say, it is here to my knee.
26:00: ♪ ♪ His shield to ward the word of God.
26:13: ♪ ♪ To give the demons snares of sin.
26:26: ♪ ♪ The body's temptation for few born men.
26:52: ♪ ♪ Fierce hostility I bind to thee, these holy powers.
27:02: ♪ ♪ Against all Satan's spells and wiles. ♪ ♪ Against false words of heresy.
27:10: ♪ ♪ That defiles against the deafened and the broken way.
27:32: ♪ ♪ The poisoned shaft protects me. ♪ ♪
27:41: Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me.
27:47: ♪ ♪ Christ beneath me,
28:00: Christ above me. ♪ ♪ Christ in quiet, Christ in danger.
28:06: ♪ ♪ Christ in hearts of woe. ♪ ♪ I bind unto myself the name.
28:20: ♪ ♪ The strong name of the triune invocator.
28:39: ♪ ♪ Eternal praise to the
28:45: Lord. ♪ ♪ Salvation, salvation is mine.
28:53: ♪ Amen. Please now make preparations for the prayers of the people.
29:14: Let us pray. Oh God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsel, all just works.
29:24: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give. That our hearts may be set to obey your commandments.
29:33: And also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness through the merits of Jesus Christ, our
29:42: Savior, who lives and reigns with you, the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
29:50: For the church of Jesus Christ, that it may be filled with truth and love and be found without fault at the day of your coming, we pray to you, oh
30:00: Lord. For all ministers, missionaries, and the mission of the church, that in faithful witness the gospel may be preached, we pray to you, oh
31:58: Lord. For those in positions of public trust, that they may serve justice and promote the dignity and freedom of every person, we pray to you, oh
32:49: Lord. For the poor, the persecuted, the sick, and all who suffer, for refugees, prisoners, and all who are in danger, that they may be relieved and protected, we pray to you, oh
34:33: Lord. For this congregation, for those who are present, and for those who are absent, that we may be delivered from hardness of heart and show forth your glory in all that we do, we pray to you, oh
35:59: Lord. Finding ourselves in agreement with all these things, we join our voices together and say, amen.
37:39: Please stand and take up the insert once again, and find our
37:46: Psalm of the month, Psalm 51. Psalm 51.
42:48: Please turn in your Bibles to the gospel according to John in chapter 12.
43:02: John chapter 12, this is God's holy and infallible word.
43:14: Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus who had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead.
43:28: There they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.
43:39: Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair.
43:49: And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. But one of his disciples,
43:57: Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray him said, "'Why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?'
44:09: This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the money box.
44:17: And he used to take what was put in it. But Jesus said, "'Let her alone, she has kept this for the day of my burial.
44:28: For the poor you have with you always, but me you do not have always.'
44:35: Now a great many of the Jews knew that he was there and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see
44:44: Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. But the chief priest plotted to put
44:51: Lazarus to death also, because on account of him, many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.
45:01: The next day, a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him and cried out, "'Hosanna!
45:16: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.' Then Jesus, when he had found a young donkey, sat on it as it is written, "'Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.'
45:38: His disciples did 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.
45:53: Therefore, the people who were with him when he called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness.
46:01: For this reason, the people also met him because they heard that he had done this sign.
46:08: The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, you see that you are accomplishing nothing.
46:15: Look, the world has gone after him." Please pray with me now.
46:27: Oh Lord, we thank you for your word and we thank you for this wonderful narrative.
46:34: We thank you for the triumphal entry. We thank you for the last week of your earthly ministry, oh
46:44: Lord Jesus. Prepare our hearts now, we pray that we would behold you, our king, and this would cause us to rejoice.
46:55: We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated.
47:12: What kind of king is Jesus? Now we have to get into the mindset of the first century.
47:23: We have to think about it in terms of the revelation that is before us.
47:28: We know the end of the story. We've sung resurrection hymns today on Palm Sunday.
47:34: We know how this is going. So it requires a bit of mental discipline on our part to go back and to enter into the narrative in this beautiful redemption story about Christ.
