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[0:00] John chapter 12, verses 12 through 16, if you would please stand with me as we honor the reading of God's word together.

[0:20] 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.

[0:40] And Jesus found a 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.

[1:01] May God add a blessing to the reading of His word. Would you please be seated? So right there, verse 16 to me is the one that really stands out for us this morning.

[1:14] that His disciples did not understand these things that happened at first, but later on, after Jesus had been crucified and He had been dead in the tomb for three days and He came back to life and was glorified and ascended into heaven, they realized the full extent of His ministry.

[1:32] And here we see of what happened this day when He came triumphantly into Israel. I think that in the eyes of Jesus' disciples on this day, when He entered into Jerusalem triumphantly, while people were shouting His praises, they had to feel like they were winning.

[1:54] They had to feel like they were winning. They had to feel, I think, reassured and justified that they were right to have left everything behind to follow Him.

[2:06] This, I think they thought, was the culmination of about three years of strenuous ministry. Jesus was in Jerusalem.

[2:19] The people were ready to crown Him as their King. But in just four days, Jesus would be crowned, but it would be a crown of thorns.

[2:34] Jesus would not ascend to a throne, but He would be nailed and lifted on a cross. He would no longer be hailed.

[2:46] He would be mocked. Many of the people who welcomed Him as their King in this instance would turn on Him just a few short days later and demand His execution by crucifixion.

[3:04] And the disciples, we know, would go into hiding as these things were happening. On the cross, Jesus looked like He had lost.

[3:16] And those who conspired against Him, well, they looked like they had won. And so right now, it can feel to us as Christians as if we're losing.

[3:34] We know that church attendance and baptisms in our denomination and really across the board have been in decline for years. and we've seen new strategies and new visions that have been announced.

[3:49] And as they've been announced, they've been cast with numerical figures attached to Him that for a time garner some excitement and hope for better days in the future.

[4:02] But I think maybe what we need most right now as God's people is to redefine our understanding of achievement and success and no longer seek to define it by our culture's standards but by God's standards.

[4:22] You see, Jesus was not losing on the cross. Jesus was winning. And after being dead for three days, He came back to life.

[4:33] He appeared to His disciples on many different occasions after that just before He ascended back into heaven and He reminded them that He has all authority.

[4:46] That all authority belongs to Him. And He told them, you now, you go and you make disciples. And He promised them that He would send a helper, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity who would assist them and ensure them that what He had asked them to do would happen.

[5:04] The gospel would advance, the kingdom of God would expand and we know that it did. Not because the disciples took some kind of business courses or administration courses and not because they were the cream of the leadership crop but because they were obedient and they were faithful just as Jesus was obedient and faithful to carry out His Father's will.

[5:32] And so today's passage reveals to us that in Jesus we have a true King. A truly sovereign King.

[5:44] And a King who works in ways that while they may be mysterious to us in the present, serve, we know, to accomplish His redemptive purposes. And so these truths should inspire us to be obedient now and encourage our faith.

[6:05] While the scoreboards of our culture measure whether a person is winning or losing based upon what they have and what they have done, a Christian measures their success by a much different scoreboard.

[6:20] Our scoreboard is a blood-stained cross and an empty tomb. in the knowledge we have that Jesus is victorious. Our King lives.

[6:32] Our King reigns forever. And so the crowd on this occasion, we know they failed to see the message that Jesus was sending to them.

[6:45] They failed to recognize the kind of King that Jesus was. They didn't understand that Jesus was a better King than they ever could have imagined.

[6:56] And when He refused to fit into their mold of who they wanted Him to be and what they expected Him to do, they lost faith in Him and they rejected Him ultimately as their King.

[7:12] But you see, we have the benefit of hindsight. We know that Jesus rose from the dead. We know that He will return again as conquering King. We have the benefit through the revelation of God's Word to see what was truly going on here as Jesus rode in triumphantly to Jerusalem on a donkey and all of it tells you and I this, which is the main idea for this morning's sermon, that Jesus is the King worthy of your obedience and faith.

[7:47] Jesus is the King worthy of your obedience and faith. So again, Jesus is returning to Jerusalem where He is greeted with great excitement from the people.

