FBC Morning Worship Service

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Sunday morning service from Faith Baptist Church

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Good morning, good to see you on this Palm Sunday. Thank the Lord for giving us this opportunity to gather together to worship
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Him and to serve Him with our offerings, our offering of praise and the offering of our lips, giving thanksgiving and praise to our
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Lord. Before we begin our worship service itself, let me share with you a few, emphasize a few announcements in the bulletin.
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One is the special service this Thursday evening, so no Wednesday night programming at all.
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But Thursday evening at seven o 'clock, we'll be having our Maundy Thursday service. Started this a few years ago and just really come to appreciate the time where we just focus on that last night of the
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Lord with His disciples, the time in the upper room around the Lord's, what we call the
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Lord's table and their meal together. Then we read the scriptures related to that as well as leading up to the crucifixion and end the evening with the crucifixion of the
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Lord. We have the scriptures and we sing some hymns that are related to all of that and have the
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Lord's supper together. All of that is to just gear our hearts and our minds toward what our
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Lord has done on the cross, and then the significance and the blessing of the resurrection a few days later.
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I encourage you to come Thursday night seven o 'clock, it's about an hour long service, and I think it'll be a real blessing to your heart.
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Then next Lord's Day is Resurrection Sunday, and the schedule there is in your bulletin.
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I just want to emphasize the breakfast time at 8 .45 and need you to sign up so we know how many to plan for that breakfast.
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Sunrise service at eight o 'clock. It's after sunrise, I know, but anyway, it's early service at eight o 'clock.
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Then the breakfast, Sunday school at the regular time, morning service at the regular time, no evening service, but been giving out on Easter Sunday, like a devotional booklet for you to take home and meditate on the resurrection throughout the course of that day or later in the evening as you see fit.
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Then I just want to emphasize also the, we call it the stimulus project, if you will, for no other reason.
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But last Sunday we announced encouraging people to give toward this goal of being able to purchase 100 psalters, and that goal was met very quickly.
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In fact, by Wednesday, I knew that goal had been met. I know that a lot of people didn't have a chance yet to give to that project.
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There was another project that we were talking about and considering, and it is a cry room, and I think
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I sent an e -mail out earlier this week, and many of you probably got that e -mail. But oftentimes, babies, young children get a little disturbing in the service, and parents understandably want to minimize that disturbance, and so they take the children out.
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We don't have anywhere for them to go. So we wanted to set aside part of one of the classrooms down that hallway for a cry room, and again, we don't have a really good accommodation for that.
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We don't have comfortable seating. We don't have a way to still be a part of the service.
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So to facilitate that, we would like to get a flat screen
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TV that will broadcast the service right there. So the parents, if they have to leave the service, they can still see the service and participate, at least visually, also gives the children something to focus on.
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So it's like they're still able to look and see what's going on in the service, and that's what we want to help our children develop the ability to do, to pay attention to what's going on in the service.
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So visually, that will help them to do that. And so we want to provide that as well as just a comfortable place to sit and not on folding chairs.
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So if you'd like to contribute to that, you can do so in the same way that we suggested for the
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Salter project, and you can give either in the offering box or online.
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You can give online for that as well. So I hope to be able to do that and provide that good space for our parents with young children.
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All right, we've come today to worship the Lord, and of course, Palm Sunday, we're thinking of Him presenting
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Himself as the King coming into Jerusalem. Psalm 117 echoes or reflects the praise that was given to Him.
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Psalm 117 says, Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, laud Him, all you peoples, for His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the
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Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. So as we open our service today, we want to do just that.
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We have the hymn, 4 ,000 Tongues to Sing in our hymnals. That's not a problem, but you've got the handout with that on one side.
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There are a couple of stanzas included in the handout version that we want to use today as we open the service.
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So Jim, please come and lead us. Thank you,
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Pastor. It's all seven verses we're going to be singing on your handout. Hope you all have one of those. Anybody need one?
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Just raise your hand and we'll have someone come up. It looks like everybody's got one. So let's all stand together, please, and sing all seven verses of 4 ,000
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Tongues to Sing. O 4 ,000 tongues to sing
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My great Redeemer's praise The glories of my
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God and King The triumph of His grace
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My gracious Master and my God Assist me to proclaim
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To spread through all the earth abroad The honors of Thy name
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Jesus, the name that charms our fears That bids our sorrows cease
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Tis music in the sinner's ear Tis life and health and peace
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He breaks the power of canceled sin He sets the prisoner free
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His blood can make the foulest clean His blood availed for me
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He speaks in listening to His voice New sin did receive
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The mournful broken hearts rejoice The humble poor believe
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Hear Him, ye deaf, ye voiceless ones Your loosened tongues employ
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Ye blind, behold, your Savior's come A leap ye leap for Glory to God and praise and love
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Be now and ever given By saints below, saints above The church in earth and heaven
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Remain standing for prayer. Brother Ed, would you lead us, please? Father, Your glory endures forever.
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Let us pray that You would turn our hearts away from the fleeting things of the world now,
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Lord, and help us to focus our thoughts and minds on the great King and on His words, and just pray that You would just soften our hearts,
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Lord, to hear Your word, and that You would help us to be obedient to it. In Jesus' name, amen.
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You may be seated. I'd like to read responsibly today a part of Psalm 118 on the back of your bulletin.
