Desiring a King (John 12:12-19)

And we're going to be in the book of John, chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

And we're going to be reading verses 12 through 19 this morning.

And this is a very familiar passage.

It's the triumphal entry of Jesus.

We usually talk about this story on Palm Sunday, the week before Easter, but we're a long way from Easter right now.

So I kind of wanted to take a little bit of a different approach on this passage here this morning, kind of looking more at it from a prophetic lens and from a historical lens as well.

Just kind of looking at some of the things that maybe we don't get into the week before Easter.

So we're going to be looking at a lot of cross-references.

We're going to be looking at a lot of history.

We're going to be going backwards to the Old Testament and forward to Revelation as well.

So just a preparation to be turning in your Bibles and thinking about a lot of different verses here this morning.

But I'm excited for it.

I think it's going to be great.

So John chapter 12, we're going to read verses 12 through 19.

John 12 · chapter mention

So could you please stand for the reading of God's Word if you're able?

Starting in verse 12.

The next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet him.

They kept shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, Do not be afraid, daughter Zion.

Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.

His disciples did not understand these things at first.

However, when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him, and that they had done they had done these things to him.

Meanwhile, the crowd which had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify.

This is also why the crowd met him, because they heard he had done this sign.

Then the Pharisees said to one another, You see, you've accomplished nothing.

Look, the world has gone after him.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you so much for this familiar passage.

Lord, I pray that we wouldn't just glaze over it because we've heard it so many times, but that you would have your perfect will and way in our hearts through these verses here this morning.

Lord, I pray that you would be the one speaking here and I would step out of the way.

And that your spirit would do the teaching inside of us, Lord, that you would convict us, that you would encourage us, that you would provide all that you uh want to accomplish in our hearts here through the Holy Spirit in our own lives.

So would you do the carving and the molding and the shaping and help us to be very moldable clay in your hands here this morning as we are shaped by your word to become more and more like Jesus, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.

You may be seated.

So last week, when we're in the first part of chapter 12, we ended with a crowd coming to Bethany because they heard that Jesus was there.

And they had heard that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

This is kind of the talk of the town that's going on here.

And we learn that the chief priests not only want to kill Jesus, but now they want to kill Lazarus as well.

They want to kill the proof, the evidence of Jesus' power.

And the witnesses have this testimony that they're spreading around, and people, just through their witness, through this story of Lazarus, are now being converted to followers of Jesus.

And the religious leaders were losing a lot of their own followers that once followed them to Jesus.

Their position and their authority was dwindling because of this man that raised Lazarus from the dead.

And that led to murder.

Not only in their hearts, but planning to physically kill Jesus and Lazarus now.

Now, that's where we're coming in here in verse 12.

But timeline-wise, as we're looking at this, the beginning of chapter 12 starts with six days before Passover.

And this takes place, it says in verse 12, on the next day.

So we're five days before Passover, which places this on a Sunday, on Palm Sunday.

So all of that means, totally we're going to get a little technical here this morning, is this is the 10th of Nisan.

So that Nisan is the first month of the Jewish calendar.

This was the day that on the 10th that all Israel began bringing their Passover lambs into Jerusalem to be inspected.

They had to be spotless and without blemish or defect.

They had to be male and they had to be about a year old.

This was all according to God's command to Israel.

And they would bring them up to the temple for inspection.

Basically asking, is this lamb, does it qualify to be a Passover lamb?

And that started on this day, this Palm Sunday, when the Lamb of God comes riding into Jerusalem, is on that day where Israel would bring their sheep for inspection.

And they bring them to the temple to be inspected.

But we see that Jesus, in a way, is also brought to the temple to be inspected as well.

We're going to see him go through all of this questioning.

We're going to see him go through his trial.

And we're going to see that even though he's perfect and he passes all of the inspection, they still murder him on the cross.

Now, the triumphal entry marks the beginning of what's often called holy week or Passion Week, we call it.

And in John, this event is described in just past the middle of the gospel, if you notice.

So everything from chapter 12 until the middle of chapter 20 happens in one week's time.

And the majority of it is Jesus giving instruction to his disciples.

So if you have red letters in your Bible, we're about to see a lot of red letters coming up.