[8:00] They declared Him at this time to be King of Israel and they wanted Him to be their King but only so long as He reigned under their terms.

[8:12] they wanted a King that would lead an insurrection against the Romans and who would overthrow their occupation putting an end to their oppressive taxation and the brute force in which they employed to keep their power over the people.

[8:30] They would be obedient to Him as King and they would trust in His rule so long as He obeyed their will. And you know, many today like that crowd back then do the same.

[8:48] They'll welcome Jesus into their lives so long as He makes this life their best life now. So long as He governs according to their agendas.

[9:03] But when persecution and suffering enter into their life, their profession of faith in Jesus is gone quickly.

[9:14] Much like the parable Jesus told of the soils, they are like the seed that fell on the shallow soil. And when the sun came out it didn't have root and so it burned up it withered and it died.

[9:28] The gospel has not taken root in their life and so they've fallen away. But those who have been truly saved know the true worth of Jesus.

[9:41] They know that they have been saved by His grace for faith in what He has done. They live obediently not so that Jesus will love them but because they know that Jesus has loved them and does love them and has demonstrated that by dying on the cross for their sins.

[10:04] they don't lose faith in Him like this crowd did because they know that Jesus has conquered sin on the cross and He's conquered death by the empty tomb.

[10:17] Perhaps many of us though can act more like the crowd than we dare think. Several days later we know this crowd would completely change their tune wanting to see Jesus executed rather than enthroned.

[10:36] And so I ask you this morning follower of God does your level of obedience and faith in Christ depend upon your present circumstances?

[10:54] You might be of the mind that you know if things are going well for me if I feel like in life I'm winning then God is good. But when things aren't going so well for you and things are happening in your life that you don't quite understand your excitement over Christ and your joy and the salvation that you received in Him and your worship of Him may be lacking.

[11:27] And so in this passage today we are presented with three realities about Jesus. And if you feel like you are losing right now if you feel like we as a church are losing right now I hope that you will see from these realities that no matter what the circumstances are the situation we have reason to hope in Christ always and forever because He is truly worthy of our obedience and our faith.

[12:08] And so the first reality about Him that should encourage our obedience and faith in Him comes from verses 12 through 13 where we're reminded that Jesus is King. Jesus is King.

[12:20] Let's look at verse 13 again. The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem and so we know that at this point in Jesus' ministry He was popular with the people.

[12:35] Why? Well because He'd healed the sick. He'd fed the multitudes. He'd cast out demons. He'd preached with authority. He had raised people from the dead back to life.

[12:47] And so many people were interested in Him. Here was someone they thought who speaks with authority. Here is someone who demonstrates supernatural abilities that we've never seen before.

[12:58] And so in their minds here was someone who is the perfect solution to end the suppression that we are underneath under the Roman Empire.

[13:10] But we also know that not everyone was a fan of Jesus. The Jewish leaders had been plotting for some time to put Him to death.

[13:22] And where we were previously in John chapter 12, we know that their plans have now escalated. They are seeking to put Jesus to death. And not only Jesus, they're also trying to kill Lazarus whom He raised from the dead because they're tired of people having this kind of interest in Jesus.

[13:38] And they're afraid of losing their power and influence to Him. They don't like Him. And He's challenged them. He's spoken the truth to them. He's revealed their hypocrisy. And for that and many other reasons, they want Jesus out of the picture.

[13:53] And so this is now at the point where the Passover is being celebrated. It's at hand. And so many Jews from the surrounding regions of Jerusalem would enter there or come there to celebrate.

[14:09] And we know that this was a large celebration. So Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived a few decades after Christ, he told about the Passover in 80, 64, and 65.

[14:21] And he estimated that somewhere between or around 2.7 million people entered into Jerusalem to celebrate that Passover. So you've got to realize when the Bible says here, when John says that it was a large crowd, it truly was a very large crowd.

[14:38] And when they heard that Jesus was on his way, verse 13 says, they took branches of palm trees and they went out to meet him crying out Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel.

[14:58] So imagine you're one of the twelve disciples on this day. No doubt that you would have been thrilled to see this kind of response from this crowd to your master.

[15:15] They are celebrating his arrival. And man, it is exciting to be a part of a crowd where there is a buzz of excitement, isn't it? I remember in college going to Royals games in Kansas City, and the Royals are not good.