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Psalm 118, verses 19 through 29. As we read responsibly, you will read, the congregation, read the verses that are in bold type, and I'll read the alternating verses.
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I'll begin in verse 19, and then join in verse 20, and then back and forth. Again, I encourage you to just read right out.
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Don't be timid, just like in your singing. Sing out, read out. Psalm 118.
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Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will go through them, and I will praise the
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Lord. I will praise
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You, for You have answered me and have become my salvation. This was the
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Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Save now,
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I pray, O Lord. O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. God is the
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Lord, and He has given us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
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O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever.
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Lord, add His blessing to the reading of this, His word today. In your hymnals, this time, page 162, 162,
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Fairest Lord Jesus. We'll sing all four verses together. Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature, all
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Thou of God and man the
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Son. Thee will I cherish,
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Thee will I honor my soul's glory, joy and crown.
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Fair are the meadows, ever still the woodlands, robed in the blooming garb of spring.
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Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer, who makes the woeful heart to sing.
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Beautiful sunshine, fairer still moonlight, and all the twinkling stars.
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Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer, than all the angels in heaven can boast.
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Beautiful Savior, Lord of all the nations, true
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Son of God and Son of glory and of praise, adoration now and forevermore.
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We pray together today.
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We want to remember our missionary of the week, Scott Williquette. Scott serves with Baptist Midmissions in their pastoral enrichment program, which involves traveling to third world countries primarily, places where pastors of churches in those countries, they do not have the freedom and the opportunity to have seminary training and even really any advanced training for pastors at all.
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And so Scott goes with others in that program to provide some of those teaching opportunities.
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This year, well last year he obviously wasn't able to go anywhere because of the COVID restrictions, and this year the plans are still uncertain.
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He was supposed to go to Myanmar a couple of different times, and Myanmar, as you are probably well aware, is in such a state of upheaval that there's no confidence that they're going to be able to make those journeys.
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He's supposed to do two trips to Myanmar this year. So we want to pray for that situation in Myanmar, pray for the believers there and the missionary pastors who serve there, and even that Scott would be able to have that opportunity to go and teach and help and train those pastors.
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And if not that trip, then he has I think one other trip scheduled for this year as well, and we want to pray that COVID restrictions don't keep that from happening.
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So pray for that ministry. And then also there's some folks in the congregation who have some physical needs, just let's remember them in general today and pray that God would be gracious to them.
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Let's look to the Lord, shall we? My Father, we are grateful for this time of year, springtime, when the grass starts turning green again and the crocuses start coming up from the ground and the daffodils and then other flowers to come and follow.
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The color returns to the landscape, and we so greatly appreciate the beauty of spring as it begins to bloom and to blossom.
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But as we just have sung, we are reminded that that beauty that is so glorious to us is nothing compared to the beauty of our
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Savior, our Lord Jesus. He is truly the fairest of all, and Father, because we cannot physically look
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Him in the face, we can easily be distracted and called away by the things of this earth and this life and lose sight of just how beautiful a
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Savior we have. Your Word says in prophecy that there is no form or comeliness that we should desire
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Him. When He walked this earth in form and in physical attractiveness,
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He was just like any other man. And of course, in the cruelty of the cross, there was an ugliness that would cause man to turn his face away.
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But when we understand all that He came to do as Son of God and Son of Man, and the beauty of the horrific cross, we realize that there is truly a beautiful Savior that makes
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Him the fairest of all. We rejoice in our Lord Jesus today. We rejoice in His coming to this earth.
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We rejoice in His coming as King of kings and Lord of lords. And thank you that by His power and His authority,
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He has established His kingdom, which will ultimately rule and reign over this entire globe, over all men, over all things.
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How we look for and anticipate that glorious day. Father, we thank
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You for the privilege of communicating the gospel and sharing it to others. And Lord, this is a wonderful privilege that we have.
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And I pray that You would make our feet beautiful as we bring good tidings to those in need.
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We think especially of Scott Williquette today as he has this privilege and opportunity to train pastors and those in Christian work in countries where they get so little training and there's so much misunderstanding of the truths of Scripture.
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And Lord, what a blessed privilege he has to give clear understanding to these servants of Yours.
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So many things in Your Word. And I pray that You would use that ministry to strengthen and encourage pastors who can then turn around and strengthen and encourage their people, who can then turn around and more clearly and accurately communicate the gospel to those all around them.
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So Lord, use that ministry of the Pastoral Enrichment Program and Scott and his leadership in it and may it be an effective work.
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I pray that if it would please You, that He would be able to get to Myanmar this year and also to other places where men need to be trained.
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I pray that the travel restrictions would be eased enough that He might be able to make these trips.
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Father, we pray for those in our congregation today who are in need. Some are involved in some traveling and I pray that You would grant journeying mercies.
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We also pray for those who would be traveling later this week for the
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Easter holiday and meeting with family and loved ones. I pray that You would grant them a blessed time as they together with loved ones will rejoice on Resurrection Sunday in the living
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Savior. We pray for those in physical need and pray that You would give healing and strength to the body and that they might be able to return to worship together with us very soon.
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Father, we pray for those who are here today whose hearts are heavy and burdened.
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They are weighed down with a load of care. I pray that those burdens would be lifted.