47:49: What kind of king is Jesus? What kind of king were they expecting?
47:56: Well, lest we forget, this king looks like a peasant. He's followed by peasants.
48:07: And instead of brandishing swords, his followers wave palm fronds.
48:15: Instead of a procession of chariots and war horses and trumpeters and soldiers and pomp and circumstance, he comes lowly and riding on an adolescent donkey, a borrowed donkey.
48:40: It's interesting that he's also going to be given a borrowed tomb.
48:51: The son of man had nowhere to lay his head. The closest place would be Bethany and the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus.
49:04: What kind of king is Jesus? What was the expectancy of the messianic reign of Christ by the
49:13: Jewish people? Why do they stand in the streets shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the
49:23: Lord, the King of Israel. What were they looking for?
49:31: I have a few points of outline for you to consider. I'm not going to systematically go through them, but if you need to take notes, the first is
49:39: I want us to consider the last week of Jesus's ministry as a concept before the cross, the last week of Jesus's ministry.
49:52: Second, I want us to consider the arrival of the
49:58: King, the arrival of the King. And third, the kingly mission, the kingly mission.
50:17: The last week of Jesus's ministry. The New Testament has 89 chapters.
50:30: In the gospel of John, about half of the chapters are devoted to the last week of Jesus's life.
50:40: 39 of the 89 chapters in the Old Testament are given to the last weeks of Jesus's life.
50:48: It is a significant, prominent thing. And a lot of the prophecies that happen about Jesus, what is quoted,
50:56: Zechariah, Psalm 118, these all are accomplished and fulfilled in this last week of Jesus's life.
51:07: For your family, I think it would be wise for you to take John and continue where I leave off and this week ponder the gospel of John until you get to the resurrection and then read after the resurrection, the things that happened then.
51:25: That would be a great way for you to prepare your hearts for Resurrection Sunday.
51:33: All of it happens in a short timeframe. A three -year public ministry, a very significant and powerful last week.
51:48: The wheels of redemption have been moving slowly up until the incarnation of Christ.
51:56: And even in his life, he's had to restrain and put off the hour of his revelation because he knows when it becomes crystal clear who he is, he has to go to the cross.
52:10: He has work to accomplish. So all of this is being executed flawlessly on a providential timescale.
52:20: The last week of Jesus's life in ministry is the most significant week that could ever be.
52:32: The crowds in Jerusalem are gathering for Passover.
52:38: I'd like you to turn to Mark chapter 11, another account of this.
52:43: This is the only other reference I'm gonna have you turn to. I want to give a little bit of insight into the providential character of this event because it is more fully revealed in Mark's account and also in some of the others in Matthew and Luke, but we're gonna look just at Mark.
53:06: Jesus is going to willingly lay his life down on the cross.
53:13: It's not happenstance that the Sanhedrin's gonna try him and he's gonna be handed over to Pontius Pilate.
53:20: These things have been ordained and our Lord is walking in them.
53:25: And his faithfulness to fulfill this responsibility of saving his people as their king.
53:40: Jesus and his disciples, if you read the chronology of all the gospels have come from Jericho and they now find themselves two to three miles outside of Jerusalem.
53:54: Look at chapter 11 of Mark verse one. Now, when they drew near Jerusalem to Bethphage and Bethany at the
54:08: Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples.
54:15: Now I want you to catch the omniscience of Jesus is bleeding through.
54:24: We know that he's been the man Christ Jesus, but lest we forget he is
54:29: God in the flesh. He's the incarnate one. Some have speculated and theorized that he made this arrangement beforehand, but the owners of the donkey don't seem to have foreknowledge.
54:45: Listen to what it says. He sends two of his disciples and he said to them, go into the village opposite you.
54:55: And as soon as you have entered into it, you will find a colt tide on which no one has sat.
55:05: Another account in the gospels have an adult donkey and a juvenile colt.
55:13: Jesus is gonna ride on the colt. No one has sat on this colt full of a donkey.
55:25: It's consecrated and set apart for this kingly service.
