WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.980 Good morning. It's good to see you all this morning. Well, it's the Sunday before Easter. 00:00:04.179 --> 00:00:09.040 As John mentioned, this is what we typically call Palm Sunday. This is the day that we remember 00:00:09.040 --> 00:00:15.439 Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And this is the start of what we often call, 00:00:15.620 --> 00:00:20.219 this is the start of what we often call Holy Week, this week leading up to and including 00:00:20.219 --> 00:00:24.500 Jesus' death and resurrection. Again, as John mentioned, we'll have a Good Friday service 00:00:24.500 --> 00:00:28.280 later this week at 6.30, and then next Sunday, of course, our Easter service. 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:35.140 And this time of year, we usually pause from our normal preaching series, and we focus in again 00:00:35.140 --> 00:00:41.100 on these critical and central events in Jesus' life. Every year we pause and we celebrate and 00:00:41.100 --> 00:00:48.560 we meditate directly on Jesus' work because that's what Christianity is all about. Not ultimately what 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:56.920 we do, but what Jesus has done, and not ultimately who we are, but who Jesus is. So Holy Week is a bit 00:00:56.920 --> 00:01:03.440 like a kind of massive spiritual recalibration. You know, we go through the year and we get distracted 00:01:03.440 --> 00:01:08.879 or we get weary or maybe things are going great and we get forgetful, but then Holy Week comes again 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:16.400 and we get to come back to what's ultimately important, the center and the source and the goal 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:22.560 of everything, the person and work of Jesus. So if you're here this morning and you're feeling a bit 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:29.659 off-center or a bit distracted or a bit weary, or maybe you're here and you're spiritually searching 00:01:29.659 --> 00:01:35.560 or you're spiritually hungry, wanting something that's spiritually real for a change, well then, 00:01:36.060 --> 00:01:41.840 you've come on a good Sunday. Maybe this Holy Week will be a turning point for you, 00:01:42.420 --> 00:01:48.140 a spiritual renewal through God's Spirit as we consider the Lord Jesus together. 00:01:48.140 --> 00:01:53.219 Father, now in our services during Holy Week this year, we'll be looking at John's gospel together. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:02:01.120 And today, on this Palm Sunday, we begin in John chapter 12, verse 12. That's page 845 in the Pew 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:06.439 Bible, if you want to turn there. We'll have it on the screens too. John chapter 12, picking up in 00:02:06.439 --> 00:02:18.000 verse 12, page 845. Let me pray and then I'll read for us. Let's pray. Father, we ask for your Spirit to come. 00:02:18.139 --> 00:02:26.979 As we attend to your word together. Like some of the Greek in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we say with them, 00:02:27.779 --> 00:02:34.239 we wish to see Jesus, not just with merely human eyes, but with the eyes of faith. 00:02:35.679 --> 00:02:42.239 Grant that, Father, that we might glorify you in your Son, in whose name we pray. Amen. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:50.060 All right, John 12, picking up in verse 12. The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast, 00:02:50.140 --> 00:02:56.120 that is the feast of Passover, heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm 00:02:56.120 --> 00:03:02.600 trees and went out to meet him, crying out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, 00:03:02.660 --> 00:03:10.040 even the King of Israel. And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 00:03:10.039 --> 00:03:16.199 fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:23.859 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they 00:03:23.859 --> 00:03:29.799 remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. The crowd that had 00:03:29.799 --> 00:03:34.299 been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear 00:03:34.299 --> 00:03:39.699 witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:47.359 So the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you're gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone 00:03:47.359 --> 00:03:55.539 after him. All right, now, you know, perhaps one of the most basic, one of the most basic confessions 00:03:55.539 --> 00:04:03.759 at the heart of Christianity is that Jesus of Nazareth is King. He's the King. Think of how the 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:09.319 Apostles' Creed begins. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ. 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:14.780 Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord. And remember what the word Christ means, right? Christ isn't 00:04:14.780 --> 00:04:20.680 Jesus's last name. It wasn't as if Mary and Joseph Christ had a baby and they called him Jesus, right? 