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Burdens would be lifted at Calvary. I pray for those who are burdened down because of sin.
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We turn from that sin today. Oh, convict our hearts and turn us from that which is so deceptive and so destructive and turn to Christ for forgiveness.
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There's one here today who needs to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. I pray that today they'd see that need very clearly and that You would quicken the heart to come to Christ and be saved today.
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So, Father, we pray. Meet with us in this service and meet with us through Your Word and we ask it in Jesus' name.
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Amen. Amen. On the other side of your handout, your sheet, is titled
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All Glory, Laud, and Honor. And we'll sing all three verses of that song together.
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Let's all stand please one more time as we sing together All Glory, Laud, and Honor. All Glory, Laud, and Honor.
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To whom the lips of children Made sweet hosanna ring.
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Thou art the King of Israel, Thou David's royal son.
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Who in the Lord's name Honest, the King in Blessed one.
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A company of angels Praising Thee on high.
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When we with all creation In chorus make reply.
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The people of the Hebrew With palm before thee went.
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Our praise and Anthems before thee
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We present. To thee Before thy passion
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They sang their hymns of praise. To thee now
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I exult And thou didst accept
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Their praises except the Prayers we bring.
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Who in all good deed, laud, high test, A good and gracious King.
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Please be seated. We turn in your
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Bibles to Luke chapter 19 for our scripture reading and message today, Luke 19.
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I just want to remind you about the one o 'clock service this afternoon after we have lunch together.
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Join back here in the auditorium at one o 'clock and we'll be singing some more
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Psalms. Don't yet have those Psalter books to use but we'll sing some of the
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Psalms from that Psalter. We'll do that today and this will probably be the last Sunday where we just do exclusively
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Psalm singing in that afternoon service. So Luke 19,
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I want to begin reading in verse 28 and read through verse 40. Message will go through verse 48 but our reading through verse 40.
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Verse 28 begins when he had said this he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem and it came to pass when he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the
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Mount called Olivet that he sent two of his disciples saying go into the village opposite you where as you enter you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat loose it and bring it here.
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And if anyone asks you why are you loosing it thus shall you say to him because the
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Lord has need of it. So those who were sent went their way and found it just as he had said to them.
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But as they were loosing the colt the owners of it said to them why are you loosing the colt and they said the
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Lord has need of him. Then they brought him to Jesus and they threw their own clothes on the colt and they set
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Jesus on him. And as he went many spread their clothes on the road. Then as he was now drawing near the descent of the
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Mount of Olives the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen saying blessed is the king who comes in the name of the
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Lord peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Some of the
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Pharisees called to him from the crowd teacher rebuke your disciples but he answered and said to them
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I tell you that if these should keep silent the stones would immediately cry out.
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A brief prayer. Our father I pray as we consider this scene before us today that we would place ourselves in the midst of it.
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This we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Several years ago I think it was probably like 1998 maybe 99.
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Chris and I had gone out for dinner for our anniversary and we were living in Oak Ridge Tennessee at the time so we went to a restaurant that was right on the
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Tennessee River in Knoxville. Had a nice meal and after the meal was over we left the restaurant and it was a nice balmy summer evening and still wasn't dark.
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So we left the restaurant and were walking back toward the car and we noticed there was quite a crowd of people at the one end of the parking lot and they were right at the river's edge and they were all facing in the same direction.
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I wonder what's going on? And so like anybody who's got any semblance of curiosity we walked over to the crowd and started to observe and look around to try to figure out what was happening what was going on.
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There were all kinds of people who were there. Young old, just a bunch of people and I looked out into the river and there's a bridge that spans the river right by that restaurant and there were a couple of few boats that were anchored right by the bridge and then
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I also noticed, this was pretty obvious as well, a lot of flashing lights up on the bridge so there were a bunch of emergency personnel wondering if there was some kind of an accident up there and then we noticed about 80 feet the bridge is about 80 feet above the river's surface, there was a guy standing on the railing of the bridge just barely holding on and intending to jump and to take his life.
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And I observed the crowd as we stood there and finally figured out what was going on.
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I wondered how were people responding and most of the people, I could look around, most of the people were obviously concerned they had definite expressions of concern on their face had no idea who this individual was and there was not a thing in the world anybody could do about it there amidst the crowd.
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But they were obviously concerned. It was a little distressing to see a few people kind of joking and cajoling about the matter and you have to wonder if they were up there where this guy was at the bridge, would they be cheering him on?
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Would they be saying, go, go, go jump, jump, jump? They just seemed to have that kind of an air about them, an attitude about them.
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And then of course there were the emergency personnel and they were trying to talk him down from that intended act of ending his life.
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So it was quite a variety of people as they were watching this scene, as we were watching this scene unfold before us.
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Fortunately the man was able to be talked down and he stepped away from the side of that bridge and we were pretty thankful about that.
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That is not something you would want to see somebody do. But a few things struck me about that whole scene.
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One of them is how a crowd can draw a crowd.
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You've seen the scenes where somebody, just one person stops in the middle of the street and just looks up and then a couple other people see him looking up and they stop and they start looking up and then before you know it a whole bunch of people are stopping looking up.
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At what? Who knows? Nobody knows. It's just the crowd has formed and as that crowd has formed the crowd attracts a crowd.