55:32: And as you know, and maybe you've heard and maybe remember from Zachariah last year when we were going through it, the donkey is actually a kingly mount as well.
55:46: When we think of a king, we think of a warring king on a mighty steed and we think of that kind of imagery, but there's other imagery in scripture very soundly and very strongly tells us that the donkey is a suitable mount for a king.
56:06: Disciples, we have to go to Jerusalem. I have to keep the feast. And what we have to reimagine and capture again for ourselves is the incredible redemptive drama that is before our eyes.
56:31: Jesus is going to observe the Passover as a faithful Jewish man and he's going to be the final
56:40: Passover all in this week. And the accounting of time, it's interesting.
56:48: I did some research again about this. The Galileans viewed the day starting at 6 a .m.
56:54: in the morning and going until 6 a .m. the next day. And the Judeans typically 6 p .m.
57:00: in the evening to the 6 p .m. in the next day. And how all of these things could be reconciled that he and his disciples, the priesthood would slaughter this week 235 ,000 lambs most likely.
57:14: And Jesus himself would partake of the
57:20: Jewish Passover and he would be Christ, our Passover sacrifice for us.
57:32: If anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say, the Lord has need of it. And immediately he will send it here.
57:43: So they went their way and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street and they loosed it.
57:49: But some of those who stood there said to them, what are you doing loosing the colt? Seems like a reasonable question.
57:58: Why are you taking our colt from us? One author
58:05: I read said, it would be very unusual for the animals and the livestock to be on the street.
58:12: That even this is providentially ordered. There'd be in the back of the house. You wouldn't see the animals out on the streets like this.
58:21: So the owners hear it's for the master. They hear it's for the Lord. So they do as he commanded.
58:29: They let him go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it.
58:37: And he sat on it. And many spread their clothes on the road and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
58:49: And those who went before and those who followed cried out saying, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the
58:59: Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord.
59:07: Hosanna in the highest. Let's go back to our text. After the feeding of the 5 ,000, and I believe there's another occasion or two where it's alluded to, particularly after the feeding of the 5 ,000, the
59:29: Galileans wanted to make Jesus their king. This guy can feed us.
59:35: He can take care of us. Surely this is the anointed one. This is the Messiah if he can do these things.
59:41: And now, because contextually we have the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus, all of the wonder about Jesus, the fervor about the possibilities, the hopefulness, the expectancy of the
59:58: Messiah now reaches its fever pitch because this one is raising people up from the dead.
01:00:13: But Jesus is not the kind of king that they're looking for.
01:00:22: And this should give us some pause because we may have designs about the kind of king we want
01:00:30: Jesus to be or a kind of savior, and our expectations may not be met.
01:00:38: But let me say it very clearly. The Jesus who is is greater than our expectations.
01:00:48: We may want with them, if we're embedded in this story, we may want Jewish nationalism.
01:00:55: We may wanna throw the Romans out, but this Jesus, this savior, this king is greater than the expectation of Israel.
01:01:07: And in fact, he comes to go to a cross not to kick out the
01:01:14: Romans, but to save them. It's amazing irony and twists and turns in this story.
01:01:27: Look again at verse 12 of chapter 12 of John.
01:01:36: The next day, a great multitude that had come to the feast. And they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him and cried out,
01:01:51: Hosanna. That means, oh, save.
01:01:58: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. It seems so orthodox, but they shoot their expectations too low.
01:02:11: They want a national ruler. They want to return to a Davidic kingship and he inaugurates the heavenly kingship.
01:02:22: He inaugurates the eternal kingship. It's so much greater and so much bigger than they could have imagined.
01:02:32: In the salvation that you and I enjoy, the forgiveness of sins, the being conveyed into the kingdom of light, the inheritance that awaits us to be made a kingdom of priests, to be princes in this kingdom.
01:02:47: It's so much greater than our imagination. The disciples have really no clue at just how grand it is.
01:03:00: And this is very powerful to me. We're gonna learn more about that in just a minute. Jesus quotes
01:03:10: Psalm 118 in the first part and then Zechariah nine in the second.
01:03:18: And it should be noted, take a look again at our liturgy.