The words of Jesus being spoken specifically to his disciples.

Which we're going to talk about a little bit more next week when that instruction of Jesus begins.

Okay.

Sorry.

Just a little technical difficulty.

This is all the people listening on Zoom right now, so hopefully they can still hear us.

But we're going to be talking much more about that next week and just seeing all of this happening in the chapters to come.

Now, the last thing before we jump in here, this is one of the few events that we see that's listed in all four of the gospel accounts.

You know, and that should really tell us how important it is, how impactful it was to the disciples and the people that wrote the gospels, but how important it was for the Holy Spirit to inspire them, to put it in all four of the Gospels.

So you can't read through a Gospel account without coming across this triumphal entry.

And we're also going to be using some things to fill in some details from some of the other Gospels outside of John.

So before we jump into verse 12 here, I want to keep, I want you to keep one finger right here in the book of John.

But I want you to turn to Revelation 19.

Last book of the Bible, towards the end of that book, Revelation 19.

Because we're going to be looking at two verses in Revelation today that I think our verses here in John are foreshadowing.

They're a precursor to these verses in Revelation that we're going to take a look at.

And so it's going to be Revelation 19 starting in verse 11.

So we're going to really be comparing and contrasting the triumphal entry that we see in John with Jesus' second coming, prophesied about in Revelation 19.

And we'll start here.

Revelation 19, verse, starting in verse 11, and we'll go through 16.

It says, Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse, not a donkey.

This time it's a white horse.

Its rider is called faithful and true.

And with justice he judges and makes war.

And John, that's regarding sin.

Verse 12.

His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head.

That sounds like a king, doesn't it?

He had a name written that no one knows except himself.

He wore a robe dipped in blood.

Remember that for later.

We're going to talk about that.

And his name is called the Word of God.

If you remember how John started, in the beginning was the Word.

The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Now look at verse 14.

The armies that were in heaven followed him on white horses, wearing pure white linen.

And John, there's no army behind him.

It's just Jesus on this donkey.

Verse 15 A sharp sword came from his mouth so that he might strike the nations with it.

Jesus doesn't have a weapon in John, does he?

He will rule them with an iron rod.

He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty.

Jesus satisfied the wrath of God, we see in Romans 5, 9, verse 16.

And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Lords.

And John just says King of Israel, but here it's King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

You can turn back to John now if you want, but I wanted to read this because we'll see as we go through John today that this is what the majority of the crowd in John 12 is hoping for.

The second coming that we see in Revelation.

They want this conquering hero that's leading an army, that's coming with weapons to destroy the Roman occupation that's in Israel at this time.

But today, they're going to get the lamb that's being led to slaughter.

Which will help explain a lot about this passage of what their expectations are compared to what they're actually going to get in Jesus.

So back to John 12, 12, and we're going to start just going through this verse by verse.

So look at verse 12 again with me.

The next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

So the Passover festival is one of the pilgrimage festivals.

So huge crowds of people would come into Jerusalem for this.

Every able-bodied man was supposed to come, and usually most of their family that could come with them would come with them.

So just think about, one, the amount of people, but two, think about the amount of sheep.

If each family was to bring a Passover lamb with them.

All around, with all of these encampments outside on both sides of the road, filled with these sheep that each one of these families had brought for their own inspection and for their own Passover lamb.

History points to over 200,000 Passover lambs being sacrificed in Jerusalem for one single Passover.

Think about the amount of sheep that that is in Jerusalem.

But the Passover lamb is coming, and he's surrounded by all of these other 200,000 plus lambs on all sides.

And you can imagine the sound.

If you've ever been to the fair at feeding time or something like that, you know, the sound that happens within those uh within those barns, it's probably bleeding and just all of these sheep, just all the way around as Jesus is making his entrance into Jerusalem.

So paint that picture.

Everyone's there, there's all these sheep.

Up to this point, Jesus had been dominating the headlines in Israel, especially with the sign of raising Lazarus from the dead.

You know, I'm sure as everybody's coming to Jerusalem, making their pilgrimage to Jerusalem, everybody on the road's probably talking about, you know, do you think Jesus is gonna come?

Do you think he's actually gonna show his face in Jerusalem?