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I mean after all how did we get into the middle of that thing? There was a crowd and we were attracted by the crowd.
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A crowd attracts a crowd. And of course the larger the crowd the more diverse is the character of that crowd.
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Now that's a general observation and it's a general observation that holds true on this Palm Sunday scene before us in Luke chapter 19.
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There is quite a crowd and a crowd attracts a crowd and it ends up being quite a diverse crowd.
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And as we consider this crowd today what I want us to do is to place ourselves in it somewhere as somebody in that crowd.
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Because it is quite a diverse crowd and I want you to see several different types of people that comprise this crowd.
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And the most obvious right off the bat as we begin this account recorded for us in Luke is that there are some in the crowd who are obedient servants.
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They're obedient servants. In other words these are the two whom Jesus gives the assignment to go and get this cult that he's going to ride on.
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And these two out of the twelve, Jesus' twelve disciples are given this special assignment.
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Now the thing about this is we don't know who those two are. Was it
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Peter and Andrew? Was it James and John? Who were the two that were selected? We don't know.
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You know the speculator in me kind of wonders. I wonder if one of the two was
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Judas. Do you ever think about that? I don't know. We don't know who it is.
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But anyway two of these twelve closest disciples of Jesus were given this special assignment to go and get this cult.
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And these obedient servants notice they go where he sends them to go. Jesus tells them to go into the village opposite you and in verse 32 it says so those who were sent went their way and found just as he said.
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So Jesus gave them specific directions, gave them a specific place to go and these obedient servants went and followed those directions exactly.
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And I think it's important to emphasize that. You say well yeah I know the story. Yes you know the story but let's put ourselves in that story.
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Am I an obedient servant of the Lord Jesus Christ? See that's what we have to ask ourselves. Am I obedient to what the
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Lord gives me to do? Am I going to the place the Lord has given me to go?
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So they go where he sends them and they seek what he is after.
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He tells them to go to this place and to find this certain thing. What is he to find?
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What are they to find? They are to find a cult tied. A cult on which no one has ever sat.
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And that's an important distinction. There's going to be this cult that nobody's ever sat on before. He doesn't tell them this but the point is he's going to be the first person who's ever sat on this cult.
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And it had to be a cult. It couldn't just be any animal.
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It couldn't be the cult's mother. It had to be the cult. Why? Because God said so.
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Back in Zechariah chapter 9. In your bulletin, I don't have my bulletin up here with me, but on the cover of your bulletin you see that quotation from Zechariah 9 .9.
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That the Messiah is going to come and be presented as the king and he's going to come and enter upon the cult.
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The foal of an ass. And this has to be. So Jesus gives this very specific instruction of where to go and what to do.
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What to do when they get there. Find this cult. And then he gives them specific directions regarding what they are to say.
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An obedient servant will do what Jesus tells them. He will say what
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Jesus tells them to say. So in verse 31 he says if anyone asks you why are you loosing it?
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Then you will say to them. So he doesn't even give them the freedom, if you will, to come up with their own story.
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To put things in their own words. He gives them the words to say. If anyone says to you what are you doing?
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Why are you loosing the cult? You shall say to him because the Lord has need of it. Because the
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Lord has need of it. Not because Jesus wants it. Not because the
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Lord wants something to ride on. But tell them this. The Lord has need of it.
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They are to say what he once said. And in verses 33 and 34 this scene exactly unfolds as Jesus anticipates.
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They come to the place where this cult is tied up and they start loosing the cult and the owners said why are you loosing the cult?
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And they said quote, the Lord has need of him. End quote.
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They say what the Lord gives them to say. Do what the Lord has told them to do.
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By the way, isn't this a rather humorous scene when you think about it? These two individuals they walk up to where this cult is tied and they don't say anything to anybody they just start untying this cult.
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Now if you were the owner of that cult, what would you do? Let's put it in a modern scene.
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You look out the door and you see somebody starting to get into your car.
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You don't know who they are. You've never seen them before in your life. They start to get into your car. What are you going to do? You say hmm, somebody is trying to get into my car.
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Isn't that interesting? That's a fascinating thing. I wonder why he wants my car. Oh well, it's just a car.
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Is that what you can do? No, it doesn't even matter if your car is a 1995 something or another or a 2021 brand new thing.
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If you see somebody trying to get into your car and you don't know who they are, you're going to ask some questions about that.
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You're going to go out there and say hey buddy, wait a minute, what are you doing? That's my car.
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What are you doing getting into my car? Why are you wanting my car? You're going to ask some questions.
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Well this is what the owner does. Why are you loosing the cult? And then the answer.
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Well, we're loosing the cult because the Lord has need of him. Oh, okay. So that raises a bunch of questions and nobody has any real answers to it.
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It just gives some speculation answers. How come they just let the guys take this cult?
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I've never seen that cult again. How were they to know? So the question is, did Jesus prearrange this?
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Was the owner of the cult, was the owner already a follower of Jesus, a disciple of Jesus and was perfectly happy with it?
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We don't have the answers to those questions. All we know is, the owner said okay.
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Have at it. Have at it. I find that rather amusing. But they said what
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Jesus gave them to say. And I emphasize that because of something
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I saw this week. There was an article I read. It was put out by I think churchleaders .com.