01:03:25: We're gonna do this in a few minutes. I want you to find the
01:03:32: Sanctus and the Sanctus is the hymn of victory.
01:03:46: And in the Sanctus we have a compilation of Isaiah six and Psalm 118 and Zechariah nine.
01:04:01: We have the collision of the transcendence of God and the eminence of God.
01:04:11: Holy, holy, holy. And I want you to think about Jesus in relation to this.
01:04:18: Jesus is thrice holy in the presence of Isaiah, but Jesus is common flesh.
01:04:28: He's the transcendent one, but he's also the eminent one.
01:04:34: He's the one who's very near. The angels sing praises to his name.
01:04:41: The seraphim cover their face and their eyes and put their feet under the cover and they praise him and they shout all these holy, holy, holy things.
01:04:54: Transcendence, eminence, nearness. Jesus comes in the flesh.
01:05:04: He looks like a peasant, probably smelled like one. He's followed by a group of peasants.
01:05:14: It's not very impressive, but oh, Sunday coming. It's gonna be impressive then.
01:05:21: How about the ascension? The reigning and ruling Christ on the throne. Oh, it's gonna be impressive then, but now it's humble, it's meek, it's lowly.
01:05:37: Back to our text. They don't even know what they're saying.
01:05:44: What they're saying is true, but they don't even have a sense of it. I wonder how often that's true for us. We go through the liturgy, we say it, but we don't have any sense of the weightiness of it.
01:05:56: The King of Israel is the King of glory. The one who comes in the name of the
01:06:02: Lord is the Lord himself. It's amazing. The prophets,
01:06:08: I mean, they scratch it, they touch it. Abraham sees it afar off, but now exploding on the redemptive scene is the
01:06:15: Lord Jesus Christ fulfilling all of this. In Jesus, verse 14, when he had found a young donkey sat on it, as it is written, fear not,
01:06:39: O daughter of Zion, behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.
01:06:50: Do you remember back in Zechariah last year when the people were longing for a day of a restored priesthood, a restored temple, restored
01:07:01: Jerusalem, hundreds of years before Christ, but now the moment has come.
01:07:10: The wheels of redemption roll slowly, but now they're going almost at light speed.
01:07:18: It's happening so fast and so quick and it's so sudden, but it becomes completely almost dismissed because the expectations of the people are not met.
01:07:38: It's true for us. We know that Christ reigns on his throne and we look around us and we say, why is there not more progress?
01:07:47: Why is there not more of the kingdom being known? And so we may, even in a fleeting way, grumble in our hearts, oh
01:07:54: Lord, when are you going to do this? It seems that the
01:08:01: God's perspective, the Savior's perspective is different than ours.
01:08:09: Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah 9, the hopeful expectancy of Psalm 118.
01:08:18: And as a side note, you may remember, this is the conclusion of the Hallel Psalms.
01:08:24: This would be sung at the end of Passover. And I find that to be, the irony to be unbelievable here.
01:08:33: They're praying and singing for a victory that would come in the Messiah.
01:08:39: And here it is on the streets, they're singing it. They're singing
01:08:45: Psalm 118, the Psalm of victory, the hymn of victory. The King of Israel is coming.
01:08:56: They don't quite see it. Look at verse 16.
01:09:08: It says, his disciples did not understand these things at first.
01:09:20: This is all happening. I think there's some great confidence given to the disciples who, those two disciples who showed up to pick up the donkey, that had to be impressive to them.
01:09:34: How did he, we haven't been here. He doesn't know these people. How is there a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey?
01:09:44: How is it ready for our Lord? How does he know that they're going to give it to us? The singing, the hosanna, the shouts, the waving of the branches, the laying of the cloaks and the branches on the ground, all of these things that are happening.
01:10:03: It seems so spectacular, but watch how it falls flat. It's very important that we see that it falls flat.
01:10:14: They don't understand it. It drifts and almost comes out of their memory because of what's going to happen this week.