Do you think the religious leaders are actually gonna kill him if he shows up?

But more importantly, do you think he's the Messiah?

I don't think he's the Messiah.

Well, I think he's the Messiah.

You know, all these conversations are probably happening as all these people are making their way into Jerusalem.

All while the news of Lazarus is spreading around, everybody's heard about it, that this guy's been raised from the dead.

So just think about the excitement.

Even if they didn't think Jesus was the Messiah, you know, who doesn't like a juicy headline, right?

Of just like the gossip of what's going on at the time.

And they probably all want just an opportunity to see these, to see him.

You know, so many, you know, a lot have seen him, but so many maybe have never seen him before.

Like, I want to see this guy.

I want to be able to go home and tell stories about what I saw this guy doing.

So all these people that are in Jerusalem are part of this buzz, they're part of this news cycle, they hear that Jesus is heading into Jerusalem from Bethany, which is only about two miles away.

You know, if that was you, what would you do?

If you were in Jerusalem and you hear that this miracle man's coming in, I think everybody's just like, let's go, let's go see what's gonna happen next.

Regardless of whether he's the Messiah or not, let's just go see what happens next.

So, verse 13, it says, They took palm branches and they went out to meet him.

So, let's do a little history and prophecy here on palm branches.

So in Leviticus 23, it talks about using palm branches for the feast of booze or the feast of tabernacles, you may have heard it called.

And throughout the Old Testament, the palm tree is revered as a majestic plant, a majestic tree.

They even used it and carved decorations within the walls of the temple just for adornment.

There was carvings of these palm trees.

But in Revelation 7, verses 9 through 10, and here's our other verse in Revelation that I was telling you about, we see a very similar scene of what our verses here in John are foreshadowing.

Revelation 7:9–10

And we'll put it up behind me for you.

It says, After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude.

That sounds familiar, doesn't it?

From every nation, tribe, people, and language, which nobody could number.

So the crowd here is much bigger, it's much more diverse than what we're seeing in John.

Standing before the throne and before the Lamb, they were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.

And they cried out in a loud voice, that should sound familiar, salvation belongs to our God.

So they're not shouting, save now, but it already belongs to the Lord, who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb.

So no longer seated on a humble donkey, but at the right hand of the Father in glory.

Now, extra-biblical history tells us that palm branches were also a national symbol of Israel, dating back to the Maccabees, if you know anything about the Maccabees.

They associated palm branches in Israel with rebellion against occupation specifically.

So with the Maccabees, it was against the Seleucid rule that led to the Maccabean revolt.

But later against the Romans, the Jewish rebels minted coins that had palm branches on the coins.

And that whole rebellion is what led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

But the rebels had printed their own currency with palm branches on it.

So there's history as well behind the palm branches and relating to Israel rebelling against occupation.

And then we see in other gospel accounts that it tells us that they also laid down coats or their outer garments.

With these palm branches, they laid them down for the donkey that Jesus was on to uh to walk on.

Think of for us here today, like a modern day red carpet being rolled out for royalty.

That's what they're doing here.

You know, we see something similar in 2 Kings 9.13 when Jehu is recognized as king in Israel by his men.

It says, Each man quickly took his garment and put it under Jehu on the bear steps.

They blew the trumpet and proclaimed Jehu is king.

So it's what they did for a new king.

So now they're doing that for Jesus.

So hopefully that helps us understand what this crowd is doing.

They come out to meet their king with a red carpet and with symbols of majesty and revolt, is what they're coming out to meet Jesus with.

Many of them wanted a physical king to set up a physical kingdom in Israel.

Not a lamb that would be slain.

They weren't looking for a king of their heart.

They were looking for a king in Israel to destroy their enemies.

And how do we know this?

Well, how many of this crowd followed Jesus from the triumphal entry all the way to the cross?

Probably a very small number that we see.

Instead, how many only in a few days are going to be shouting, crucify him?

Crucify him.

You know, we learn from Luke's account in chapter 19, verse 41, it says, As he approached on this triumphal entry, as he approached and saw the city, as he saw Jerusalem, he wept for it, saying, If you knew this day, what would bring peace?

But now it is hidden from your eyes.