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It showed up on my Facebook feed. And the title of the article was 10
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Things Churches Need to Stop Doing Now. I said okay, this should be interesting.
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I want to see what they have to say. What are these 10 things? And I opened up the article and I started reading it.
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And honestly most of them were things that were like okay, so what big deal. It's kind of like the day used to be the day in our churches where you had the
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Sunday school attendance pins. Any of you remember those things? I remember those as a kid. You get this award if you attended
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Sunday school. A little wreath thing that you could put on a lapel if you attended Sunday school a certain amount of time.
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And then every year that you had perfect attendance or nearly perfect attendance you'd get a little bar that would attach to the wreath.
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And you could have this thing accumulate over the years. And I remember as a kid,
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I mean just a little kid, knee high to a hymn book, seeing some of these old people in the church.
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I remember this old guy in the church he had one of these things on his lapel and the bars were like halfway down to his belly button.
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I mean he had these huge things. I thought this guy must have been in Sunday school forever and never missed
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Sunday school. Well, you know, we don't do that anymore and it's not a big deal. Right? There's nothing in the
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Bible that says you have to give out pins for perfect attendance in Sunday school. So it was that kind of thing. Most of them were that kind of thing.
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Until I got down to number 10. And number 10 said the number 10 thing to stop doing in church is preaching.
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I said, what? I said, what? Preaching? Wait a minute.
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The Lord said to preach. The Lord said to preach. And I replied to that.
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I put a little thing on there. In Sunday school this morning I talked about the exercise of the will.
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And you see a Facebook post and you at that point have choices to make. Are you going to ignore it?
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Are you going to hit the emoji? Are you going to comment on it? What are you going to say if you comment on it?
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You've got all kinds of choices at that point. Well, I made the choice to comment on it. And my comment was 2
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Timothy 4, 1 and 2. Preach the word. Be instant, in season, out of season.
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Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long -suffering in doctrine. And the person writing the article who said stop preaching basically was saying people don't want that.
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And the passage goes on to say, yeah, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.
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And what this person writing this article is telling churches to do is to stop preaching and instead tickle ears.
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I said, no. No. Obedient servants will say what the Lord once said.
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And he wants preaching said. So, no. We say what needs to be said.
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Obedient servants also bring what he asks. In verse 35, they brought the cult to Jesus just as he asked.
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So some in this crowd are obedient servants. Is that you? Are you one of those in the crowd that is an obedient servant?
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A second group of people are ardent followers. Verse 35 says then they brought him to Jesus and they threw their own clothes on the cult.
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So the first they are the two that went to get the cult. The second they in verse 35 are the rest of the 12.
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Those closest disciples of his. These ardent followers of Jesus. And these ardent followers of Jesus.
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Notice how they gave up their stuff for him. Verse 35 says they threw their own clothes on the cult and set
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Jesus on him. Gave up their own stuff for him. And they not only gave up their stuff, but they gave him the honor and the respect that he deserves.
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And I think both of those things are important to emphasize. Because there are some who profess to be followers of Jesus and profess to be believers and all the rest of that stuff.
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And the limit of their ardor in following Jesus is their checkbook.
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Their giving. They're ready to give because they like the tax deduction or they like the recognition or whatever.
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But do they give him the honor and the respect that he deserves?
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These ardent followers not only write the check, if you will. They not only put their clothes on the back of this cult, but they set
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Jesus on that cult. They set Jesus on top of their own clothes. And what they are doing in that act is showing respect and honor for him.
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They're elevating him. And they're beginning a parade with Jesus as the focus of this parade.
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And it is the parade that is that of a king and a conqueror. In fact, turn with me back to 1
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Kings chapter 1. And I want you to see in 1 Kings the precedent for what
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Jesus is doing here with riding on this cult before he goes into Jerusalem.
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1 Kings chapter 1 And the context here is
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David is being asked to determine who's to succeed him as the king. And David had promised years earlier that Solomon would be his successor as king.
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But there's been some competition for that role. And so now they come to David and they tell
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David, you have to make a public declaration of who your successor will be.
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So verse 32, King David said, call to me Zadok the priest,
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Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. So they came before the king.
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The king also said to them, take with you the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule and take him down to Gihon.
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There let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel and blow the horn and say long live
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King Solomon. In other words this scene in Luke chapter 19 and the triumphal entry is a reenactment, if you will, to some degree of what
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David did with Solomon, presenting the king to his people.
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Solomon is paraded through the streets. He's declared to be the king and long live
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King Solomon, the successor of David. As Jesus rides on the back of this colt, he's being paraded and brought to Jerusalem as the king, the successor of King David.
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Well, ardent followers, ardent followers. Well let's think about this as we look at this crowd.
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Does my attitude toward worship and God's house, does it reflect the honor and the respect that he deserves?
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Do I just go along with the flow? Do I just go along with the routine?
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Do I just do what I'm supposed to do? Is there any sense of earnestness?
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Is there any sense of eagerness in my worship of the
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Lord, showing him the respect and the honor that he deserves? And do I willingly, willingly sacrifice my stuff for his service?
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I think of years ago and two different pastorates, not here, not here, but two different pastorates, two different individuals that show a stark contrast, both professing to be followers, both professing to be ardent followers of Jesus, but one not so much.