[15:32] They were good for a small period of time, but when I was in college they were one of the worst teams in baseball. And so me and my buddies, we knew that we could go to a Royals game, and we would only have to pay like five bucks, we'd sit in the cheap seats, and then we'd move down to the nice seats, because nobody was there.

[15:50] Nobody was going to pay that much money to watch such a bad team. But this one year, and I can't remember the year specifically, but it was in the early 2000s, and somehow miraculously the Royals had won their first two games of the year.

[16:04] And this was a Friday night, and me and my friends were willing to spend just a little bit more money this time to go and watch them play. And they were losing throughout all of it, and we got into the bottom of the ninth, and the Royals came back, and they won the game with a walk-off home run.

[16:22] And we went crazy. And so me and my friends were walking out after the game to our cars with thousands of other Royals fans, and we started chanting.

[16:36] There's 162 games in a baseball season, and no one's ever come close to being undefeated, but we started chanting, 1-62-0, 1-62-0. And before you knew it, people around us started doing it, and then people around them were starting to do it, and we had thousands of people on their way out to their cars chanting 1-62-0, 1-62-0.

[16:58] Now that wasn't going to happen, but it was exciting to think of the moment, and it was exciting to be in a crowd that was so thrilled about something that was happening.

[17:13] And so, no doubt that his disciples were encouraged by this. As Jesus was preparing to enter into Jerusalem, there was a buzz in that city.

[17:25] There was a buzz amongst that crowd, and they had gathered together and they brought palm branches to greet him. To these people, the palm branch had become a symbol of victory over tyranny.

[17:42] During the time between the completion of the Old Testament and the events that took place in the New Testament with the incarnation of Jesus Christ, Jerusalem had been conquered by Antiochus IV, Epiphanes, who was ruler of the Seleucid Empire.

[17:59] And what Antiochus had done is, after capturing Jerusalem, he had set up a statue of Zeus in the temple and he sacrificed a pig on the altar, which was an act that greatly enraged the Jewish people, and understandably so.

[18:17] It so enraged a man named Judas Maccabeus that he led a revolt against them using guerrilla warfare techniques. Eventually, he kicked them out of the temple and then later his brother Simon completed the overthrow of the Seleucid Empire.

[18:34] And when that happened, the people cut palm branches and they had a celebration and they were singing songs and they were waving these branches as a sign of victory over tyranny.

[18:48] Now, in our culture, what kind of symbols do we use to do the same? Well, fireworks came to mind for me, right? On the 4th of July, as we celebrate our Independence Day, we blow things up.

[19:00] And that's a reminder to us of our victory over tyranny and how we won our independence. But palm branches to the Jews carried the same kind of symbolism.

[19:11] It was a sign of victory. A palm branch in the hand of a Jew was a sign that we are winning. We are winning right now. And so as they waved the palm branches, they shouted, Hosanna.

[19:27] Why were they shouting Hosanna? Well, Hosanna is derived from a Hebrew word that literally means save now. Both that plea and what else they said, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, are found in the Hallel, which is a series of psalms that were sung by the Jews at the Feast of Tabernacles.

[19:48] Songs that they were very familiar with. They start in Psalm 113 and they go through Psalm 118 where we find these words in Psalm 18 verses 19 through 24.

[19:59] Open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.

[20:13] The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[20:24] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we pray, O Lord. O Lord, we pray, give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

[20:34] We bless you from the house of the Lord. And so the crowd knew this scripture and they knew that this scripture referred to the Messiah. And so they, in that moment, celebrated Jesus as the one whom they understood that passage to be referring to.

[20:53] And so they declared him as king. However, again, we know that tragically they would turn on him.

[21:07] Because, again, Jesus was not a king who would rule by seeking to achieve their personal agendas. But, again, Jesus is a much better king than they realized.

[21:23] Jesus is a king who serves. Jesus is a king who sacrifices his own life to save his people.

[21:36] Jesus is a king who cannot be corrupted. Jesus is a king who judges impartially. Jesus is a king whose power is completely and totally unmatched.

[21:48] Jesus is a king whose grace is unmerited. Jesus is a great king. Is he your king? Does he reign in your heart? Does he rule in your life?