01:10:22: But they remembered when he was glorified. They remembered that these things were written about him,
01:10:29: Psalm 118, Zechariah 9. They remembered that the people, they were eyewitnesses to what the people had done, that they had done these things to him.
01:10:48: In verse 17, we learn why the crowd is stirred up and it's a very good narrative in John from John 11.
01:10:58: The people, it says in verse 17, who are with him when he called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead for witness, much like Mark's description this morning of our testimony or our witness.
01:11:13: The people said, we saw Lazarus. We were there when he died. We saw
01:11:19: Jesus arrive on the scene four days later. We saw rotting Lazarus walk up out of the tomb at the word of Jesus.
01:11:27: Crowd is dynamite on fire in the crowds. Surely this is the
01:11:34: Messiah. It says for this reason, people also met him because they heard that he had done this sign.
01:11:51: Now, I wanna turn back to Mark again in chapter 11. As you know, eyewitness testimony is very important in scripture, but the best eyewitness testimony doesn't perfectly match at one another.
01:12:27: So after the hoopla, the buzz in the streets, everybody's showing up, hundreds of thousands of people showing up in a city that holds 60 ,000 people normally.
01:12:39: Families are, it's a great family reunion. There is a spirit of feasting and joy and celebration.
01:12:46: And maybe they think Jesus is gonna stand on some podium and say, let's draw our swords now and let's go kick the
01:12:54: Romans out. But they're standing, they're watching. What's he going to do?
01:13:01: Look at verse 11 of chapter 11 in Mark. And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple.
01:13:19: So when he had looked around at all things as the hour was already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12.
01:13:31: This is anti -climactic. He doesn't even cleanse the temple on Sunday.
01:13:39: He does it on Monday. He doesn't even turn over the money changers tables. On Sunday, the triumphal entry, that they're screaming his name, they're shouting
01:13:50: Hosanna to him. And it falls flat because they were looking for a different Jesus.
01:14:02: They wanted a different king and we have to be careful sometimes for us. We too want a different king.
01:14:10: Than Jesus. We want a different savior. And Jesus doesn't even stay in Jerusalem.
01:14:26: He goes back nightly, I guess until Wednesday or Thursday when he gets into trouble with the
01:14:34: Sanhedrin. So this last week of Jesus' life, he returns to the company of Lazarus and Mary and Martha and his disciples.
01:14:47: But think about the victory that is about to be won. The king righteously in the ancient world in the near East, he would go out as we learned recently with the
01:15:01: Psalm we're singing that David should have gone out to war. But this king is going to go and fight the war and the battle alone.
01:15:14: He and the stead of his people is going to go on the kingly mission to the cross.
01:15:23: And there he's going to wage the good warfare and he is going to crush the serpent's head.
01:15:29: He's going to set free the captives who are in bondage and he's going to transform.
01:15:35: We're going to learn next Sunday. Our physical bodies are going to be resurrected because we have a likeness and a share in his resurrection.
01:15:45: The expectation of the king falls way short. It falls flat.
01:15:51: But then in the triumph of the cross and the resurrection, he exceeds all the expectations.
01:15:59: There's a great lesson there for us. The power of Jesus may seem to be falling flat, but he's going to exceed all of our expectations.
01:16:16: Contextually, Jesus doesn't meet the expectations of the crowds.
01:16:21: And we know that there's at least a mixture of people who would end up asking for the release of Barabbas.
01:16:30: Some of these people are going to say crucify him. It's kind of a startling change, isn't it?
01:16:35: Well, could this be the test of the prophets? Could this be the savior of Israel?
01:16:42: He'll gets there in the triumphal entry. This seems to be prophesied. He gets there and nothing happens.
01:16:50: Maybe he's another charlatan false prophet. Crucify him. All of this ordered and organized, pre -planned, ordained by the
01:17:02: Christ and by his father and the Holy Spirit to bring salvation to pass.
01:17:10: I'm gonna point out one thing that I should have done a little bit earlier before we close.
01:17:17: I want you to look over at chapter 11 of John. Another one of the providential mysteries of this that's so, it's counterintuitive.
