Live Free with Josh Howerton - The Messiah Has Come | Ep. 286 | Monday, March 11, 2024

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

The applause and praise from others drive too many of us daily. However, that was not true with Jesus. Although He was tempted in every way we are, He did not give in to sin. The people praising Him as He entered the city on the first Palm Sunday could not grasp what He had come to do. They praised him like a conquering king, but His victory could only come through His humble sacrifice and death. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up everybody? Thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive. My name is Mike Bro, and we are walking through the gospel of John, just trying to get to know Jesus better, and we are in Chapter 12. And today, I want to take a look at something in Jesus character that has absolutely revolutionized my life. And I want to take a couple of episodes probably to unpack this. If you've ever been on the receiving end of applause, you know it feels pretty good, doesn't it? When you hit a three at the buzzer, or you hit a walk off home run, or you're standing on the stage, and absolutely kill a song or they put your art in a place where everybody can admire it or you stand in front of your colleagues at your retirement party and they all cheer and honor you. And even though

applause can feel a little awkward at times, it still feels pretty good. It feels pretty affirming. Applaus influences the decisions of politicians and leaders. The main reason home court advantage is so huge in sports is that the applause from adoring fans drive those athletes to another level. actors, musicians, comedians, they all thrive on it. Some say they can't even live without audience feedback. The applause of people can be a powerful, even addictive thing. You know, the Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin, never caved in. You might remember how Satan relentlessly hassles Jesus in the desert for 40 days, while Jesus is trying to get focused for the road he was to travel over the next three years. People have been waiting for the

promised Messiah for a long time. They longed for a political Savior to come and crush the opposition of Rome. They wanted an economic savior who could make their lives easier. They needed a regal, kingly Messiah who would restore their nation to their golden years of prominence. And you can read in Matthew chapter four how Satan shows up and reminds Jesus of all of this. He says something like, listen Jesus, the people will love you, they will embrace you, they will adore you, they will accept you, they will applaud you, if you will just do it my way. instead of God's way. Let me promote you. Let me be your agent. Let me manage your career. You know the kind of Messiah they're expecting and longing for. You know they're not going to go

for this crucified Savior on a cross thing. You're going to wind up misunderstood, rejected, forsaken, and alone, and who in their right mind would want that? So come on, Jesus, why not play to the crowd, make a bunch of money, set your kingdom up, get your name in lights, and receive the adoration of millions. Come on. What do you say? I believe in his humanity. his life, he would have to wrestle with temptation. He would have to wrestle with who am I, why am I here, what do I want to accomplish, what's my focus. Can I really go through with the plan? Can I really go down this road? Can I really imagine a cross in my future? There's got to be another way. There's got to be a shortcut. Can I really endure the pain and lay down my life, the sins of the world? Maybe I should

just go with the flow. Maybe I ought to listen to all the other people. Maybe that really is the kind of Messiah they need. Maybe I ought to pay attention to all the opinion polls. Maybe I should. Maybe I ought to appease my critics. Maybe I should play to the crowd. I think all kinds of internal struggle. Well, on this day, the first day of what would come to be known as Passion Week, Jesus would certainly have a chance to bask in the applause of people. This was the first day of the week, commonly known now as Palm Sunday,

and the Passover festival was about to begin, and Jews from all over the Roman world would make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem to participate in this week-long celebration, to remember their liberation. from Egyptian slavery. This was the biggest festival of the year. And it had become so much more than a mere religious observance. This week, tourism surged. Restaurants were packed. Hotels and ends were completely booked. It's like Super Bowl Week for the local economy. There are people camping out in tents filling the hillsides around Jerusalem. There were estimates of over 2 billion people which show up and jam the city. I mean, it's like Times Square on New Year's Eve or the Apple

store every time they release the newest iPhone. I mean, it is wall-to-wall people. In fact, the Roman government would always assign extra troops to Jerusalem during Passover week, because things would often get a little out of hand. Different political activists or Messiah wannabes would try to rally the people, try to organize protests to express their longing for political freedom from Rome, so soldiers did not hesitate to use force to keep the peace. Now, adding to the already electric atmosphere, was the anticipated arrival of this miracle worker from Nazareth. Word had spread throughout the city and along the roads that he was headed their way. I mean, just a few days before, Jesus had performed his most spectacular miracle over in Bethany, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. John and his account of

this story records that the people who actually seen Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead were telling everybody about it. Now the whole area was buzzing with what had happened. Many people sensed that nobody do a spectacular miracle like that unless he was from God. So the crowd wanted to see this miracle worker for themselves. So let's pick up the story where we left off in John chapter 12, verse 12. The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down to the road to meet him. They shouted, Hosanna, blessed as he who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed is the king of Israel.