[22:02] Are you a citizen of his kingdom chiefly and primarily? Matthew and Mark record that when Jesus began his public ministry, he did so by saying this in Matthew 3, 2.

[22:15] Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew 4, 17. From that time, Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[22:29] In Mark 1, 15, it says there, and saying, Jesus said, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.

[22:41] What is Jesus saying? My kingdom is presently at hand. And so he must rule in the hearts of his people right now.

[22:53] And in that sense, his kingdom right now is vast because there are Christians, there are citizens of heaven all throughout the world. in another sense, his kingdom will be a more literal one taking place in the future when he returns.

[23:13] In either case, we know that one day every knee will bow to King Jesus. And you will bow your knee. And you will do so either in humble adoration, in thanksgiving, at the return of your king, or you will do so in begrudging admission that he is the king whom you have rejected.

[23:39] The people this day misunderstood the kind of king that Jesus was. They wanted to root for a winner.

[23:51] And in their minds, that would be someone who would make their lives better by leading a revolt against the Romans. But Jesus is a far greater king than they knew or imagined, with far greater victories in mind than they were aware of.

[24:10] Jesus has overcome our greatest enemies, sin, Satan, and death. And he did so by taking the form of a suffering servant in his first incarnation.

[24:25] And listen, there are leaders in our world that will tell you all kinds of things in order to get your vote. But mark my words, Joe Biden and Donald Trump will never die for you.

[24:38] But Jesus has died for you. He has borne your guilt. He has borne your shame. He has suffered the penalty for your sins in his own flesh.

[24:53] And he's vanquished your greatest foes. In Christ there is life, there is citizenship and an eternal kingdom that has been purchased for you by the sacred and spotless lamb of God.

[25:11] And so how should you respond to such a king? How should you respond to such a king who so willingly gave of his own self to die and suffer for you? At the very least, see him as worthy.

[25:26] See him as worthy of your obedience and worthy of your faith. You might feel like you are losing, but there is victory in Jesus that begins now and knows no end.

[25:42] And listen, whatever loss you suffer in this life for him, it will be well worth it in the next, his word says. He's promised us. So let's not be like this crowd.

[25:57] Let's not base our obedience and faith upon whatever material blessing you think a relationship with Christ might bring to you in this life.

[26:09] Base it upon the cross. Base it upon the empty tomb. Base it upon the completed work of your king who rescued you from the eternal consequences of your sin.

[26:23] And so we should never stop praising Jesus for that. Because we know the kind of king that he is. And he is a king who saves. The second reality that should motivate our obedience and faithfulness in Christ is that Jesus fulfills prophecy.

[26:41] Jesus is king and he's a king who fulfills prophecy. He is the one whom God promised and he is the one who fulfills promises.

[26:54] Look again at verses 14 and 15. And Jesus found a 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.

[27:09] Now this was a strange scene. Typically we know from history kings don't ride on donkeys. They ride to their ascension to the throne on some kind of a royal steed or in some kind of immaculate carriage that is pulled by magnificent horses.

[27:31] And we know that conquering kings when they would return to their capital they would ride in on mighty war horses. Even today we see heads of state entering into the capital or to wherever they're going to speak in limousines or maybe sometimes even in a tank symbolizing their wealth and their worth and their power and their strength.

[27:55] But Jesus does not do that here. Luke's gospel reveals that Jesus gave explicit instructions to his disciples about where they would find a donkey for him that had never been ridden before.

[28:07] And in so doing Jesus was sending a message to all who were there that he is the promised Messiah whom these scriptures had foretold.

[28:21] In Zechariah 9.9 it says there rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion shout aloud O daughter of Jerusalem behold your king is coming to you righteous and having salvation is he humble and mounted on a donkey on a colt the fowl of a donkey and so we know that Jesus deliberately planned to present himself right here to the nation of Israel to reveal to them that he is in fact the Messiah that God has long promised to them.

[28:54] Jesus was fully aware of the prophecies in scripture that concerned him. The reality is that all of scripture is about him but these prophecies should have made it clear to them to know on that day this Jesus of Nazareth is the one whom all of our scriptures are referring to.