And he goes on in Luke and prophesies about the destruction of Jerusalem that was going to happen in 70 AD at the hand of the Roman Empires.

Meaning true peace would never be accomplished by the earthly king that these people so desired.

But he, the Messiah, the heavenly king, would bring them peace with God.

That's why he said, if you knew this day, what would bring peace?

Jesus was much more concerned with the peace of God than with the civil peace within Jerusalem.

You know, these people, a lot of them at least, they didn't know what was best for them.

You know, the question for us today is, you know, what's more important?

Peace in an earthly kingdom or peace with God in his eternal kingdom?

You know, our life here is short.

A vapor, scripture says.

We're all vapors here.

Not like this kind, but like the, you know, I always think of like the aerosol can, you know, you spray it and there's a vapor, you know, and then it just disappears.

In God's eyes, that's what our life is.

In the timeline of eternity, that's what our life is.

It's just here for one second and it's gone the next.

I see a bunch of you smiling.

You can tell people you go to church with a bunch of vapors.

That's it.

And then explain to them what that means, okay, please.

There is a reason, though, that Jesus talked about God's kingdom more than any other subject.

Because it's eternal.

And the kingdom that we live in right now is not eternal.

So which one should we live for?

This vapor or the ocean of love and God's faithfulness that is awaiting for us in eternity.

We should live for peace with God in his eternal kingdom.

In this very temporary kingdom that we live in right now.

You know, this very week, this holy week that we're seeing here, Jesus is gonna say in chapter 14, telling his disciples, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.

I do not give to you as the world gives.

Don't let your heart be troubled or fearful.

You know, the peace that he lives, or the peace that he leaves, I should say, is peace with God.

Something the world cannot give.

You know, we were enemies with God, according to Romans and Colossians.

But it's the peace that Jesus came for was to give us peace with God.

You know, these people in this crowd, a lot of them at least wanted peace by defeating the Romans.

Jesus came to give them peace by defeating sin.

And a lot of them just haven't realized that yet.

They were desiring, if you think about it, the wrong salvation.

They thought they were getting what they wanted.

So they go out and they give Jesus this earthly.

King's welcome into Jerusalem.

Look at the second half of verse 13.

They kept shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.

So they're quoting from Psalm 118 here, and they're shouting out this word Hosanna.

If you look at the definition, it means pray, save now.

That's what the definition is in the dictionary.

And it's a plea for deliverance.

You know, I think the best way to think about it is a praise for the hope of salvation.

A praise to God for the hope of salvation, something in the future.

So this crowd is praising for the hope of the salvation that they see coming in Jesus.

They all want saving.

But the question is, from what?

And notice what they call him, King of Israel.

Not king of the universe, not king of my heart.

And they aren't wrong in calling him king of Israel, but I think it gives us insight, insight into what they were desiring.

A king in Israel.

And it also shows us how a good number of this crowd, at least, is chanting this.

And I think it shows us how many of them were blind spiritually.

Jesus addressed this in chapter 9 of what it means to be blind spiritually or seeing spiritually.

The spiritually seeing, if you remember, are those that recognize their need for a savior because of their sin.

And the spiritually blind, specifically in this crowd, are those that think they're fine because they're an Israelite and only want saving from the Romans.

The spiritually seeing recognize their need for Jesus' first coming.

The Lamb that will take away the sins of the world, as John the Baptist used to cry every time he saw Jesus walking by.

The spiritually blind are wanting the Messiah's second coming.

As we read at the beginning, you know, that second coming that we saw in Revelation.

They want the roaring lion that's going to come and conquer the world.

You know, they want the warrior that shows up on a white horse with an army behind him and a sword coming out of his mouth.

They aren't realizing that they need Jesus' first coming first.

They want a savior, if you think about it, of circumstance, not a savior of their soul.

And I know every one of us has been guilty of that at one time or another as well.

You know, so I don't think we can look down on this crowd for what they're doing, because I think we would have been just as guilty as them if we were a part of this crowd at this time.

But the story goes on.

Look at verse 14.

Jesus found a donkey, a young donkey, and sat on it.

Just as it is written, Do not be afraid, daughter Zion.

Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.

Now we see from the other gospels that he sent two disciples ahead to retrieve this donkey for himself.

And the quote here that's being quoted is from Zechariah 9:9, which we're going to put up behind me.

Zechariah 9:9

And it's written about 500 years before Jesus.

And it says, Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion.

Shout in triumph, daughter Jerusalem, look, your king is coming to you.

He is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

And about 2,000 years before Jesus, Jacob, you know, think Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.

Jacob had 12 sons, those became the 12 tribes of Israel.

Jacob was blessing all of his sons before he died, and said this about his son Judah, the tribe of Israel that Jesus is going to come from.

He said to his son in Genesis 49, starting verse 10, he said, The scepter will not depart from Judah, or the staff from between his feet, until he whose right it is comes, and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.

He ties his donkey to a vine, and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine.

He washes his clothes in wine and his robes in the blood of grapes.

If Jesus was a war general showing up to lead a military revolt against an enemy on this Palm Sunday, he would do so, I think, on a white horse and with a sword, wouldn't he?

If he was coming in to do what they were hoping he would do.

But here comes a humble lamb on a humble donkey coming into Jerusalem.

You know, and I had the thought as I was studying for this, you know, why didn't Jesus stop them from doing this if he knew that their hearts were misguided in this?

Or he knew a lot of them were cheering and praising for the wrong reasons.

Well, we learn from the other gospels that the Pharisees actually come and they plead with Jesus to stop the crowd from shouting this about Jesus.

But Jesus says, I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.

So what they were saying was true and a fulfillment of prophecy, and if they stopped, the rocks would have taken over for them.

But what they were doing wasn't wrong, even though they didn't understand what was happening in the moment.

Which John addresses in verse 16, because the disciples didn't even know what was going on either.

Look at verse 16.

His disciples did not understand these things at first.

However, when Jesus was glorified, when they remembered that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

So John, our author, an eyewitness of these events, admits here that he wasn't following this procession, this triumphal entry, and thinking, you know, this is the Passover Lamb.

This is the fulfillment of prophecy, of him going to be slaughtered, you know, the forgiveness of sins for the world.

It wasn't until Jesus resurrected that all of these things, it says until Jesus was glorified, that all of these things started to make sense to so many of the people that were witnessing this.

You know, in Luke 24, there's a story that's often called The Road to Emmaus, where there's these two guys, they're walking down the road right after Jesus is resurrected from the dead, and they're arguing about Jesus and all that had happened.

And Jesus walks up in his resurrected body next to them.

They didn't recognize him, but he asks them, What are you disputing about?

And they say, Well, you know, regarding Jesus, they say, We were hoping, past tense, we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem Israel.

And Jesus responds to them, he says, How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

Wasn't it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?

Then beginning with Moses, oh, it'd be a fly on the wall for this one, then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.

You know, it wasn't until later that so much of what his disciples saw and heard in those three years started to make sense.

You know, I kind of wonder if that's why, after the resurrection, Jesus told them to wait for 50 days before Pentecost and before their ministries would start.

I think maybe to let them start to process and piece together what they had witnessed and what they had heard for the last three years.

Maybe that's why, just a stab in the dark here, why Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on them before he permanently indwelled them at Pentecost.

To help them sort out what they just witnessed and help them reconcile what they had witnessed with everything that's in the Old Testament.

There was a lot of dots that needed to be connected for them in that time.

Look at verse 17.

Meanwhile, the crowd which had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify.

Just as the Sanhedrin had feared, isn't it?

That these people would testify and bring people to follow Jesus.

Many had come to believe Jesus was the Messiah because of this sign with Lazarus.

And not only had the eyewitnesses come to faith in Jesus, but their testimony of what they saw had brought many to faith in Jesus as well.

So no wonder the Sanhedrin wanted Lazarus killed as well.

They wanted to kill the proof of Jesus' power, and it was foiled.

Look at verse 18.

This is also why the crowd met him, because they heard he had done this sign.

So, in their minds, you know, it's the guy that can raise the dead is heading into Jerusalem.

Let's go meet him, let's see him.

Look at verse 19.

Then the Pharisees said to one another, You see, you've accomplished nothing.

Look, the world has gone after him.

Are they exaggerating?

Yes, I think they're exaggerating.

The whole world is not following him.

