Well, welcome everyone. It's good to have you here. And for those who did not know, we were away, Paul and I were away on vacation, got back here Tuesday, and she's home sick. So I don't know if that came from Georgia or just came from you guys. We don't know, but she's sick. So pray she recovers well. She gets, yeah, she doesn't work Monday. So that's her schedule, right? She doesn't work Monday? Yeah, so she's got even tomorrow to recover before she has to go back to work. So be praying about her. I am starting Easter early. We're going to begin doing the journey to the cross and I'm doing things a little bit different because we do not do a Good Friday service. We're actually going to be doing Palm Sunday this morning. So we're going to be looking at Palm Sunday and we're going to try to help you to understand the setting, what's going on. And in doing so, hopefully for those who are believers, you're gonna be encouraged in your faith as to we serve a risen Savior. For those who have not accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, hopefully today, just looking at some of the evidence of the journey to the cross, you will recognize how much God loved you, how much God loves you and wants to see you to be in his family. So we'll turn the Bibles to John chapter 12. In the Synoptic Gospels, you're gonna see the books each taking a slightly different vantage point and covering this section of Christ's journey. But we're gonna focus as the main text on John chapter 12. And we're gonna look at verses 12 through 19. We'll read that. On the next day, much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, went forth to meet Him, and cried, Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord! And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. These things understood not his disciples at the first. But when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave and raised him from the dead bear record. For this cause the people also met him. For they that heard that he has done this miracle, the Pharisees therefore said among themselves, perceive ye how ye prevail? Nothing. Behold, the world is gone after him. That is, after Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you would guide and direct in the preaching, teaching time. You would help our hearts and minds to be engaged. We'd be open to you. you're leading, your encouragement for the one that's not surrendered to you and has not accepted you as Lord and Savior. We ask God that you would work mightily in that person's life. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. So we come to this Palm Sunday and we see that it's a fulfillment of Zachariah 9.9 and it's almost an exact quote of Zechariah 9.9, fear not daughter of Zion, behold thy king cometh sitting on an ass. That's about 500 years before this event took place. For you who are skeptic on whether the Bible is truly inerrant, is truly without error, that is from God himself, one of the areas of proof of that is the prophecies of scripture. When God says this is going to take place 500 years before and then it takes place to the exact detail, we recognize that only God can see 500 years into the future. Only God can do that. He is quoting here in the triumphal entry that the daughter of Zion, fear not daughter of Zion, be in Israel, the nation. Behold, your king cometh sitting on an ass's colt or a donkey, for those that don't know your animals. So right down to the detail of him riding in on this donkey, and he's going to come in and they're going to recognize him, and this Palm Sunday where they take the palms and lay it down, and Hosanna, King. As they quote this, it was predicted 500 years before that they would do it. And so the setting is for you and I, who are born again believers, who actually have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are emboldened by that. We're like, yeah, God's real, God's true. This word is worth trusting. This word is worth following. And not only some of it, by the way, for those who think you can pick and choose what you believe in the Bible and what you can't, I have some bad news for you. If you can only trust portions of the Bible, you can't trust any of the Bible. Because if it is written by God, as it is said it is, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, it's God-breathed. If it is, and you pick and choose what parts you believe and what parts you don't believe, then you are rejecting God and calling him a liar. because it's self-attesting, it's declaring that. So be careful and recognize the weight of your rejection. You picking and choosing is you trusting your brain over the inspired word of God. And you think you can decipher, well that's reasonable, therefore I can accept that, that's unreasonable. The resurrection is not reasonable, it's miraculous. It's miraculous. The fact that God would become man, born of a virgin, and walk upon this earth 30 plus years is unreasonable. That he was sinless walking all, how many of you could walk 30, And again, the debates are, sometimes it's a nuisance being a theologian and knowing all the details. Because I go back, 32 years, 34 years, well, there's this debate, there's that, anyway, 30 plus years, we know that for sure. In 30 plus years walking upon this earth, he never sinned? That's unreasonable, it's illogical. And the only way you can come to accept it is if you accept that he's God, and you accept that the Bible is God's word. That's a step of faith. I can give you reasons why you should, but it's not based upon reason that you're going to become a born again believer. It's gonna be based upon trust that God is who he says he is, and that the account in the scriptures are true. You have to take a leap of faith. Now for those who say, I can't take a leap of faith. Faith is my biggest difficulty. I can't choose by faith. We all choose to live by faith every day. The faith, the question of faith is not can you exercise faith, it's what objects of faith do you place faith in? You place faith in your vehicle by coming here and only giving yourselves 15 minutes to get here. You placed faith in that vehicle that it would start and it would get here on time. You had no proof until you stepped into it and got here, especially if it was a Toyota. That was just fun. That's just fun. So faith is something you exercise on a daily basis. You say, yeah, but I have some tangible evidence. I have some patterns by which I can trust. Folks, you can study. Christianity from the apostles to now and you can have Circumstantial evidence and patterns by which you can trust so don't give me this it has to be You know I have to have these tangible markers by which I can choose to trust no you have to come to the point that God Real now most of you can get there because you look at this universe, and you know somebody's bigger than us Somebody's got to keep it together But when he says I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end I don't I don't have I'm not created I'm just always have been How do you prove that You can't. But God gives you the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ says, I am the Son of God, I am God, and I come to walk amongst them so that 30 plus years they can examine me, they can test me, they can verify me, and then I am going to lay down my life and I'm going to go again and sit at the right-hand throne of the Father which is in He prophesied that from the Old Testament. Christ spoke of that once he came of age and entered his public ministry. He repeatedly told them, I am going to die, but I'm going to rise again. In fact, he starts out with this journey to prepare the people. Now remember, the people are gathered at the hill. They're watching Jesus come. But there's a series of events have taken place that is important for us to remember. First, that Jesus Christ is a fugitive. Jesus Christ is a fugitive. There is a bounty on his head. The Pharisees and the Sadducees have come together and they have vowed to their own death that they will see to that Jesus Christ will be killed. That's why you see Jesus coming in and then going away, coming in and going away. He comes to Jerusalem three times or the general area three times and then has to go off into the wilderness because the Sadducees and Pharisees have tracked him down to kill him. So he's a fugitive. The religious community hate him. You know why they hate him? Because he's pointing out their faults, their wrongs, their guilt. And you know why they crucified him? Because he's pointing out, you are an arrogant fool and your sins damn you to hell, but I love you and I will forgive you for being who you are, which is a selfish, sinful, arrogant fool. We don't like that description of ourselves. But there's enough evidence, if you look at your life, there's enough evidence to prove, and your conscience, your voice in the head will say this. that you have offended God many times. You've lied, stole, you're proud, you're arrogant, you've been unfaithful, you've violated the Ten Commandments over and over and over. You've coveted, you've been jealous, you've been angry, you have greed, all of these things, all of it. Christ says, I will come and I will walk this earth and I will offer myself the punishment for the sins by which you deserve. But he begins this several weeks earlier because he knows he's going to come into Jerusalem where they are there to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. The Feast of the Passover, it was the Super Bowl of Israel. Okay, just think about that. The Super Bowl's being held in Jerusalem. All the people are coming. Well, the Passover was the time when all of the Jews would come to Israel to celebrate the Passover. What's the Passover? That is the event which when they were slaves in Egypt, God set them free by killing all the firstborn of the nation of Egypt, and he did not kill the firstborn of the children of Israel because they put blood over their doorposts. And he said, I will pass over you. If there's blood on the doorpost, I'm passing over you. I will not take your firstborn. Well, the Egyptians didn't believe in God, and they said, that's foolishness. That's folklore. Well, what happened? They get up in the morning and all the firstborn were? dead and the Jews, firstborn, were not dead. Finally, the Pharaoh said, ''Get out of my land, set you free and get out of here. All my firstborn are gone. We are grieving the loss.'' The Passover was celebrated because of that miraculous event of God towards the nation of Israel. That's the Passover. And as Christ is coming to celebrate the Passover, it's a foreshadowing of His blood now was going to be shed, and that as the door was over the doorpost of the firstborn children would be saved, all the people that would accept the blood of Jesus Christ's death would be saved from spiritual death. they would be saved from damnation and hell. They would have the freedom and they would be reconciled to God the Father and be citizens of heaven. That's what he's doing as he's coming into this day of the Passover. All the people are changing their mind about this Jesus. Now, take the FBI top 10 fugitive list. He was number one in the top 10. So everybody knows that this man is a fugitive and he needs to be killed. But weeks before, he allows an event. Remember, Jesus Christ is under the lead of the Holy Spirit. He's guided by the Holy Spirit. Weeks before, He has the raising Lazarus from the dead. Now, Bethany is a day's journey from Israel, from Jerusalem. A day's journey from Jerusalem to Bethany, and that's where his friends and family are. Lazarus, Martha, Mary. Weeks earlier, he has the event of Lazarus raising from the dead. They send messengers, Jesus come and heal Lazarus, he's about to die. And he says, no, I'm not going now. Seems kind of cold. And he doesn't go. And then he tells his disciples, well, it's time to go and see Lazarus, knowing that he has died physically. So in John 11, then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. Jesus waits until his body's starting to rot. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off. And many of the Jews came, Mary and Martha, to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met with him, but Mary stayed still at the house. Down to verse 24. Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection in the last day. And Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Do you trust this? Do you believe this? How is it we can avoid the punishment of our sin. He says, I'm gonna give you an illustration. Lazarus, I'm gonna let him lie for four days. And then I'm going to come. And Mary and Martha, they understood the resurrection of the saints, the predicted resurrection of the saints, but they didn't recognize that Jesus Christ had power to resurrect Lazarus at this point. So he comes and he will, resurrect Lazarus amongst all of those who came up from where? Jerusalem. All the people that come up from Jerusalem to witness this. He resurrects Lazarus and so you have all these witnesses who are witnessing that Jesus Christ rose Lazarus from the dead. So they go from he's a fugitive to whoa, this guy can perform miracles. This guy has amazing power. They're not ready to say this is God, this is my savior, this is the one that will lay down his life and rise again and give me salvation. They're not there yet, but they're certainly there as we would love to have him be king of our nation. and they're drawing on the Old Testament. That's why when we get to the Triumphant M3, they're like, hey, he's a superstar. He's amazing. We got to celebrate. We know he's coming. Now, the interesting pattern is Jesus Christ and the disciples purposely go to the area of Jerusalem and stay at Lazarus place, they travel with a caravan that's moving, coming down to go to the Passover. And they stop at Lazarus and stay overnight, while the rest have to continue on because the next day is what? The next day is the Sabbath day, where they can't travel. So they needed to get down into the city. They get down into the city, and they observe Sabbath. Nobody works on Sabbath. Now we come to a triumphal infantry. The beginning of the Passover is on Sunday. We look at Sunday as the beginning of the week. They had the Sabbath, and then Sunday starts the celebration of the Passover. So they're coming down into the city. They're a whole day ahead of Jesus, and guess what they're saying? Jesus is coming, and not only is Jesus coming, but Lazarus, he's staying at Lazarus' place, and he's coming too. But notice, why is that important? Because they were pumped out of their mind about seeing if there'd be another miracle. They witnessed it, they wanted to see more, they were not denying this miracle. It was testable, it was verifiable, it was real. And verse 17, the people therefore that were worth with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave and raised him from the dead bare record. For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle." So how can the top 10 wanted list fugitive walk into Israel where the Pharisees and Sadducees are established? because the masses are celebrating him as the possible earthly king for Jerusalem, for Israel, because he has performed these miracles. They witnessed it, and they wanted to see if he'd do it again. Well, that's wonderful, right? That's good, but that is not salvation. When we come to salvation, we have to understand, that if the people didn't praise him, the Sadducees Pharisees come to him and say, ''Hey, these people are praising you, stop their praise.'' He declares in Luke 19.40 says, ''If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out and praise me.'' Now, either Jesus is a liar, or he's nuts, he's crazy, or it's true, he's Lord. Why would the mountains cry out and honor Jesus? Because he's their creator. We can't look at this as just a mythical story brought up so people can have some moral goodness to look to. This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the God-man. and he proved it in the midst of the masses. He showed them, I can even raise the dead to life again. Then he says, what? I am the resurrection and the life. If you believe in me as the resurrection and the life, you will be saved. What we find is that these people were stirred and moved, by the wonder of the miracle so that they might have a earthly king that would set them free from Roman imprisonment, Roman government. But they were not looking at him as the sacrificial lamb that would take away the sin of the world. The triumphal entry for them was an earthly king who would solve all the earthly problems. But the triumphal entry for Jesus Christ was he's coming to shed his blood that the world might be saved. He is coming to lay down his life. And he'll take it again. He'll raise up again. And he'll sit at the right hand of the throne of God and he'll offer, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. There is salvation in none other. but the man Christ Jesus. I am the way, the truth, and the life. So Easter is not running around chasing hidden eggs, eating chocolate bunnies. For the one who is a true believer, it's a time to celebrate that we serve a risen savior, and he's real, and he's the hope of all, everybody on this earth. He can take the fearful and make them strong. He can take the depressed and give them joy of salvation. He can take the lost and give them the path of righteousness. He is the one who will change you if you will trust him, not only for your salvation, because the sins that you've done must be punished. Without the shedding of blood, there's no removal of sin. One more time, without the shedding of blood, there's no removal of sin. That means somebody has to die, take the punishment for your sin. Either you're gonna do it or Christ. And Christ offers, because I rose again, I have the power to forgive you. And I have the power to give you new life. I am the resurrection and the life. Believest thou this? Mary and Martha believed it. I will be in heaven with Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Why? Because I live like them, I'm more zealous than them, I'm righteous like them. No, because I believe in the resurrection and the life, Jesus Christ, my Savior and my Lord. Now, I know some of you are wrestling with that. Let's not just pretend we don't know each other. We know each other. Some of you are wrestling with that. I beg you just like, hey, this Easter, settle it in your heart. You cannot be reasoned to this. You have to ask God to open your eyes and ask God's help to trust that he is really your savior. And if you will, knock and it shall be open. Seek and you shall find. But if you're looking to make deals with him, it's not gonna happen. God doesn't make deals. He says, call upon me. and I will forgive you. Call upon me and I will save you. Call upon me, repent, for the kingdom of God is His hand. Recognize your wrong and your damn. Repent, turn from it, and acknowledge Him as Savior, and you will be redeemed. All through the New Testament, He is calling the disciples, go tell people the good news. This is the good news. Now, what about for those who are born again believers? You've accepted this. I hope this encourages you what Jesus did to prepare for you. He fulfilled every bit of prophecy in the scriptures in great detail so that you can be reassured that he's true. He fulfilled every bit of scripture so that you can be reassured that God does not lie. God the Father predicted 400 or 500 years before, And it came to pass exactly. And the promises that you lean on and trust in your daily living, you can trust them. Just like the prophecies were trustworthy, our Heavenly Father is trustworthy. He is faithful to fulfill that which he promises. So for the believer, We're going to be looking at these details and how Christ was committed to every detail. He submitted to his heavenly father and he fulfilled every aspect of the word of God. He did it sinlessly because he is Jesus Christ. He's our example. We can't do it sinlessly, but we can follow his example. Every detail of scripture that God calls us to do, He calls us with purpose to glorify him. He calls us with purpose to satisfy our soul. We are happiest when we're walking in obedience with Christ, if you're truly a believer. And he calls us so that others can see our light, so others would say, I want what you have. Jesus Christ was our example of living on this earth. Jesus Christ is the one we're to point others to. But if you're not excited about him, you're not believing, you're wrestling with doubt in your own mind, look at the triumphal entry, look at the preparation, look at the fact that he walks in knowing the enemy was there, knowing the enemy was going to kill him. In fact, Sunday to Thursday, he knows. By Thursday, you have the weeping in the Garden of Gethsemane. saying, Father, if this cup can pass, please let it. Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. That's the lesson for you and I as believers, submitting to the will of God and trusting it. For you unbeliever, please look at all of the historical data that backs this up. Look at the fulfilled prophecy. Jesus Christ came to die for your sin. and he offers to forgive you of all of your sin, but it took the shedding of blood. The Passover feast was the celebration of the shedding of blood that saved the firstborn. This is in the history books, not just in the biblical books. This is in the archaeological history books of those who do not follow Jesus, those who are not Christian. You can go back to the Egyptian archives and find evidence that this horrific thing took place. It is one celebrated by the Jews because it was the time that God brought them free from slavery under the Egyptians. What's the parallel? You're a slave to your sin. You're absolutely a slave to your sin. You cannot break the bondage that sin has over you. You have no desire for God, you have no desire to live according to his word, and you have no power to break the bonnies. God says, I can. That's why I shed my blood. And if you'll apply the blood, I will forgive you of your sin, I will give you power to separate yourself, be free from your sin, and you'll not only be free from the power of your sin, but you'll be free from the position of sin. I will make you a child of God, robed in his righteousness. That's the triumphant entry, if you'll accept Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you have already, we've walked the triumphal entry. We have walked into the death, burial, resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've trusted it and we're on the other side. But some of you need triumph in your life. You need to be born again. You need Christ. Would you consider taking that serious today? Well, how do you take care of it? You ask him. You admit he's real. You ask that he would save you. You ask that he would apply his shed blood to you. and forgive you and adopt you and make you a child of God. That's good. That's really good news. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him would not perish but have everlasting life. I hope you will trust him today if you haven't. And for those of us who have, let's recognize the triumphal entry was symbolic of our entering into the blood of Christ for the resurrection and salvation. Lord, thank you for this time. We ask, as we come into the worship time, to honor you and respond to your triumphal entry, and Lord, how you proved yourself to be the God-man, and how you voluntarily entered into the city Sunday knowing Thursday you would go through the five trials mocking you and Friday you would die. You knew that and yet you chose to do that because you wanted us to be freed from our slavery to sin. In Christ's name we pray, amen.