01:17:32: It doesn't go according to expectation. Begin reading in verse 45 of chapter 11 of John.
01:17:44: The many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did believed in him.
01:17:54: But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things that Jesus did.
01:18:02: Now, the hubris and the lack of humility and teachability in the chief priests and the
01:18:07: Pharisees is really shocking. Why are they not thinking this could be the
01:18:13: Messiah? Oh, the hardness of our hearts and sin. Verse 47, the chief priests and the
01:18:22: Pharisees gathered a council and said, what shall we do? For this man works many signs.
01:18:29: If we let him alone like this, everyone will believe in him.
01:18:35: And listen, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation. They were the ones who would say, we have no
01:18:44: God, but Caesar. What a flip from what the apostles and the disciples will have to say,
01:18:50: Christ is Lord. What a change. The Pharisees say, we have our power.
01:18:56: We have our place and our status. We have to submit to Caesar. If everyone believes him, maybe there will be a revolt and we'll lose our standing in society.
01:19:15: It continues, one of them Caiaphas, they're two chief priests and they're related.
01:19:24: I think there could be father and nephew or father and son, Annas and Caiaphas, father -in -law.
01:19:31: There's a little family that runs the priestly business in Jerusalem. This one is profiting from the corruption of the priestly system.
01:19:41: This one is one who's profiting from the money changing. This one has his hand in the till for buying the acceptable 235 ,000 lambs that will be sacrificed.
01:19:55: But he says this, against all expectations, he's the high priest that year,
01:20:04: Annas and Caiaphas in this season rotated that role. He says this, you know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish.
01:20:29: No truer words have been spoken. It is more than expedient than one should die for all.
01:20:37: But the cruel irony, the thing that is unexpected is this one is going to die for all of his people, but most of the whole nation will perish and their unbelief.
01:20:53: The story, the layers, the prophecies, all of these intersections, these ironies, the complexity of it all, all being unmasked and all being unfurled now in front of us in the last week of Jesus's life.
01:21:13: Well, there's one thing I have to say at the end of our little section and then we'll go to a quick application.
01:21:19: We'll close here. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, talking about trying to put down this movement of Jesus and how can we suppress it?
01:21:34: You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.
01:21:50: The zeal, the fervor for Jesus wanes. And in fact, at the crucifixion, his own disciples begin to be filled with doubt.
01:22:01: They too scatter. But isn't it true for us now that the whole world has gone after him?
01:22:10: The prophesying of the Pharisees is astounding here. You can't thwart this.
01:22:16: It is expedient that one should die. And isn't it true? The ends of the earth have gone after him.
01:22:27: What kind of King is Jesus? He's better than any kind of King we could imagine.
01:22:35: He's the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. Brethren, behold your
01:22:44: King, meek and lowly, but inaugurating an everlasting kingdom, making you his people an everlasting dwelling place and abode of God in the spirit.
01:23:01: Oh, what a kingly work he is doing right in our pages of scripture this last week.
01:23:08: Amen. Couple words of application. I feel very strongly that we need to hear that Jesus is better than our imagination.
01:23:26: Whatever our conceptions of Christ, they're orthodox, they're biblically rooted. We need to exalt him higher.
01:23:37: He has to have a greater preeminence among us. He must have the first place in all things.
01:23:48: Secondly, you and I need to kiss the son.
01:23:58: The people loved him when he was feeding them in John chapter six. They loved the prospect.
01:24:04: They loved him when he was considered to be the one who would throw out the Roman rule, but they love him for who he is.
01:24:15: Today, brethren, we need to give him the worship and the adoration, the praise that he deserves.
01:24:26: We need to be instructed. Your expectations of the savior might be far too low and fall short of the reality of what he's doing.
01:24:43: Brethren, when we think about the future, the wheels of redemption sure turn slow until they don't and things start happening.
01:24:55: The meek and lowly one now basks in glory. The concealment of that glory is no longer.
01:25:06: When he comes again, he will be coming on a war steed and he will vanquish all of his enemies.
01:25:17: Brethren, let us behold the king. Please pray with me now. Oh Lord, we thank you that you are the king that we need and it's better than our imagination.