[29:18] Peter Stoner was chairman of the mathematics and astronomy department at Pasadena City College until 1953 when he wrote a book called Science Speaks Scientific Proof of the Accuracy of Prophecy in the Bible.

[29:35] And in that book Stoner shows how Jesus fulfilled 108 prophecies in scripture and he calculated the odds of Jesus only fulfilling 48 so less than half of those 108 miracles.

[29:52] If Jesus only fulfilled 48 what are the odds of that happen? And by his calculations he said the odds are 1 to the 1 in 10 to the 157th power.

[30:06] That's 157 zeros. Okay? 1 million is a lot, right? That's 1 with 6 zeros behind it. A 1 in a million chance is not a very good chance, is it?

[30:21] So all of this to say Peter Stoner concluded is that the fact that Jesus fulfilled all of these prophecies is outside of the realm of possibility if he fulfilled them by accident.

[30:39] The reality that Jesus fulfilled so many prophecies then should give us motivation to live obedient and faithful lives, shouldn't it?

[30:50] Because we have this proof here and throughout God's word that he is in control. Everything that happens we see happens on a divine timetable.

[31:05] Jesus' coming and dying and rising again were predicted and they were planned from eternity past. And the demonstrations of what Christ has done in fulfilling past prophecies should give us confidence confidence in our lives presently to live obediently and faithfully to him.

[31:30] Because we know that there are scriptures that contain prophecies that have yet to have been realized. And those prophecies speak of the second coming of King Jesus.

[31:42] And they speak of our certain destiny in being citizens of his kingdom. And when I was thinking about that an old song came to my mind that we used to sing in church when I was growing up.

[32:00] All hail King Jesus. Did you guys ever sing that song? All hail King Jesus. All hail Emmanuel, God with us, King of kings, Lord of lords, bright morning star, and throughout eternity I'll sing your praises and I'll reign with you throughout eternity.

[32:18] We need to sing songs too and we do a great job of singing songs but sing songs that also direct our attention to the future that is certain now to come.

[32:29] We are going to reign with Jesus throughout eternity. And so he rode that day into Jerusalem not on a war horse, not on some immaculate stallion but on a donkey, a beast of burden and that's interesting because we know that on the cross, what did Jesus do?

[32:57] He humbled himself and he bore our sins. We have a humble king, a good king, a gracious king, but listen, one day Jesus is going to come back and he will not be riding on a donkey.

[33:19] Revelations 19, 11 through 16, then I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. The one sitting on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

[33:40] His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name by which he is called is the word of God.

[34:03] And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron.

[34:21] He will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

[34:36] You see the Bible tells us that we are currently living in the last days and that our King's return is imminent.

[34:47] We won't know the day but we know that it will be imminent. And Jesus when his disciples asked him what are the signs what are the things that we can look for? Remember he said wars and rumors of wars and famines and earthquakes and all these different kinds of things and these are just the birth pains.

[35:02] And as I was preparing this sermon I think as I was actually writing the sermon I took a break just to look at what was going on in the news. And it was news about what's happening in Afghanistan and how the Taliban is moving towards Kabul.

[35:15] And also the next story was of the earthquake that took place in Haiti that killed 29 people. There it is before us every day. Wars, earthquakes, famines, people who are not at peace and all these things that the Lord told us to be aware of as signs that indicate that we are in the last days in his return is imminent.

[35:39] We see them every day. And so you have to understand that a day is coming when the time to place your faith in Christ for salvation and your sins will be over.

[35:55] And the King of Kings will come in judgment. You know, our culture, it's interesting, it's obsessed with how the world will end, isn't it?

[36:11] Every year there's movies or books or prophecies that talk about how the world is going to end and we hear and then we've seen movies and we've read stories or read articles about how people have said the world is going to end because of nuclear war and man, we've got some crazy people behind those buttons, don't we?

[36:31] People talk about climate catastrophe and they believe that's how the world is going to come to an end. Even alien invasion is one that many people honestly believe is how this world will come to an end.

[36:45] But the Bible tells us how the world will meet its end before the King of Kings brings forth a new heaven and a new earth.

[36:56] Revelation chapter 20 verses 11 through 15. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it from his presence. Earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them.

[37:11] And I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were opened. Then another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done and the sea gave up the dead who were in it.

[37:30] death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them and they were judged each one of them according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

[37:41] This is the second death the lake of fire and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire.

[37:52] The crowd misunderstood why Jesus came the first time. They misinterpreted the scriptures that they had and had been taught for years.

[38:09] They did not see how Jesus was fulfilling them in their time and in their day. And so may the same not be said of us today.

[38:25] Let's not misinterpret God's word. Let's not waste our lives seeking the accumulation of material possessions that will one day perish. Let's not live our lives obedient to the whims of whatever is trending in popular culture.

[38:46] Let's not put our faith in men to save us from things that only Jesus can. The prophecies that Jesus has fulfilled should inspire us right now to live our lives for him faithfully and obediently because we know again that he has borne our sins on the cross himself and that by putting our faith in him he's taken our sins from us and has separated them from us as far as the east is from the west and he has clothed us with his righteousness we all fall short none of us measures up to God's perfect standards so Jesus came and he measured up fully man fully God totally sinless he lived the life of a perfect obedience that God's law required that none of us is capable of living and then he died on the cross obediently where there he endured

[39:59] God's wrath for the sins that we've committed against him and he was dead for three days and on the third day he arose from the grave as proof that he is all that he said that he was as proof that those prophecies were truly about him and as proof that these unrealized prophecies are going to be fulfilled because Jesus has come because Jesus has lived he has died and he has risen again and he is coming back man that should inspire obedience and faith we can feel like we're losing in life we can feel like we're a loser in life but all you have to do is open your Bible and read it and see that our king wins your king has won the battle for you man I love it I feel like you know when the Chiefs won the Super Bowl that I won that game with them right I just watched him play and it's the same thing with Jesus

[41:00] I'm watching you do what you do and I'm going to see you do what you'll do in the end and I just get there to be there enjoying in the victory but guess what the Chiefs didn't mail me a Super Bowl ring but I know but I get to enjoy Christ's victories personally and he has clothed me in that righteousness and I'll be in that white robe and I'll be given that crown and I'll be given that dwelling place to be with him forever and ever and ever and ever he is worthy of our faith and our obedience the third reality we get here that should inspire our obedience and faithfulness in Jesus is that Jesus is mysterious which brings us to verse 16 Jesus is king Jesus is faithful to fulfill prophecies but he's also mysterious look again at verse 16 his disciples did not understand these things at first but later when Jesus was glorified they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him so again in the moment here in

[42:14] John 12 verses 12 through 16 the disciples thought that Jesus was winning but then he died and it looked to them like Jesus had lost but then three days later everything changed and they witnessed Jesus' resurrection and then later his ascension and they realized that this whole time Jesus has been totally in control that this whole time though they might have thought that they were losing reality was that Jesus was always winning and their obedience and their faith in him having seen his resurrection and having seen his ascension increased greatly as these regular common ordinary men went out from there and turned the world upside down as they shared the good news of Jesus Christ which he had commissioned them to do and as they advanced his kingdom through the preaching of his word what was once a mystery to them was now crystal clear the manner of the coming of the kingdom of Jesus which the Jews and disciples expected required radical modification in the light of who they then later perceived

[43:40] Jesus to be after he came back to life from the grave now listen Jesus is victorious there is victory in Jesus he has conquered your greatest enemies and there is life eternal for those who put their faith in him in what he has done but don't forget that Jesus said that those who follow him will suffer in this life there is the suffering that comes with self denial isn't there there's the suffering that comes with realizing that I'm not number one in my life Jesus is there's suffering that goes from being self-centered to Christ centered there is also suffering that comes from those who hate God they hate his gospel and they despise those who preach it and who follow him and there's also suffering that just comes from living in a world that is cursed and that is broken by sin but we have a promise that though we don't understand at times why things are happening the way that they are to us or to those around us and I know that

[45:11] I've been there and I guarantee that you've been there too Lord I do not understand why yet still you have great reason to trust in your great king when things don't make sense to me the best thing for me to do is to immerse myself in God's word and to be comforted by it to be reminded that Jesus has come God's love for me isn't based on who I am or the good works that I must do it's all based upon grace and the faith that he has given me to be saved through Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior so the more you are in his word the more you will be comforted by his word because you will see these promises and you'll remember that for you follower of