00:04:21.060 --> 00:04:26.199 No, Christ is a title, right? It's Greek for the anointed one, the Hebrew word being the Messiah, 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:32.920 which is to say the long-awaited King. Jesus is Israel's King and the world's true Lord. We might 00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:37.920 put the first, you know, we might put the Apostles' Creed this way. We believe in King Jesus, 00:04:38.740 --> 00:04:44.500 the Father's only begotten Son, our Lord. This is basic. It's a Christian faith. Jesus is King. 00:04:44.840 --> 00:04:50.379 And at the heart of this event that we call the triumphal entry is a proclamation of Jesus's 00:04:50.379 --> 00:04:56.879 kingship. After all, that's what the crowds in John 12 are saying in both deed and in word in verses 12 and 13. 00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:02.659 They go out to greet Jesus waving palm branches, which is why we call this Sunday before Easter 00:05:02.659 --> 00:05:09.180 Palm Sunday. And palm branches had become, by the first century, sort of a symbol of the Jewish nation. 00:05:09.639 --> 00:05:15.719 That's what they're saying. Back in 141 BC, when Simon the Maccabee, he was sort of a Jewish hero, 00:05:16.159 --> 00:05:20.560 drove the Syrian forces out of the Jerusalem citadel. He was praised with music and with the 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:25.819 waving of palm branches. So this becomes sort of a symbol of the Jewish nation, a victory. 00:05:27.220 --> 00:05:31.800 So when the pilgrims in Jerusalem come out waving palm branches, it's a bit like a Fourth of July 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:37.480 parade and everyone's sort of waving a national flag. Except for the Jewish people in the first 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:43.480 century, under Roman occupation, it was even more charged with emotion. They were basically declaring 00:05:43.480 --> 00:05:48.340 their nationalist hope that a messianic liberator was here on the scene. 00:05:48.339 --> 00:05:55.279 The king is here to save us, to set us free. And that's what they're literally saying with their 00:05:55.279 --> 00:06:00.000 words at the end of verse 3, Hosanna, which means save us. And it becomes sort of this expression of 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:05.899 praise. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That comes from Psalm 118.25, a psalm that's 00:06:05.899 --> 00:06:11.500 used often in Jewish worship. And then the crowd adds, as if we were missing the point, the king of Israel. 00:06:11.899 --> 00:06:16.059 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. That is the king of Israel. So they're praising 00:06:16.060 --> 00:06:25.040 Jesus as the Messiah, as the king. And you know, the crowds aren't wrong. 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:34.360 As Christians, we too celebrate the kingship of Jesus. We get excited about it, and we sing about it. 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:42.000 To become a Christian means to take Jesus as your rightful king, to praise him, to trust him, 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:49.019 to obey him. The crowds were not wrong. But they weren't totally right either. 00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:56.300 They didn't fully understand the true nature of Jesus's kingship. 00:06:57.459 --> 00:07:02.680 Look at verses 17 and 18. Some of them had seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. 00:07:03.660 --> 00:07:07.300 Others had heard them tell about it. So on the basis of that miraculous sign, 00:07:07.300 --> 00:07:12.819 they were all ready to herald Jesus as king. But Jesus wasn't necessarily the kind of king that 00:07:12.819 --> 00:07:19.060 they were expecting. They didn't fully understand the nature of Jesus's kingship. And often, you know, 00:07:19.900 --> 00:07:27.220 neither do we. The crowds that day wanted a political, a military king. 00:07:27.220 --> 00:07:35.400 But how about us? What sort of king do you want or expect Jesus to be? 00:07:37.520 --> 00:07:42.840 History is strewn with examples of peoples and nations trying to squeeze Jesus's kingship into 00:07:42.840 --> 00:07:48.400 their own agenda. You know, the social gospel of the 19th century said that Jesus was sort of the king 00:07:48.400 --> 00:07:54.320 of social reform. The prosperity gospel of today tells us that Jesus is…he's the king of material 00:07:54.319 --> 00:08:01.399 blessings. Like the crowds back then, you know, some of us begin to consider Christ because maybe 00:08:01.399 --> 00:08:06.019 we've heard about some of the great things that he's done. Maybe you've seen the changes in your 00:08:06.019 --> 00:08:10.019 friend or your spouse now that they've become Christians. And you're curious, maybe even hopeful, 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:17.819 that he can do something powerful in your life too. And he can indeed. But the kingship of Jesus can't 00:08:17.819 --> 00:08:27.759 be squeezed into our agenda. We have to let him show us what sort of king he is. And thankfully, 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:35.639 he does just that. The rest of our passage shows us just what sort of unexpected king Jesus is. 00:08:36.700 --> 00:08:39.759 And we can look at it in four ways. And this is how we'll spend the rest of our time together 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:47.039 looking at this passage. We see here that Jesus is a humble king, and he's a veiled king. He's a divisive 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:55.799 king, and he's a universal king. Humble, veiled, divisive, and universal. Okay, let's look first at 00:08:55.799 --> 00:09:02.199 Jesus is a humble king. In verses 14 through 15, Jesus responds to the crowds. They're praising him 00:09:02.199 --> 00:09:06.860 as king, and what does he do? He responds by getting a young donkey and riding it into the city. 00:09:08.219 --> 00:09:13.799 And in doing that, he's sort of doing two things at once. First, Jesus is affirming that he is Israel's 00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:19.740 king because Jesus is deliberately, consciously fulfilling the 500-year-old prophecy of Zechariah 00:09:19.740 --> 00:09:22.799 that we read earlier in the service. John quotes it here, 00:09:22.859 --> 00:09:28.039 Behold, your king is coming. And Jesus says, Yes, it's true. I'm here. 00:09:29.459 --> 00:09:35.379 But second, in that same act, he's reframing what sort of king he's come to be. Zechariah spoke of a 00:09:35.379 --> 00:09:39.620 king sitting and riding into Jerusalem, not on a war horse, but on a donkey. 00:09:42.360 --> 00:09:46.279 Just the other day, we were driving around somewhere in Connecticut. I don't even remember 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:49.559 where it was. And we drove by a farm, and they had a donkey there. When's the last time you've 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:56.019 actually seen a donkey? Right? They're sort of, they're cute. They're sort of silly. You know, 00:09:56.039 --> 00:10:00.159 they were kind of work animals in the first century. Not exactly what you expect, like, 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:07.519 your great military leader to come riding in on, right? See, your king comes to you, Zechariah said, 00:10:08.819 --> 00:10:15.100 lowly or humble and riding on a donkey. It's as if Jesus is saying, Yes, I am the king, 00:10:15.299 --> 00:10:21.360 but not the king you've been expecting. You want a military general. You want an insurrection. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:25.319 You want a war horse. But that's not what my kingdom's about. I'm coming on a donkey. 00:10:25.320 --> 00:10:33.460 You see, the nature of Jesus's kingship, the nature of Jesus's authority, the nature of how 00:10:33.460 --> 00:10:40.160 Jesus wields his power is utterly different than the world's way. Jesus doesn't wield his authority 00:10:40.160 --> 00:10:45.020 to dominate, to oppress, to strike down. He's come to serve and make peace. 00:10:45.019 --> 00:10:55.579 So as followers of Jesus, as members of his kingdom, under his kingship, should we not strive to be the 00:10:55.579 --> 00:11:03.679 same? You know, most of us have some sort of authority or influence or power. You know, some of 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:09.340 us have some type of influence in our relationships, in the different spheres of life God has put us in. 00:11:09.340 --> 00:11:17.379 How do you use that influence, that authority? In the workplace, do you use your position among 00:11:17.379 --> 00:11:22.820 your co-workers to simply get ahead and succeed for yourself? Or are you using your influence and 00:11:22.820 --> 00:11:29.540 authority to help others flourish as well? Parents, how do you use the position, the influence, 00:11:29.639 --> 00:11:34.700 the authority you have with your kids? Of course, kids need structure and correction and loving 00:11:34.700 --> 00:11:39.400 discipline. But how do you go about it? Are you gentle or are you harsh? 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:45.360 I get it. There are some times when you just want to ride in on the war horse, 00:11:45.800 --> 00:11:50.820 you know, when your kids are misbehaving or whatever, right? But that isn't the way of Christ. 00:11:53.060 --> 00:12:00.020 How about in the church? Elders, deacons, small group leaders, teachers, leaders of various kinds, 00:12:00.019 --> 00:12:08.939 you too have been entrusted with influence, with authority. How are you using it? To be served or to 00:12:08.939 --> 00:12:18.199 serve? Jesus was a humble king. He had all authority in heaven and on earth, and yet he emptied himself 00:12:18.199 --> 00:12:25.860 and came as a servant to bring peace. The crowds were ready that day for a fight, for an insurrection. 00:12:25.860 --> 00:12:32.159 At the Passover, hundreds of thousands would have been gathered, and Jesus could have whipped up their 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:38.220 frenzy in a second, but he was a completely unexpected kind of king. He was a humble king. 00:12:40.620 --> 00:12:48.259 But we see here that Jesus was also a veiled king. Look again at verse 16. His disciples did not 00:12:48.259 --> 00:12:53.340 understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things 00:12:53.340 --> 00:12:59.720 had been written about him and had been done to him. Now, this isn't the first time in John's gospel 00:12:59.720 --> 00:13:04.220 that the disciples don't fully understand the significance of what Jesus is doing. 00:13:05.040 --> 00:13:08.759 John will make a similar comment when Jesus cleanses the temple. The disciples wouldn't 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:12.960 understand Jesus' words about destroying the temple and raising it up in three days until after 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:17.900 he was raised from the dead. The same thing's happening here. The disciples are watching Jesus ride 00:13:17.900 --> 00:13:22.879 into Jerusalem on a donkey of all things, and they don't get it. You can imagine them kind of looking at 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:28.000 each other, thinking, you know, Jesus, we could have upgraded that donkey for you. This would have 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:32.200 been really easy. You know, I don't think that thing is going to intimidate the Romans. We could go get 00:13:32.200 --> 00:13:40.019 you a horse. We could go get you a sword. What do you need, right? In other words, Jesus, what Jesus is up 00:13:40.019 --> 00:13:48.759 to in this moment is veiled. It's covered. It's misunderstood. The actions of the Messiah, of King Jesus, 00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:54.899 in this world are so often veiled and hard to understand with our natural eyes. 00:13:57.659 --> 00:14:04.000 But what is it that pulls the veil away? When do the scales sort of fall off the disciples' eyes? 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:12.939 When does the penny drop for them? John says, when Jesus was glorified. That is, after Jesus' 00:14:12.940 --> 00:14:21.540 death and resurrection, then it made sense. The donkey makes sense when you realize that Jesus, 00:14:21.700 --> 00:14:27.720 the King, was riding into Jerusalem to fight a greater battle than the crowds and the disciples 00:14:27.720 --> 00:14:36.680 could ever imagine. The Romans were a problem, yes. No doubt about that. But Jesus had come to fight 00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:44.879 the problem under every problem. And the problem under every problem are the dark forces of sin and death. 00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:54.399 And the only way to defeat sin and death once and for all was for the King to lay down his life for his 00:14:54.399 --> 00:15:03.399 subjects. He would humble himself to death on a Roman cross, paying sin's penalty. Three days later, 00:15:03.399 --> 00:15:09.139 he would be raised, conquering death and offering forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who 00:15:09.139 --> 00:15:20.059 believe. The cross makes it clear. Think about your own life. Think about that in your own life. 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:23.819 You know, if you're here and you're kind of even maybe researching different religions or 00:15:23.819 --> 00:15:29.279 you're spiritually searching, you know, you should know, friend, that Christianity does not make sense 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:35.519 apart from the cross of King Jesus. Maybe there are some things about Jesus that you admire. 00:15:35.860 --> 00:15:41.039 You like some of his teachings. You're attracted by the idea of a humble king who's come to serve and 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:48.079 make peace. But you know, you won't really get Jesus apart from the cross. Because if you see Jesus 00:15:48.079 --> 00:15:54.019 just as a good moral teacher, a sort of good example to follow, then you can try to be humble like him. 00:15:54.019 --> 00:15:59.139 You can try to be a peacemaker like him. But so often you will fall short. We all do. 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:06.299 And then what? Well, you might think then that you've sort of tried Christianity and it didn't work. 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:11.039 You've tried the kind of humble servant thing and now you're just ready for something else. 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:16.959 But you see, friend, that would be a Christ without the cross. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:23.839 Jesus didn't come just to tell you what to do or to give you a moral example. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:32.540 He came to do something you could not do in your place, out of love, so you could be reconciled to God. 00:16:34.759 --> 00:16:38.660 Jesus is a veiled king, but the cross makes it clear. 00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:44.800 And this is true for believers as well. You know, sometimes we don't understand what Jesus is up to 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:50.179 in our lives. Sometimes we have a hard time understanding why Jesus in his word commands us 00:16:50.179 --> 00:16:57.039 to live in certain ways. You know, he says crazy things. Forgive your enemies. Practice radical 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:04.379 generosity. Don't sleep with anyone outside of marriage. You know, taken on their own, these commands 00:17:04.380 --> 00:17:14.620 of Jesus, they seem crushing. But the cross makes it clear. Jesus laid down his life to take it up again 00:17:14.620 --> 00:17:22.380 and offer us new life. So as we lay down our lives, we know that the way of the cross 00:17:22.380 --> 00:17:28.760 is the way that leads to the crown. The hardships we face, the battles we endure, 00:17:28.759 --> 00:17:37.500 we do so with a king who carried the cross for us. So that any cross we bear, he bears with us. 00:17:38.539 --> 00:17:44.519 There's a 17th century Scottish pastor named Samuel Rutherford, and I want to read for you what he wrote 00:17:44.519 --> 00:17:52.720 in one of his letters that speaks to this. He says, the weightiest end of the cross of Christ that is laid 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:58.740 upon you lieth upon your strong Savior. Do you see the point? He's saying that there's a 00:17:58.740 --> 00:18:03.279 cross that we bear as believers, but the heaviest part of it is being born by Jesus. 00:18:04.859 --> 00:18:09.440 Rutherford goes on, he says, for Isaiah said that in all your afflictions he is afflicted. 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:15.259 Oh, blessed second Adam who suffers with you, and glad may your soul be even to walk in the fiery 00:18:15.259 --> 00:18:20.380 furnace with one like unto the Son of Man, who is also the Son of God. Courage up your heart. 00:18:21.180 --> 00:18:27.519 When you tire, he will bear both you and your burden. Yet a little while, and you shall see the 00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:34.500 salvation of God. Friends, Jesus often is a veiled king, but yet a little while, and you shall see 00:18:34.500 --> 00:18:41.079 the salvation of God. The third thing we see here is that Jesus isn't just a humble king, 00:18:41.619 --> 00:18:48.079 and he isn't just a veiled king, but he's also a divisive king. We see in the last few verses of 00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:53.779 our text that whereas the crowds and the disciples are praising Jesus, the Pharisees continue to reject 00:18:53.779 --> 00:19:00.420 him. The Pharisees see the crowds, and they're just greatly put out. Now, the Pharisees were sort of, 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:04.960 they were kind of less accommodating to the Roman occupation than the Sadducees. The Sadducees were 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:08.639 the sort of temple elites who cooperated with the Romans, and they've sort of already decided that 00:19:08.639 --> 00:19:12.519 they're going to find a way to kill Jesus. But, you know, the Romans weren't sort of that, 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:16.859 the Pharisees, excuse me, weren't sort of that cooperative with the Romans. You know, they thought the path of 00:19:16.859 --> 00:19:21.960 wisdom was to just sort of endure occupation. But you can see here how they chafe under their 00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:27.279 perception of Jesus's rising popularity. Jesus seems to be going from strength to strength, 00:19:27.420 --> 00:19:31.500 and the political stability becomes more and more fragile, and they say in frustration, 00:19:31.700 --> 00:19:41.579 this is getting us nowhere. Jesus is such a divisive king at times. Some accept, some reject. 00:19:43.319 --> 00:19:48.680 And of course, as the story of the Passion continues, we see that even these crowds don't remain loyal for 00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:55.200 long. When their king chooses the way of the cross, many in these crowds will turn and leave him. 00:19:56.380 --> 00:20:04.840 Even the disciples abandon him. Jesus had come to bring peace, but there's no getting around the 00:20:04.840 --> 00:20:12.120 narrowness of his way. Not everyone will accept him. He will be divisive. 00:20:12.119 --> 00:20:19.899 And that's still true today, isn't it? Some of you have felt this divisive nature of Jesus's kingship, 00:20:20.199 --> 00:20:26.099 maybe in your own families. Some of you maybe have lost friends because of your allegiance to him. I 00:20:26.099 --> 00:20:33.000 know I have. So I think it's good to remember this kind of divisive nature of Jesus's kingship, 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:35.859 so we aren't surprised or taken aback when it happens. 00:20:35.859 --> 00:20:44.379 And you know, the reality is, there is no neutrality when it comes to Jesus. 00:20:46.219 --> 00:20:53.119 We can't simply say, yeah, you know, Jesus is okay. He's okay. No, friends, Jesus claims to be the king. 00:20:53.919 --> 00:20:59.099 The king of your life and mine. We can reject that claim or we can accept it, but at the end of the day, 00:20:59.099 --> 00:21:06.399 there's really no middle way. Each of us must decide. You know, many people reject Christianity 00:21:06.399 --> 00:21:11.359 on the surface because of maybe some of its ethical claims or because it claims to be the only way, 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:17.559 the only true way to know God. Some people will reject it for some of those things, but don't you 00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:25.939 see underneath all of that is really a rejection of Jesus as king. At the end of the day, Jesus is the 00:21:25.940 --> 00:21:34.360 stumbling block. If he is the risen king, then he has the right to our obedience, our love, and our trust. 00:21:35.559 --> 00:21:41.680 But if he isn't the risen king, then who cares what Jesus says about ethics or knowing God or any of those 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:52.220 things? Jesus is the dividing line. Who do you say he is? That's the most important question. 00:21:52.220 --> 00:22:01.640 But Jesus isn't just a divisive king. He is, at the same time, the universal king. 00:22:02.740 --> 00:22:07.120 At the end of our passage, the Pharisees say in disgust, look, the whole world has gone after him. 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:14.519 And this is one of those many moments in John's gospel of deep irony when the characters speak so 00:22:14.519 --> 00:22:22.839 much better than they know. And here, what the Pharisees say in disgust is, friends, a wonderful, 00:22:23.460 --> 00:22:32.220 beautiful gospel truth. This unexpectedly humble, veiled, divisive king is the universal king. 00:22:33.299 --> 00:22:40.500 The whole world indeed has gone after him. What began in Jerusalem spread through Judea, 00:22:40.500 --> 00:22:45.980 into Samaria, and kept growing to the ends of the earth. And now, friends, everywhere, people of nearly 00:22:45.980 --> 00:22:53.559 every culture and nation and language claim Jesus as their king. Why? Because he is who he said he is, 00:22:54.339 --> 00:23:02.740 our loving Lord. His death really did forgive sins. His resurrection really did break death's bars. 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:09.339 In his ascension, he really did pour out his spirit at Pentecost. The gospel of Jesus Christ really is good 00:23:09.339 --> 00:23:19.980 news. And it's good news for everyone who believes. You know, this is what was and still is radical about 00:23:19.980 --> 00:23:28.559 Christianity. It's for all people. It's not just for one culture. It's not just for one race or ethnicity. 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:35.679 It's not just for one class. What Jesus did, he did for all who trust in him. Zacharias saw this all the way 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:42.180 back 500 years before Christ when he said, he will proclaim peace to the nations. It's for all people. 00:23:44.180 --> 00:23:50.080 And today, friends, he proclaims peace to you. So trust in him. 00:23:52.580 --> 00:23:59.820 Jesus is the universal king. And that means as a church, we're going to exalt the cross and exalt the 00:23:59.820 --> 00:24:05.660 kingship of Jesus above and before everything else. And when we lift him up, then he draws all people 00:24:05.660 --> 00:24:11.860 to himself. Around the cross, we're united across race and gender and class because before the cross of 00:24:11.860 --> 00:24:19.540 King Jesus, we're all humbled and we're all exalted. Jesus is a universal king. 00:24:21.240 --> 00:24:25.320 And that means as a church, we're going to pray for our civic leaders because we're commanded to, 00:24:26.040 --> 00:24:31.200 but ultimately our allegiance doesn't belong to any political party or public policy. 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:36.240 Yes, we work for the common good. We believe in common grace, but Jesus is our king. 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:43.279 It's okay and good to love your city or to love your home country, but ultimately Jesus is our king and he 00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:45.799 holds our allegiance before anything else. 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:50.559 Friends, this is our unexpected king. 00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:56.400 Humble, misunderstood, divisive, and yet the universal king of all. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:03.240 And if we follow this unexpected king, then we will surely become a very unexpected people. 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:08.540 We will be humble, and at times we will be misunderstood. 00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:14.880 There are times when we'll be divisive, and yet at the same time we'll be for all people. 00:25:17.060 --> 00:25:18.040 How about you, friend? 00:25:19.080 --> 00:25:24.540 Are you ready to join this unexpected king and become a part of his unexpected kingdom? 00:25:24.539 --> 00:25:27.399 Let's pray together. 00:25:37.420 --> 00:25:44.059 Father in heaven, as we take just a moment of quiet now, having meditated on this passage, 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:52.099 Lord, we pray that you would help us again to set apart Christ the Lord as holy in our hearts. 00:25:52.099 --> 00:26:00.019 Lord, if there are areas where we've been holding back from really giving him lordship in our lives, 00:26:00.099 --> 00:26:09.039 we pray that by your spirit you would come and help us to see how loving and gentle and good Christ is. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:16.419 And that to follow him in obedience surely must be for our good given how much he loves us. 00:26:16.420 --> 00:26:23.519 Lord, I pray for any here who are still considering these claims of Christ. 00:26:24.779 --> 00:26:32.500 Lord, it's a weighty thing we acknowledge to think about handing your life over to you, King Jesus. 00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:38.500 So we pray that by your spirit you would continue to work in the hearts of those who are seeking, 00:26:39.320 --> 00:26:42.140 open their eyes to you, grant them saving faith. 00:26:42.140 --> 00:26:46.080 Be exalted in our midst, King Jesus, we pray. 00:26:46.520 --> 00:26:46.780 Amen.