01:25:40: Oh Lord, we do not aim high enough in our descriptors of your kingship.
01:25:47: Yours is an everlasting kingship and it stretches beyond the boundary lines of Canaan and it covers the globe and yay, it touches every inch of every universe that you created.
01:26:03: Oh Lord, help us to behold your excellency. Help us to see that you are the king of kings, that you are the creator who comes to rescue and redeem that which was broken and lost.
01:26:18: You've come to reverse the curse. You've come to conquer
01:26:24: Satan's sin and death and oh Lord, help us to rejoice in these things.
01:26:31: We ask all this in the name above all names, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.
01:26:37: Let us continue our time of worship in the presentation of tithes and offerings.
01:27:13: Please stand and let's pray together. Oh Lord, help us to recognize your reign and authority over all things and over ordinary things like time and talent and treasure.
01:27:36: Oh Lord, help us to see that our money is not our own but that we are stewards of what you have given us and we pray and ask that these tithes and offerings would be used for the bold proclamation of your gospel, for the discipleship of your saints and for the encouragement of your brethren.
01:27:56: We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. Let us now give glory to the great things our
01:28:09: God has done in the singing of the Gloria Patri. Let us begin. Lift up your hearts.
01:28:53: Lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord. It is good and right so to do.
01:29:00: It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you, oh
01:29:09: Holy Lord, Father almighty everlasting God. Because you sent your beloved son to redeem us from sin and death and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life that when he shall come again in great power and triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing.
01:29:32: Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your most excellent and glorious name evermore praising you and singing.
01:30:59: Please be seated and ask you to pray with me now.
01:31:10: Lord, you are, you're the true bread from heaven.
01:31:22: You are the lamb slain for the foundation of the earth. Oh Lord, we ask that we would have a greater sense and impression of the significance of your sinless life and your atoning death.
01:31:43: We know that a body was prepared for sacrifice and it was your glorious body.
01:31:50: We know that righteous blood had to be spilt in order for there to be remission of sins and there's only one blood which will do and it's yours, oh
01:31:59: Lord. So we ask that in the consumption of bread and wine that you would communicate to us
01:32:07: Christ and his benefits, his body and blood given for us.
01:32:14: And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Our Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread, this is my body.
01:32:32: Likewise, he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
01:32:39: For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
01:32:48: Therefore we proclaim the faith. Christ has died, Christ is risen.
01:32:55: Christ will come again. Let us approach the table now with the right mix of humility and sobriety but also thanksgiving and joy.
01:33:10: We need to have all of those things. Let's pray together now. We do not presume to come to this your table, oh merciful
01:33:18: Lord, trusting in our own righteousness but in your manifold and great mercies.
01:33:25: We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table but you are the same
01:33:32: Lord who always shows mercy. Grant us therefore a gracious foreflesh of your dear son
01:33:39: Jesus Christ. To drink of his blood. That our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood.
01:33:51: And that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us, amen. Christ, our
01:33:58: Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the peace.
01:34:04: The gifts of God for you, the blessed people of God. Thanks be to the
01:34:09: Lord. To Jesus I surrender all to him.
01:38:40: May he take me now.
01:44:33: We've enjoyed many privileges every day as the people of God we do but especially when we gather together for corporate worship.
01:44:44: So let's make this commitment not merely by rote but by true earnestness and desire for these things.
01:44:50: Let's pray this together. Almighty and everliving God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food blood of your son, our savior
01:45:04: Jesus Christ. And for assuring us in these holy mysteries we are living members of the body of your son and heirs of your eternal kingdom.
01:45:16: And Lord grant us this other benefit that you will never allow us to forget these things but having them imprinted on our hearts may we grow and increase daily in the faith which is at work in every good deed.
01:45:30: Send us out to do the work you have given us to do. To love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our
01:45:38: Lord. To him, to you and to the Holy Spirit the honor and glory now and forever, amen.
01:45:45: Please stand, let us begin. Receive now the blessing of our
01:46:25: Lord. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you what is well -pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever.