Amen.
Please take your Bibles and open them up this morning to the Gospel according to John.
And again, we'll be in John chapter 11, verses 55 through 12, 19.
If you didn't bring your own Bibles and you'd like to use the Bible in the pew back in front of you,
you can find that on page 844.
And if you're really using the Bible that I like, it's on page 1394.
We'll see who the overachievers are in the room this morning.
John 11, 55 through 12, 19.
When you found that in any Bible that you brought, if you would stand and follow along with me as I read the Word of God.
Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.
They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple,
What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?
Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was,
he should let them know so that they might arrest him.
Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
So they gave a dinner for him there.
Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.
Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard,
and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair.
The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, he who was about to betray him, said,
Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?
He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief.
And having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
Jesus said,
Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.
For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.
When the large crowd of the Jews had learned that Jesus was there,
they came not only on account of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well,
because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out,
Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.
And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
Fear not, daughter of Zion.
Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.
His disciples did not understand these things at first,
but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him
and had been done to him.
The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead
continued to bear witness.
The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they had heard he had done this sign.
So the Pharisees said to one another,
You see that you are gaining nothing.
Look, the world has gone after him.
This is the word of God.
And please be seated.
Lord, we thank you again for your word.
It is unbelievably good.
And we pray now that you would speak through me, a weak servant.
Let your word go forth in power to accomplish your purposes.
We pray in Christ's name.
Amen.
How do you welcome a king?
Five months ago, May 6, 2023,
apparently was the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey.
And to be completely honest with you,
I was completely unaware and totally uninterested in the entire thing.
But I know that many people apparently get really into this stuff.
And so they were eagerly anticipating and preparing for this moment.
This was the first coronation of a king in 70 years.
So you can imagine the preparation.
They pulled out all the stops.
The planning for this coronation began a year ago this month, October 2022.
Invitations were sent out.
Some 2,200 guests would attend the ceremony
with over 20 million Brits and over 10 million Americans
watching the festivities online.
Maybe some of you were included in some of those numbers.
Every detail was laid out and planned out to honor and to praise
and to welcome in the new king and his queen.
The Archbishop of Canterbury planned out a service, a coronation liturgy.
And if you watched the event,
then you saw one of the main features was the king's procession
where the king and the queen traveled from Buckingham Palace
into Westminster Abbey in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach.
It's this golden coach ornately decorated on all sides.
It's led by six white horses surrounded on all sides by the king's guard.
They entered into the cheers and the celebration of the crowds
and then they took their place and the moment came
and the crown was officially placed on King Charles' head.
But of course, that wasn't the end of the celebration.
There was a concert to attend that evening.
There was a big feast, a dinner.
They celebrated all weekend long.
Everyone, all of this, celebrating all of it to welcome in a new king.
Our passage this morning, it details the welcoming and the reception of a king.
It's the entrance of King Jesus both into the home of his friends and into his city.
The time has come.
All the grand entrance has been planned long in advance.
The hour has arrived.
And here we get to see how is this king received?
How is the king welcomed?
And as we walk through this passage together, I want to ask us,
I want us to ask ourselves, how do we receive the king?
How do I welcome the king?
How do I receive him even now?
How do I, how should I prepare for his arrival?
What honor, what praise, what celebration is owed to King Jesus?
And the truth is, we know this, don't we?
The king Jesus is worthy of everything that we have to offer.
Amen?
He is worthy of all of our honor, all of the praise, all of the glory, all of our energy,
everything that we have to give him, all of ourselves.
We're called to love the Lord your God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, all our strength.
He's worthy of it all.
So this morning, I want to ask the question, how should we receive the king?
And we'll see two ways to receive the coming king this morning.
This is our outline if you're taking notes.
Two ways to receive the coming king.
Receive him with honor and receive him with adoration.
First, we see we are to receive the king with honor.
At the end of chapter 11, it sets the stage for us.
Verse 55 tells us the Passover was at hand.
This was the third Passover in the Gospel of John.
This is Jesus' final Passover.
We know that Jews came from all over into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.
And they often came early to purify themselves for the feast.
But this time, something was a little bit different, wasn't it?
This time, they came looking for Jesus.
We saw last week that a decision has been made.
An infinitely, eternally foolish decision was made by Caiaphas and the chief priests and the Pharisees and the council to find Jesus and put him to death.
So this time, at the Passover, they're wondering, well, where is he?
Where can we find him?
They gave out orders that if anybody had seen Jesus, if anybody knew where he was, they might speak up so they might arrest him and ultimately so they might kill him.
But John tells us that while they are in Jerusalem preparing for Jesus' death, Jesus is in Bethany also preparing for his death.
Bethany was about two miles away from Jerusalem.
And Jesus made a stop there to visit his friends, Mary and Martha and Lazarus, who John just casually mentions again that Jesus rose from the dead.
He's still not giving us any information we want to know about Lazarus.
We want to know what his experience was, what he's thinking, what his time was like in the grave.
He doesn't focus on that at all, does he?
Instead, the focus is on King Jesus and on how he is received.
This is ancient history now, but I'll remind you that the Atlanta Braves won the World Series two, maybe three years ago.
And they didn't win it in Atlanta, they won it in Houston.
They celebrated there in Houston.
They had a big celebration.
But do you remember how they were received when they arrived back home in Atlanta?
There was a celebration.
They got off the plane.
It was crowded.
There were photographers, journalists, fans all over the place.
They planned the celebration parade where they marched through the city of Atlanta as kings of the baseball world.
All of this for being the best team in baseball.
Now imagine the honor that's owed to King Jesus.
Place yourself in Martha's shoes or in Mary's shoes.
This man just raised your brother from the dead.
How would you receive him?
How would you honor him?
Place yourself in Lazarus' shoes.
This man just brought you out of the grave.
How would you respond to him?
We see like good Baptists, they fed him.
I don't know what they ate.
I imagine probably something like what we ate last week at the campsite.
They fed him.
Martha served.
Lazarus, he just wanted to spend his time with Jesus.
He reclined there at the table with him.
But the focus here, John's focus is on Mary and the way that she anointed and honored her king.
Look there to verse 3.
John tells us,
This is extravagant, sacrificial, self-debasing honor and love for the king.
Now we hear that term, pure nard.
That really doesn't do anything for us, does it?
But we need to understand that this was expensive.
And when John says that this was expensive ointment, he's kind of underselling it a little bit.
This was incredibly expensive.
Judas knows exactly how expensive it was, doesn't he?
And we'll deal with him in a moment.
But he tells us that they could have sold this ointment for 300 denarii.
Now an average worker in this time might have earned one denarius per day.
So 300 denarii, not including Sabbaths and the weekends when you're not working.
300 denarii would have been a year's worth of labor for an average worker.
A full year's income.
And here, Mary, she takes this valuable treasure off of the shelf, probably her most valuable possession.
She takes it down, breaks it at the neck, and pours it out all over Jesus.
This is extravagant, sacrificial love and honor.
But not only this, John tells us he draws our attention to the fact that she anointed the feet of Jesus.
And she wiped his feet with her hair.
This is humble, self-debasing, undignified honor.
This is servant's work.
Do you remember what John the Baptist said in chapter 1?
He said, I'm not even worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of this man's sandals.
Do you remember that?
This man, Jesus, is so much greater than I am.
I'm nothing.
I'm not even worthy to stoop down, to be the lowest servant, to serve this king, to do the lowest task imaginable.
I'm not worthy of him.
He's worthy of everything I've got.
But it's an honor to stoop down and be a servant for the king.
That's Mary's posture here, isn't it?
She lets her hair down.
She stoops down as low as she can.
She doesn't care at all what anyone else in the room might think of her and what she's doing.
And she gives her greatest treasure to honor her lord and king.