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The one that truly was an ardent follower of Jesus, he not only gives to Jesus the respect and honor that he deserves, he loved to gather with God's people and worship the
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Lord on the Lord's day, and he just loved it, was always, always there.
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But he also was willingly sacrificed his stuff. He shared with me one time what his attitude was when he got a raise from work.
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His attitude was, you know, I've been living on X number of dollars all this time. I don't need that extra money.
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Unless something comes up that's like an emergency or an unknown expense or something major happens,
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I just figure I'll give it to the Lord, give it to the Lord's word. Now, I'm not telling you that's what you have to do or anything like that whatsoever.
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I'm just expressing to you the heart of somebody who is an ardent follower of Jesus is the way he expressed that love and his willingness to give his stuff.
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Contrary, though, there was another guy who also showed his ardor in following Jesus by always being at church.
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I mean, he was there Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, anytime the doors were open kind of a guy.
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He attended our church for quite a while. Again, not this church. He attended our church for quite a while, months.
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Finally, he came to me and he said, what do
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I need to do to join your church? I'll meet with the deacons and we'll hear your testimony and so forth.
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We'll ask each other questions. He met with the deacons and we heard his testimony of salvation.
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It was fine and asked if he had any questions. His first question was, do you expect that I tithe?
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Well, that's a rather odd question to be the first question that you ask. Do you expect that I tithe?
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Before I could answer, one of the deacons said, do you have a problem with that? Do you have a problem with giving?
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He says, well, I don't think I should have to tithe to be a member. Forget the subject of the tithe.
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Just forget the subject of the tithe. Get the heart of the man. Get the heart of the individual. Get the heart that says,
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I don't want to give if I don't have to give. That's radically different from the ardent followers of Jesus who see
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Jesus needing to get on the back of this cult. Before there's any question asked or any need expressed, they see it and they take off their own coat and they put it on the back of the cult and they put
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Jesus on there because he's worthy. He is worthy. Ardent followers.
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Some in this crowd are, for lack of a better way of describing them, eager fans.
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Eager fans. These would be beyond the twelve. These are ones who spread their clothes before the cult.
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We see this in verse 36. As he went, many spread their clothes on the road.
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As he was drawing near, these are the ones who begin to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice and so forth.
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These eager fans, they show the respect that Jesus deserves.
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They join in the action of the ardent followers, those who put their clothes on the back of the donkey and put
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Jesus on the donkey. Well, there's no more room to put more clothes on the donkey. So what we'll do is we'll take ours and put them down in front of the donkey and they can walk on our clothes and some through branches down at the palm branches, hence
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Palm Sunday, through the branches down and wave the branches and so forth. They demonstrated a definite enthusiasm for Jesus and they render appropriate praise.
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This is seen in verse 37 and following. Verse 37, they began to rejoice and praise
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God with a loud voice and notice the focus for all the mighty works that they had seen.
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This gives us some insight into who some of these people might have been because Luke records for us this journey of Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem and along the way on this journey,
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Luke records four different miraculous works that Jesus performed.
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Now, he certainly performed more than that, but Luke highlights four and one of them was the woman with an infirmity and on the
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Sabbath day, Jesus healed her. Luke recorded for that force in chapter 13.
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In chapter 14, he records another Sabbath day miracle and both of these got the consternation of the religious elite, of course, because it was on the
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Sabbath day, but he records the miracle of the man with dropsy and he heals the man of that dropsy.
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In Luke 17, he records the miracle of the ten lepers. Remember that one where only one came back and gave thanks and then in chapter 18,
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Luke records the miracle of the blind man who was healed and so they had seen some of these miraculous things that Jesus did and they began to praise
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God and rejoice with his loud voice because of these mighty works that they had seen and in verse 38, they rightly exalt him.
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They rightly exalt him. They declare Jesus is king.
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Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Jesus is the king, but let's think about this crowd.
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Did they understand what kind of king he is? They declared as he's the king.
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They declared that he is divinely authorized. He's coming in the name of the
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Lord. They declared that Jesus reign is a reign of peace.
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They say peace in heaven and glory in the highest. The implication is that this one who comes in the name of the
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Lord, he is the king. There's peace in heaven. He's going to bring peace on earth, but did they know?
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Did they understand and how will they respond when they find out that heaven's peace would not be earth's peace anytime soon?
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We see later on in verses 43 and 44 that there's a lot of war and destruction that is yet to take place and it's not going to come too many years after this scene.
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Jesus is prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and even nearer to their experience in less than a week this king, this king of peace who comes in the name of the
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Lord is himself going to experience the cruelest of man's brutality, anything but peace in the crucifixion.
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Nevertheless, Jesus is highly esteemed. Glory in the highest they declare.
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Isn't that interesting that at the beginning and at the end of Jesus' life on earth there is this declaration of glory in the highest.
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Back in Luke chapter 2 the angels declared glory to God in the highest and what on earth?
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Peace to men of goodwill. Oh yes, the king of peace will bring peace upon earth to men of goodwill, but do these eager fans, do they get that?
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Do they understand that? See, the question is how deep is their loyalty?
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You know, fans, fans can be pretty fickle, can't they? Have you ever been to Soldier Field to watch the
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Bears play? I never have. My brother, my older brother has,
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I'm not sure about my younger, my older brother's been to the Bears game and kind of interesting.