A lot of people that were once following them are now following Jesus.

But Jesus did make a way for the whole world to follow after him, didn't he?

And praise God, because that's why we're here today.

For God so loved the world.

You know what?

I think maybe these guys accidentally prophesied again.

Do you remember that when Caiaphas in chapter 11 regarding the one man dying to save all of Israel?

And John explained it.

He said, He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation.

And not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children of God.

You know, it seems like that happened or may have happened again here.

The whole world has gone after him.

And this is just how they felt.

They felt threatened by Jesus.

They were concerned with their temple.

They were concerned with their position.

They were concerned with their authority that they had been getting, that they had been gifted.

They were afraid they would lose their kingdom, weren't they?

So they wanted to kill the threat.

But as we see, it's been foiled.

Jesus and Lazarus are still alive.

And now many, it says, are following Jesus instead of them.

So I think for us here today, I think this is a great opportunity as we take this passage and kind of look at it the way we did, to self-examine for ourselves and to ask ourselves, what kingdom are we living for?

And what kind of king are we hoping to find in Jesus?

Or maybe are we expecting to find in Jesus?

We need to ask, are our expectations of who Jesus should be biblically aligned with who he really is?

Do we just want a savior of circumstance?

You know, to rescue us from our current state, to rescue us from our current trial?

Or are we looking for a king of our heart?

Sometimes I think we're just looking for a get-out-of-jail free card in Jesus.

But he desires to be the king of our heart.

You know, Jesus' first coming was to bring peace with God.

We were enemies of God.

And once you experience peace with God, you'll realize that there's absolutely nothing better than having peace with God.

But we can experience the peace of God here and now that leads to peace in our life as well when we give our life to Jesus.

It's not just for eternity, but we can experience the peace of God now.

It's like an added bonus that we get when we make Jesus the king of our heart.

And the peace comes from knowing that our eternity is secure.

Knowing that God is sovereign over everything.

Knowing that Jesus has conquered the world.

Knowing that God will never leave us or forsake us.

All of those things should bring us great, great peace.

And it's a peace that the rest of the world is unable to give, and the rest of the world is unable to experience.

We get that added bonus of peace now.

But it's the peace with God that Jesus brings that makes us ready for his second coming.

You know, like we read in Revelation, that gets us ready for the king that shows up on a white horse with a sword and with an army that brings justice to the enemies of God.

You know, it's Jesus that takes us from that enemy status that we were living in to the sons and daughters of the Most High King status.

You see, the Israelites wanted to skip the forgiveness of sin's part and just get to the revelation Jesus.

Not realizing that they would have been on the wrong side of the revelation Jesus.

They would have been the enemies that Jesus was coming to take out.

You can't skip the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world if you want to be on the right side of eternity.

And that can happen just within a moment's time right now.

By accepting the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, the Passover, the Passover lamb that was sacrificed for the sins of the world.

You can claim that sacrifice for yourself by confessing Jesus as Lord and believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead.

And you will be saved for all of eternity as a son or a daughter of the Most High King.

So you can do that right now in your seat.

You can come up and pray with us afterward.

We would love to do that if that's you and you're here today and you want to accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that He made on the cross for all of our sin, but specifically for your sin, each and every one of us.

And I want to leave you with how Paul left the Thessalonians.

He said, May the Lord of peace himself give you peace always in every way.

Let's pray.

Jesus, we are so thankful for you.

We're so thankful for the patience that you have with us when we desire the things that aren't best for us, or we desire things that we're not ready for yet.

Lord, help us to live on your timeline and on your schedule.

Lord, give us the desire to please you first and above all things.

Lord, give us the wisdom to be in your word, to know who you are, so that we don't have expectations of you that are misguided, so that we don't have hopes and dreams that are not of you, so that we don't desire things like your second coming before your first coming.

But we would take things in order and how you give them to us, that we would trust you, but that we would know who you are.

We thank you for the patience that you have with us, Lord, when we mess up, when we get things out of order, when we desire the wrong things.

But I pray that you would place your desires in our heart and that our desires would align with yours.

The Passover lamb, the perfect, spotless, sinless Passover lamb that was sacrificed for our sins.

Thank you so much.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.