What an example this is for us, church.
What an example Mary gives to us.
Yes, this is extravagant.
Yes, this is expensive.
Yes, this is sacrificial.
But isn't Jesus worthy of this?
And so much more.
Of course he is.
He's worthy of our very best.
But Judas, excuse me, Judas.
Judas didn't seem to think so, did he?
Look there to verse 4.
John tells us,
Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, he who was about to betray him, said,
Why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?
John tells us he said this not because he even cared about the poor, but why did he say it?
He was greedy.
He was a thief.
He used to stick his hand in the money bag and pull out what he wanted for himself.
He had charge of the money and he used that for his own personal gain.
Judas was outraged because this expensive ointment, in his view,
was being wasted by being poured out on Jesus instead of stuck in his pocketbook.
His money was being poured out all over somebody else's dirty feet.
In his view, this was a waste.
And Jesus said, no, no, no, no, no.
Leave her alone.
She has kept it.
She has kept it for the day of my burial.
The poor you will always have with you.
There will always be an opportunity to serve the poor.
But I have but one week left here with you.
One week left.
She has saved this ointment for this purpose, to anoint me for my burial.
I got an email from my seminary this past week,
actually saying that they were honoring one of my former professors,
honoring him with a festschrift.
Does anybody know what a festschrift is?
I had no idea either.
If they covered that in class, I missed that day.
I had to look it up and see what a festschrift was.
Apparently, it's German for a celebration writing.
Now, most of the time when a famous scholar, somebody influential, passes away,
you'll see a lot of books come out honoring their work,
giving honor to who they are, remembering the work and the influence that they had.
Well, a festschrift is a celebration writing while the person is still living.
They want to show honor to them while they're around and can receive the honor.
So they wrote this book in honor of this still living professor.
Mary's doing the very same thing here.
She says, well, why wait?
She has an opportunity in front of her right now to honor the king of kings,
and so she takes it.
It's so interesting to me as I read through this section of John's gospel here
that this story of Mary is sandwiched between Caiaphas in chapter 11
and Judas here in chapter 12.
Caiaphas, who wouldn't give up his status, wouldn't give up his prestige,
wouldn't give up his influence.
Instead, he plotted to take the life of Jesus and Judas,
who didn't want to give up his greed,
wouldn't give up his money,
wouldn't give up his secret sin,
and ultimately betrayed the Lord.
And Mary honored the king.
She poured it all out,
but Judas and Caiaphas held on to what was more precious to them instead.
Mary would give 300 days worth of income to honor the Lord.
Judas would sell him off for 30 pieces of silver.
I think we're meant to ask,
are we honoring Jesus like Mary,
or are we withholding honor from Jesus like Judas?
I'll ask that again.
Are we honoring Jesus like Mary,
or are we withholding the honor that he's due like Judas?
Are we giving Jesus our very best?
The best of our time,
the best of our money,
the best of our ability,
the best of our possessions,
because he is the most precious,
the most worthy,
he is the king,
or are we holding back what is due to him
because we find something else more precious than him?
Our prayer needs to be,
God help us be like Mary.
God help us,
help us not be like Judas.
The temptation for all of us,
churches,
is to hold back what's due to Christ
because we want some sort of gain
when in reality it all belongs to him.
I want people to look at us as a church family,
people who don't know the Lord,
to look at us the way we live,
the way we serve,
the way we give of ourselves,
the way we give sacrificially and generously,
and have no idea what in the world is going on.
And not understand it at all,
because the truth is,
when you give your best to Jesus,
there will always be someone around
who's going to think you're absolutely out of your mind.
And that's okay.
Honoring Jesus,
it often means giving generously
in ways that don't make sense to the watching world.
But what the world views as waste,
God views as worship.
And we had an Operation Christmas Child meeting
a couple weeks ago,
and this couple,
we shared this last week,
this couple was here,
a man and his wife,
pastor and his wife from Wild Peach, Texas,
and they serve a small church there in Texas.
And they started off,
the Lord led them to give the shoeboxes
to Operation Christmas Child.
I think they maybe had 12, 15 boxes the first go around,
maybe 30, 35 a second go around,
as they shared,
their generosity and sacrifice blossomed
to the point where this past year
they gave over 5,000 shoeboxes.
And not just to provide supplies to these kids,
but to provide the gospel to these kids.
Because the Lord,
the King of all the heaven and earth,
is worthy of this sort of outrageous generosity,
is He not?
This church, you should know,
is the fruit of extravagant,
over-the-top, unreasonable generosity.
This is our first year together
as an autonomous church,
but you should know
that we're not yet financially self-sustaining,
meaning, right now we are held up,
we are propped up,
we're supported by the generosity
of other Christians
who are using their money,
the money that they could use to buy groceries,
to pad their retirement,
to do a thousand other reasonable things,
but instead they see the work of God in you,
the work of God in this church,
who desire to see a healthy gospel witness
established in this community,
and have said the name and the honor of Jesus
is worth it.
So they give.
We're indebted to their generosity.
But our prayer, of course,
our aim is that our dependence
on that outside generosity
would become less and less
as our own hearts are stirred,
our own membership grows
to the point where we're no longer
dependent on outside help,
but rather,
each one of us
is giving in ways
that might seem strange to the world,
but that honor the Lord Jesus.
I love the quote from Jim Elliott.
Jim Elliott was a missionary,
one of five missionaries
who went to an unreached people group
in the rainforest of Ecuador,
went to bring them the message of the gospel.
Every single one of them
was speared to death.
Here's what he said.
He is no fool
who gives what he cannot keep
to gain what he cannot lose.
I'll say that again.
Make sure you heard it.
He is no fool
who gives what he cannot keep
to gain what he cannot lose.
Jim Elliott gave his life.
Why?
Because he treasured
and valued the honor
and the glory of King Jesus
more than his own life.
That's wasteful to the eyes of the world,
but not to Christ.
I hope the point is clear.
This is not primarily about our money.
This is primarily about our heart.
This is about uprooting the idols of our heart,
seeking out,
asking the Lord to seek out areas
where we are gripping tightly
and by the grace of God,
letting them go
so we can honor King Jesus
with everything we have.
Don't you want to do that
for the Lord?
Would you ask the Lord with me
how he might have you,
how he might have me,
how he might have us together
as a church
to honor him extravagantly,
sacrificially,
generously,
unexpectedly,
and humbly
in ways that you never thought possible
for our good and his glory.
Receive the King with honor,
but not just this.
Second,
how do we receive the King?
Receive the King with adoration.
Look there with me
to verse 12.
John says,
The next day,
the large crowds
that had come to the feast
heard that Jesus was coming
to Jerusalem,
so they took branches
of palm trees
and went out to meet him,
crying out,
Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord,
even the King of Israel.
This is the arrival
of the King.
This is what's often called
the triumphal procession.
Typically,
you hear this text preached
on Palm Sunday.
We're six months late
or maybe five-ish months early,
depending on how you're counting.
And this is the Sunday
that begins the beginning
of Holy Week
and Jesus' road to the cross.
You just imagine the scene.
Place yourself there.
Millions of Jews
are gathered here together
for the Passover.
They hear that Jesus is coming.
I have no idea
how many came out to meet him,
but they came out of the city
to usher in someone
who they believed at this point
not to just be a man,
not to just be a teacher,
not even just a miracle worker,
but they came out
to usher in
who they believed
to be their king.
Now, get this image
in your mind.
Thousands and thousands
of Jews lining the street,
picking up palm branches,
waving them in the air.
And this is a symbol
of Jewish national pride
and military victory.
It was a callback for them
to the times of the Maccabees,
restoring the temple
and chasing out,
driving out the Seleucids
who ruled over them.
It signaled for them
a strong sense of hope
and expectation
that at last,
finally,
the moment has come.
The king has arrived.
The Messiah is here.
And as they see him
entering the streets,
they quote the Psalms.
They shout out
this roar of praise
and adoration.
Hosanna!
Which means,
save us now.
Save us now.
Hosanna!
Blessed is he
who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Even the king of Israel.
They are adoring
their king.
They're welcoming him in
with praise
and with adoration.
They are claiming
that this man,
Jesus,
is the Messiah.
He's the king.
That's been promised
to the people.
He's the one who will come
and will reign
and will rule.
They believe that Jesus
was their king.
The king had arrived.
And he had.
But,
but,
not as they might
have expected.
see,
they,
they were looking
for a king
who would come
and rule
right now.
Save us now,
they said.
They were,
they were looking
for a great,
mighty king
to come in
on a war horse,
fully loaded,
ready to,
to take over,
take down the Romans.
But instead,
here comes Jesus,
seated on
a meager,
young donkey.
This is an interesting
choice for a king,
isn't it?
This is what our king
arrives in.
This,
this is how our Messiah
is going to come
into the city.
This is,
this is the one
who's supposed to come
and kick out the Romans
and set us free.
This is our king.
Thousands and thousands
of years of waiting
and this is how he rolls
up into the city.
This is like the king
of England
coming down the streets
in some old minivan
instead of this
golden chariot.
You can imagine
the confusion.
What in the world
is going on?
John tells us
he did these things
fully self-aware.
And what he's doing
is in fulfillment
of prophecy,
just as it is written
in Zechariah's prophecy,
he says,
Zechariah chapter 9,
verses 9 and 10,
Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion.
Shout,
O daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold,
your king is coming to you.
He is just
and having salvation,
lowly
and riding
on a donkey.
A colt,
the foal
of a donkey.
Now the people
wanted a king.
They wanted military
might
strength,
but this
wasn't quite
the king
they expected.
This king
is gentle
and humble
and lowly.
So the crowds,
they praised him
and adored him,
but we need to see
they praised him
for who they
thought he was,
not who he
actually was.
They adored him,
they praised him
for who they
wanted him to be,
what they wanted him
to do,
what their hopes,
their expectations,
their agenda
for King Jesus
was,
not for what
he had actually
come to do.
Church,
we ought to let this
be a warning
for us.
We can voice
praise and adoration
for Jesus
selfishly,
can't we?
And we can
serve him
and adore him
and shout out
our Bible verses
and honor him
on our terms.
He can be our king
so long as he
gives us what
we want.
But if we want
to receive
the king
truly
in ways
that honor him
and please him
and glorify the king,
receive him
for who he is.
Honor him,
adore him
for who he
is.
Let go of
every other
selfish agenda
and receive the king
with genuine
heart adoration.
This is the king
we've been waiting for.
King Jesus,
this is the one
who's been promised
to save us
from our sins.
This is the one
promised to reign
and to rule over us.
The king of the Jews
but not only the Jews.
The king of any
who trust him,
love him,
and come to him
truly.
How are we
responding to Jesus?
See,
these crowds,
they didn't quite
understand,
did they?
That this king
had come to fight
a much bigger
battle
than just a
political battle.
This king
had come to
perform a much
greater liberation
than just to
liberate the Jews
from their enemies.
He had come
to conquer
a much greater
enemy than the Romans.
He'd come to meet
much greater needs
than they even knew
that they had.
This king
had come
to defeat
the powers
of sin
and darkness.
He had come
to crush
the head
of the serpent,
Satan.
He'd come
to liberate
all his people
from the chains
of sin.
And in order
to do this,
he must come
humbly
to lay
down his life
to suffer
and to die.
Church,
are you amazed
by this?
Well,
this is why
John,
he says,
the disciples
didn't understand
this at first.
Only when
Jesus had been
glorified,
only when he was
resurrected,
then they got it.
Then they saw
this is who he was.
This is why he came
the way he did.