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When the Bears do something right, both times in a game. Okay, some of you got that.
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No, when the Bears do something right in a game, you know, they're all, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but the rest of the time, you know, when they choke, which is, you know, historically in the last several years it's been pretty, it's boo, yeah, what are you doing?
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And there's all this hollering and there's this screaming and get rid of Nagy, get rid of that, what's that, that quarterback and they're all ragging on their team.
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What kind of fans are these? Fickle, fickle fan.
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Oh, they probably would never root, they would certainly never root for the Packers or the Vikings or any other team in that division.
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They'll always root for the Bears, but they may praise one play and they may be cussing at them the next play.
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What kind of fans are these, see? What kind of fans? Right now, they're eager.
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Let's ask ourselves some questions about this. Do I, do
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I with the same exuberance express praise and adoration and exaltation of the
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Lord when things don't go my way, when things go wrong, when my plans get upended, when
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I don't get what I want, when some kind of crisis hits, am
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I still praising? Am I still declaring with conviction and joy in my heart that God is good all?
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Eager fans. Some in this crowd are clearly hostile opponents.
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Verse 39, some of the Pharisees called to him from the crowd, Teacher, rebuke your disciples, rebuke your disciples.
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They try to silence the followers of Jesus. In this action of the
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Pharisees, notice how they're trying to show, in silencing them, trying to silence them, they show disdain for these followers of Jesus, these who are praising him.
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They're showing disdain for those who are praising. They're too disruptive.
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They're going too far. They're overreaching, going beyond.
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They need to be shut down, or to use a common term in recent days, they need to be canceled.
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Cancel them. Cancel them. But listen, in showing disdain for these followers and fans of Jesus, they're also showing disdain for the
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Lord. You see that? You understand that? Because what they're saying here is that he,
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Jesus, this one riding on the colt, is not worthy of the praise that they are offering.
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And even though he's coming in acting like he's Solomon, you know, to be the king over Israel, he doesn't deserve to be the king.
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He doesn't deserve to be the king. In fact, this one on the back of that colt is no better than anyone else.
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He's certainly not better than we are. Tell them to be quiet. This is showing disdain not only for those who are offering the praise, but for the one to whom the praise is offered.
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And in reality, these, these who are these hostile opponents, they are the ones that need to be rebuked.
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And Jesus does just that. I tell you, if they be quiet, the stones will cry out. Nature would take up the praise.
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Some are hostile opponents. They not only try to actively silence the followers of Jesus, they actually try to silence him.
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See this in verse 47. He was teaching in the daily in the temple, but the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy him.
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They didn't just want to shut him up. They wanted to cancel him forever. Cancel him for good.
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Hostile opponents. So some in this crowd, watch, look at the diversity in this crowd.
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Some are obedient servants, some are ardent followers of Jesus, some are eager fans, some are hostile opponents, and some, as we continue in verses 41 to 44, some are ignorantly doomed.
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They're ignorantly doomed. It says, now as he drew near, he saw, Jesus saw the city and he wept over it, saying,
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If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace, but now are they hidden from your eyes.
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For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you, and close you in on every side, and level you and your children within you to the ground.
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And they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation.
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Here are those, Jesus weeps over them because they are ignorantly doomed.
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And some of those in this city are part of this crowd. They're standing, standing off, watching, observing, wondering, tsk, tsking, and all the rest of that that goes along with it.
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Just noticing how out of control these followers of Jesus are.
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And yet, they're ignorantly doomed. We noticed this morning in our Sunday school class, back in Matthew 13, the root of their ignorance, the root cause of their ignorance.
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Back in Matthew 13, Jesus explains why he teaches in parables.
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And he says that the reason I'm speaking in parables is because of the hardness of the heart of those who are listening.
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In Matthew 13, verses 14 and 15, he says, Isaiah prophesied of these people and in them is this prophecy fulfilled, which says, hearing you will hear and shall not understand.
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This is Jerusalem. Seeing you will see and not perceive. Why? Because the hearts of this people have grown dull and their ears are hard of hearing and their eyes, they have closed.
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Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them.
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Why are they so doomed in their ignorance? Because of the hardness of their heart.
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And because of the hardness of their heart, they are ignorant of the wasted opportunities that have been before them.
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He says in verse 42, if you had known even you this your day, especially in this your day.
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And in verse 44, at the end of verse, he says, you did not know the time of your visitation.
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Here you have this wonderful opportunity. Jesus has been to Jerusalem multiple times.
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He's taught on multiple occasions. And they've heard. But in the hardness of their heart, they have rejected him and they have wasted their opportunities.
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They're ignorant. They're ignorant of their wasted opportunities and they're ignorant of their own spiritual blindness.
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He says in verse 42, these things are hidden from your eyes.
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Hidden from their eyes. They don't see. And they are ignorant of the corruption of their own heart, the religious corruption of their heart.
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They thought here's the thing. I'll be careful. They thought that they were
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OK. Because after all, they were Jews.
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They were descendants of Abraham. We've got to be OK. We're good. We don't need anything else.
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We've got what we need. They thought that they were OK. And yet Jesus says, you don't know.
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You don't know what's coming upon you. Your eyes are blind. You cannot see. You're doomed.
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So they're ignorant even of their own coming judgment in verses 43 and 44.