Passover was a time when people would bring lambs to be sacrificed at the temple. And William Boyce points out that not only would there have been all kinds of people in that crowd, but lots and lots of lambs as well. He writes this, Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us that one year a census was taken of the number of lambs slain for Passover, and that figure was 256,500. Consequently, whenever Jesus entered the city,

he must have done so surrounded by lambs. himself being the greatest of lambs. It takes me back to John the Baptist saying to the people when Jesus shows up on the scene, look, there he is, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. John continues in verse 14, Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it,

as it is written, Do not be afraid, daughter Zion, which was a personalization of Jerusalem. See, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's cold. The Old Testament prophet Zechariah had predicted to the Messiah, the deliverer, would come riding into Jerusalem someday on the back of a donkey.

In fact, there are all kinds of centuries-old prophecy from Zechariah, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, the Psalms unfolding during this ride into Jerusalem, all kinds of signs pointing to Jesus as the long way to Messiah, the deliverer. But very few made that connection. Even John, who was writing from the vantage point of being one of those closest to Jesus, the guy that was in the loop and the know, he writes this of verse 16, His disciples, talking about we, including me, he says, did not understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered into his glory, we all remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about him.

Here's John said, even we were clueless in the moment. Coming from the east on a donkey, palm branches lining the streets, Hosanna, and the highest children singing, we didn't realize, we weren't aware. We just got swept up in the crowd in the excitement of the day. But after he was crucified and raised from the dead, we looked back at all those old scriptures, and we realized, oh man, yes, and this, and this too. Everything through the ages pointed to Jesus, our friend, our teacher, our master, our Lord, as the long-awaited Savior of the world. By the way, there are over 300 messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, and Jesus perfectly fulfills every one of them. The odds of that happening in one person is

astronomical. In other words, the DNA is a definite match. The evidence of Jesus being who he claimed to be is staggering. Now, you'd expect someone who's a military conqueror or a king to ride in on a white horse, right? Now, Revelation says someday he will, but here, the king of kings, the prince of peace, rides in on a donkey's colt, affirming his humility and his royalty at the same time, all fulfilling prophecy. Mark adds that this coat had never been ridden, and since it didn't have a saddle, the disciples threw their garments over the cult so that Jesus could sit on them. This was a sign of respect and an acknowledgement of majesty. Another eyewitness, Matthew writes this in his gospel. He says, most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him,

and others cut branches from trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting. Did you catch that? Jesus was in the center of the procession and all the people around him were shouting, man, what a rush. What an enormous boost to your ego, right? Surrounded by praise. To hear the applause, to feel the love to think, man, they like me, they really like me to be the absolute center of attention and have everybody cheering for you, to have people taken off their coats, to roll out the red carpet for your entrance, they're cutting branches from trees, waving them in the air, dropping them in the street to add to the royal treatment. This is the kind of stuff. They did.

for conquering kings and everybody is caught up in it. And people are shouting, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed as he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest heaven. Now, Hosanna has come to be known in church world as a way to give praise to God. It's included in several worship songs that we sing these days, but its original meaning was more of a cry.

Save us, save us, we pray, is what Hosanna means. In fact, in Jesus' day, Hosanna had become the slogan of the ultra-nationalist political zealots. Please save us. Give us freedom. We are sick of these Romans. Hosanna, save us. And when the people wave palm branches,

they were waving a symbol that had been stamped on Jewish coins during a time when the nation was free. They were a symbol of Jewish nationalism, a longing for political freedom, a longing for a return to the golden era of King David. So when Jesus, this incredible miracle worker, this amazing teacher, this prophet, Riding in on the back of a donkey shows up, the crowd goes crazy with anticipation.

Political hope gets stirred up to an all-time high. They could see that their liberation from Rome was finally at hand. And what better time than Passover week, with the support of two million strong, this really could be their king. This could be the long-awaited deliver, so they chanted, Save us, Save us now, Save us now, Hosanna. And they chant it words from a section of the Old Testament scripture, called the Great Halel, the portion of which is in

Psalm 118, which says, please Lord, please save us. Please, Lord, give us success. Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord, we bless you from the house of the Lord. They're saying, oh, yes, he's here. Finally, our deliverer, our conquerors, our king. But they didn't understand where this king would lead them. They didn't know that he had come to deliver them from so much more than Roman oppression. They couldn't see that he had come to conquer sin and death for all people.

They didn't know that on this. very day that they were supposed to choose their passive or lambs for sacrifice, the spotless lamb of God was coming down the street to lay down his life for their sin. So when it becomes apparent that week that Jesus was not going to fulfill their hopes and dreams,

that same adoring crowd would turn against him. They would cry out crucifying when Jesus stood on trial. Would give it a choice between Jesus and a murderous political zealot named Barabbas. They choose Barabbas. At least he's trying to do something about our problem. But on this day, on this road the masses are cheering they're shouting they're bowing they're waving they're singing they're applauding

and i got thinking if i were in jesus shoes i'm not sure what would be running through my head with the temptation to give them what they want be too great for me with the adoration and applause stoked my ego to the point where i would just bag the whole plan of god just go ahead and let them make me their king I hope it wouldn't cave in, but I have before. I've bowed down to the approval and opinions and applause of people. Jesus didn't. And I'm so, so grateful. Well, let's put a pen in it right there, and we'll pick this back up tomorrow.

Hope you have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5.4. p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.