[46:12] God follower of Christ the best is always yet to come and even in those when those mysterious things don't make sense to you now now you might be in that case before where I've been where in the moment it did not make sense later it did but there might be some things and I think there are some things that you just throughout your entire life your earthly life you don't understand why but there is a promise that you have from your king that even though you may not understand it now one day you will Revelation 21 verse 4 when all these things have been said and done when our conquering king has come back and he is with his people eternally in the new heaven and the new earth which he has prepared for them it says that he will wipe away every tear from their eyes

[47:21] I think all those things Lord I don't understand why that happened it didn't make sense and you might say it doesn't make sense to me right now and I love this promise that we have from our Lord that one day it will he will wipe away every tear from your eye and not only that death will be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away and they passed away forever so you have reason to be obedient and faithful to your king of kings right now because he is king because he fulfills prophecy and because even though he works in mysterious ways he reveals all things to his people and that one day will come and whatever you suffer for Christ in this life it will be well worth it in the end when we come to the end of this age and we are with

[48:41] Jesus and there will be no more death and there will be no more pain and there will be no more mourning and there will be no more crying it will be rejoicing it will be joy it will be the way that we want it to be right now but sin prevents it from being that way and so we should sing all hail king Jesus and if you don't know him as your king today today the bible says is the day of salvation god doesn't accept you based upon how good you are how many great things you've done you fail to measure up all of us have sinned all of us fall short of the glory of god that's why it was essential that if god was going to save us that jesus his son had to come and he came and as i've said he lived obediently perfectly he died as a sacrifice for your sins not to set an example he literally was crushed for your sins by god's wrath on the cross and for three days he was dead and on the third day he rose again as god's amen and as proof that he is king of kings lord of lords our one and only hope our savior our only chance for eternal life and he's calling you today if you don't know him already come to him put your faith in him become a member of his kingdom and you'll never regret it and you'll have an abundant life that begins now and lasts forever because you will have peace with god three questions of application that we'll cover tonight and i encourage you to take some time and think about them today and even this week discuss them with one another with your families your friends the first is that the crowd wanted jesus to be their king for the wrong reasons and so think about does your obedience the level of your obedience the level of your faith and allegiance to christ depend upon your present circumstances let's take inventory of your life is is your faithfulness and obedience to christ determine on how well you think things are going for you if you think you're winning the second question how should jesus's fulfillment of prophecy encourage you to live obediently and faithfully to him in the present look jesus has fulfilled prophecy and the fact that he's fulfilled prophecies that spoke about his first coming gives us more than enough reason to believe that these other prophecies have already been have already been fulfilled just yet to be realized but knowing that that's the case how should we live presently as obedient and faithful followers of him in this world and then question number three god works in mysterious ways read isaiah 55 8 through 9 and then my question is what other scriptures encourage you to be obedient and faithful to christ when you struggle to understand what god is presently doing and we'll talk about these things tonight and i encourage you to come i'm gonna pray but hey the altars are open if you want to come forward and pray for whatever reason if you would like to come talk to me or have me pray for you i'll be right here and i'd be glad to do that let's pray right now heavenly father you are lord of all jesus christ you are the king of kings you are the one whom will return and on that day every knee will bow to you god i pray that for every person in this room and for every person who may be watching and following this sermon online that they would be those who when you come would bow their knee and humble adoration to you and thanksgiving that alas our king is back lord

[52:42] you've told us and you've showed us and you've demonstrated to us that you are a king who fulfills prophecy though you work in mysterious ways we have more than enough reason to believe lord that even though we may not understand what is going on you have a plan and you have a purpose and that should inspire faith and obedience in us right now and lord there are so many things that are happening right now that we do not understand but god may those things that we don't understand in the moment cause us to lose our obedience or our faithfulness to you instead lord may we be encouraged by your word today to live our lives in ways that demonstrate to the world around us that you are greater than anything this world has to offer that you are king of kings that you are lord of lords that you are the one in whom there is life that begins now and stretches into eternity lord may you be praised and glorified in our lives and may you be exalted every day in which you've given us to live we ask these things heavenly father in jesus name amen

[53:52] Thank you.