Are you amazed
by this?
the king
of kings,
God himself,
humbled himself,
entered into
our weakness,
entered into
our pain,
entered into
our struggle
to save
unworthy
sinners
like us.
The one
who's worthy
of all praise,
humbled himself
to serve you,
sparing no
expense like
Mary.
He poured
out the most
precious gift
he possibly
could for you.
But where
Mary poured
out her treasure
for the one
who is worthy
of all praise,
the one who is
worthy of all
honor,
Jesus poured
out his
greatest gift
for those
who are
unworthy.
For sinners
like me
and like
you,
how do
we respond
to a king
like this?
We honor
him.
We adore
him.
And two
more as we
close.
Bonus.
We herald
him and we
anticipate
him.
You know
what drew
me as I
studied this
passage this
week?
I've read
this passage,
I've studied
it,
who knows
how many
times,
but you
know what
stood out
to me more
than anything
this week?
Do you
know what
drew the
crowd to
Jesus?
Look there
at verse 17
and 18.
What drew
the crowds
to Jesus?
It says,
the crowd
that had
been with
him when
he called
Lazarus
out of
the tomb
and raised
him from
the dead
continued
to bear
witness.
The reason
why the
crowd went
out to
meet him
was that
they heard
he had
done this
sign.
What drew
the crowd
to Jesus?
What drew
the honor
to Jesus?
What drew
the praise
to Jesus?
It was
the witness
of those
who had
experienced
the work
of Jesus.
That's what
drew the
crowds.
It was
the heralding
of the glory
of Jesus
out of the
mouths of
those who
had seen
it happen.
Lazarus
himself,
the very
existence
of Lazarus,
a resurrected
man,
brought honor
and glory
to King
Jesus.
The Pharisees
heard he
was still
around.
They wanted
to kill
him.
Because
everywhere he
went,
he brought
a testimony
of the
life-giving
power of
King Jesus.
Church,
have we not
seen the
work of
Jesus?
Have we
not
experienced
the
resurrecting
life-giving
power
personally
of the
word of
King
Jesus?
Every one
of us
is living
proof of
the power
of Jesus
Christ.
Do you
want to
bring honor
and praise
to the
King?
Bear
witness
to who
he is.
Open up
our mouths
and proclaim
the glory
of the
King.
Open up
our mouths
and speak
of what
he's done
for you,
what he's
done for
us.
Speak
of his
resurrection
from the
grave.
Herald
the
King.
Bring
glory
to his
name.
And as
we do,
as we
go about
sharing the
good news
of Jesus
Christ,
anticipate
his coming
again.
Jesus
came the
first time
humbly
to die
for our
sin,
but he
has promised
church he
will come
again.
Not to
deal with
sin,
he's already
done that,
but to
save those
who are
eagerly
waiting
for him.
He will
come again
to finally
defeat the
enemy.
Not on a
donkey,
but this
time on a
white horse.
The first
time he
came to
die,
but when
he returns
he will
come to
reign forever
with all
those who
trust in
him.
And when
he does,
the whole
world truly
will go
after him.
Every knee
will bow
and every
tongue
confess that
Jesus
Christ is
Lord to
the glory
of God
the Father.
The King
will return.
Are we
ready to
receive him?
Are you
ready to
receive him?
Are you
prepared for
the coming
of our
King?
Let's pray.
Lord,
come quickly
Lord Jesus
is our
prayer.
We
long for
the reign
and rule
of Christ.
We look
around and
see how
desperately we
need you,
how desperately
we need
your reign,
your kingship,
your lordship
here and
now.
Father,
we pray
that it
would begin
here with
us.
Reign and
rule over
us as
your bride,
as your
church.
Help us
to honor
you and
to love
you and
to serve
you as
you deserve.
Help us
to give
generously,
sacrificially of
everything we
have,
Father,
that you
might be
honored and
your name
proclaimed in
all the
earth.
We pray
this in
Jesus'
name.
Amen.