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This coming judgment that Jesus talks about in verses 43 and 44 actually occurred in AD 70.
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Now, you think about this group in the crowd.
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Ignorantly doomed. So many around us in our day are in the same boat.
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Ignorantly doomed. Consider the opportunities that people in our day and age have to hear the gospel.
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I mean, it's a click away. They don't even have to go to a try to find something on a radio dial.
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I mean, they can get a link that you send them, and it's just a click away. They have reading opportunities no other time in human history.
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The gospel is so readily available. Maybe the commonality of it is what makes it so easily rejected.
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Familiarity breeds contempt, perhaps. I don't know, but in the hardness of the human heart, the need is dismissed.
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I don't need that. I don't need to hear that. I don't need to hear that negative talk about being a sinner.
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I don't need to hear the negative stuff about there being a hell and being doomed and all that kind of stuff.
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I don't need to hear that. If I don't need to hear that, I don't need to hear this so -called offer that you have to give to me from Jesus.
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Judgment? Coming judgment? Yeah, you're just another one of these sandwich board people walking around with a sky is falling kind of message on the board.
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Enough of you. The tragedy is so many go on in their hopeless existence being ignorantly doomed.
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They don't want to hear it. Then there are some in this crowd who are oblivious opportunists.
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Verses 45 and 46 Jesus went into the temple and he began to drive out those who bought and sold in it saying to them, it is written, my house is a house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves.
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Again, as we consider this whole scene of the triumphal entry, Jesus coming into Jerusalem he goes into the temple and as he gets into the temple, here are these opportunists these religious opportunists who take advantage of people who are performing their religious duties.
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This is, after all, Passover time and there are thousands of pilgrims who have come into Jerusalem for Passover and these religious opportunists instead of praying for the people who have come they pray upon these spiritually sensitive pilgrims who come to worship the
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Lord and come to offer their Passover sacrifices and to engage in that annual feast of Passover.
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So instead of praying for these people, these religious opportunists are praying upon these people.
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It kind of reminds me of the prosperity gospelists of our day, doesn't it?
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Here's this lonely widow who can't really get out much and she misses church and turns on the television looking for some religious programming and comes across a prosperity gospeler who tells him tells her, if you will only send in a seed offering, a faith seed offering
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God will richly bless you, so get out that checkbook right now, right now, right where you, get it out right now, sit down write a check for as much as you can possibly give and that poor old widow sits down and writes out a check that just about drains her bank account because she knows
01:08:44
God will bless her if she does. And some rich guy on the other end of the
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TV screen makes some more bucks, pads his pocket some more, feeds his own luxury at the expense of these poor people who are spiritually sensitive but so unfortunately easily duped and they, these oblivious opportunists ignore their own corruption in the
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Lord's presence, here they are in the Lord's house and here is the Lord among them in the
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Lord's house and they pay him no mind, they're not going to get any money out of him some are oblivious opportunists and then lastly in verse 48 some in this crowd are interested observers verse 47 says he was teaching daily in the temple but the chief priests and scribes and the leaders of the people sought to destroy him and were unable to do anything, why?
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Because all the people were very attentive to hear him so some in this crowd are interested observers their interest, their curiosity is intense the passage here says they were very attentive to hear him, literally that says they hung on his words, they just listened with intensity, they wanted to hear what he had to say but as we close this chapter,
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Palm Sunday comes to an end what we have to ask about these interested observers is where will they be on Friday?
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where will they be on Friday when the throng is crying out crucify him, crucify him will they still be hanging on his every word will they still be intensely interested where will they be?
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So this Palm Sunday it attracts quite a crowd doesn't it? quite a diverse crowd, as you look around in this crowd where are you?
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Where are you? An obedient servant ardent follower, eager fan interested observer a hostile opponent, one who is ignorantly doomed or even an oblivious opportunist where are you in the crowd?
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Our Father and our God I pray today that you would encourage our hearts from this passage as we see ourselves where we ought to be
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I pray that your people listening to the sound of my voice today would say yes by God's grace by God's grace
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I am an ardent follower of Jesus by his grace I try to be an obedient servant
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I try to do what he wants me to do and go where he wants me to go and say what he wants me to say.
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This is my heart to be an obedient servant I pray that that would be the testimony of each one here but Father perhaps there's some listening today who would have to admit
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I've just been kind of standing off on the sidelines and not much involved and not much interested just going through motions and doing what
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I have to do oh Lord work in that heart today that one needs to be converted
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I pray. Bring them to repentance bring them to see their sin and bring them to see their need of the
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Savior today. Bring them to repentance may they be able to come to that place in repentance and faith where they see that Jesus is indeed worthy of all of my praise we pray this in Jesus name.
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Amen Would you take your hymnal and turn to number 14 hymn number 14.
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I want to stand and sing both stanzas here of this hymn of praise to the
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King our Lord who is worthy of all of our praise. Number 14.
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Let's stand shall we as we sing My heart overflows with praise to the
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Lord I will lift up my voice to the
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King Brought me out of the pit of despair and taught my heart to sing worthy of all worship you alone my lips sing his praise my heart feels his love his word is a lamp to my way his mercy and grace forever closer each now to the
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King of ages immortal invisible the only God the honor and glory forever and ever amen and amen.