John 12:12-19 “What Kind of King are You Following?”

1:05And America listened. In fact, America listened like they had never listened before. When Barack Obama accepted the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in 2008, over 38 million Americans, one in every four households, tuned in to watch his speech. When he was elected just a few months later, 71 million And a half million Americans watched his victory speech that night. And over 240,000 people showed up in person in Grant Park in Chicago to witness this historic event.

1:46But eight years later, only 35% of Americans believed that he had delivered on his promises. 62% of Americans believed that he had tried but failed. Others believed that he didn't address the issues, and still others believe that he made things worse. And I think it highlights the idea that there are times in history where we are so looking forward to change, so looking forward to things being different, that nobody can really match up to those promises. Nobody can really match up to those hopes.

2:27And friends, here in John 12, we are entering the final week of Jesus' life and ministry on earth. And that's really amazing. It shows you just how long John spends on this last seven days. This sermon series doesn't end till April. We have seven days left in Jesus' earthly life, and it is August. So over this final week, the kind of king that Jesus came to be and the kind of kingdom that he came to inaugurate is going to become clearer.

2:59And the Disciples and the crowds and the religious leaders in the first century, they are all going to have to decide whether they want to follow Jesus into this kingdom. And, friends, the same is true for us today. We're going to learn today in John chapter 12 that we follow a heavenly king to a cross, not an earthly king to a throne. So, let's pick up here in John chapter 12, verse 12. This text begins the day after Jesus and his disciples ate at Simon the Leper's house in Bethany. And Mary anointed him, as you recall from last week. And so, after this, they head out to Jerusalem.

3:43Now, according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they draw near to the city and come to the Mount of Olives. And here, Jesus gives some very interesting instructions to a couple of his disciples. I want to pick this up in Mark chapter 11. Take a look at the screen. Now, when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you. And immediately as you entered it, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, Why are you doing this? Say, The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.

4:23And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, What are you doing? Are you doing untying the colt? And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. So the disciples bring this colt to Jesus. They spread their cloaks over it, and Jesus rides the animal from the Mount of Olives down into Jerusalem. Now, if your copy of the Bible has section headings, and most of them do, you will notice that at the outset of this section, it is called something like the triumphal entry.

4:56And Christian theologians have referred to this event by that name for centuries. And if you grew up attending certain kinds of churches, this event is the one that is remembered and celebrated the week before Easter on what we call Palm Sunday. Of course, Jesus' triumphal entry had little in common to that event that it's being compared to, and that is a Roman triumph. When a Roman general won a great victory and his army killed at least 5,000 of the enemy soldiers and he gained new territory for the empire, he was given what was called a Roman triumph when he returned to Rome.

5:33And this event was a massive parade where prisoners of war would be driven out front, followed by the spoils of war, followed by the soldiers in the army, and then lastly, followed by the general himself, usually in a great chariot pulled by war horses. So this was a Roman triumph, and you can see how different Jesus' entry into Jerusalem was from the Kind of event. There are no captives, there are no spoils of war, there is no army. There's just this ragtag bunch of disciples and Jesus riding in on donkey back.

6:15But friends, that is the point. Jesus is communicating that he is coming to establish a very different kind of kingdom and he's coming to be a very different kind of king. And he wants everybody to know that, which is why he chooses to ride into Jerusalem during the busiest week of the year, the Passover week. Now, John notes, as you see there, that a large crowd came to Jerusalem for the feast, and they ran out to meet Jesus because they heard that he raised Lazarus from the dead. But notice they don't come empty-handed. They bring their cloaks and they throw them down on the road. They cut down these branches of palm trees and they spread those out on the road before Jesus.

6:58And you may remember that one of the most important feasts of the year is what they call the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths. And that event commemorates their deliverance from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. And so they live in these temporary dwellings for a week. It lasts seven days. And each one of these seven days, they sing the words of Psalm 118, which we read during our call to worship. And these are two of the verses in that psalm. I want you to look at these again, verse 25 and 26. Save us, we pray, O Lord. O Lord, we pray, give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.

7:43And when they came to those verses, they cry out, Hosanna. That means, save us, we pray. When they cried out, Hosanna, they would take leafy branches and wave them in the air. All of the male worshipers would do this. And these verses were understood to refer to the coming Messiah, the descendant of David who would reign forever. And so you notice from that psalm, verses 25 and 26, the words, even the king of Israel, that are quoted here in John 12, they're not a part of that psalm. But it shows us exactly what the people were thinking and expecting. They're saying, finally, our Messiah has come. This is the Son of David that we've been waiting for.

8:30So as we read in the call to worship this morning, this psalm speaks of holistic, complete salvation. Yes, it does speak of deliverance from enemies, but it primarily speaks of deliverance from sin. That God delivers us, does not give us over to death, that he saves us and takes us through the gates of righteousness through the stone that the builders rejected, which has become the capstone, the promised message. Messiah. But at this point, friends, many Jews were not thinking of salvation in this way. They weren't thinking of salvation in terms of being saved from sin and the wages of sin, which is our last and greatest enemy, death.

9:17No, most Jews were thinking of salvation primarily in terms of being saved from foreign oppressors, like Rome. They wanted God to raise up a king for them, like the other nations, defeat their enemies, and reestablish Israel as an earthly power. Which is to say, they wanted the exact same thing that their ancestors wanted a thousand years earlier. In 1 Samuel chapter 8, the people come to the prophet Samuel, who's getting older, and they tell him that they want him to appoint a king for them, like all the other nations have. And Samuel hates this idea because he tells them, listen, God is your king.

10:00He is your ruler. He's the one you need to look to. But they have rejected him and his rule. And so Samuel tells them, this is what the king that you want for yourselves, this is what he's going to do to you. He's going to take your sons and your daughters, and he's going to make them soldiers in the army. He's going to make them work in the field. He's going to make them build things on his assembly lines. He's going to take your land and give it to his friends. He's going to tax you and take your money and your produce and everything else. And you're going to cry out to God for deliverance from the king that you asked for, but God is not going to answer you. And I want you to look on the screen at how the people respond in 1 Samuel chapter 8.

10:44But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. You see, they refused to listen because they wanted a king like the other nations. They wanted a person that they could look to when there were battles to fight and they were surrounded by enemies.

11:16You see, trusting God and walking by faith feels scary. Having an earthly king like all the other nations, that feels safe. That's how the Israelites felt in Samuel's day, and that's how they felt a thousand years later. And, friends, I think we understand that. That's why we get so bent out of shape when our particular political candidates aren't elected. Because it feels safer, it feels easier to trust in a president and senators and representatives who command a large budget. And a large army.

12:03That feels safer than trusting in God. And so, this large crowd in John 12 was definitely hoping that Jesus was coming to reign over them as king. All four gospel accounts are clear that they believed, this crowd believed that Jesus was coming to rule and they were excited about that. But the kind of king that he was coming to be and the kind of kingdom that he was coming to inaugurate was very different from the kind of king and kingdom that they were hoping for. And all of that becomes very clear in verses 14 and 15. Let's take a look there.

12:39Verse 14. And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written: Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. Now, like Matthew does in his account, John is drawing his readers' attention to the fact that Jesus is fulfilling the words of Zachariah's prophecy. This is almost a direct quotation from Zachariah chapter 9, verse 9, but we're going to come back to that in a moment. I want to point out a couple more things that John is doing here by drawing our attention to this prophecy in Zachariah 9. And the first thing I want you to note is, in addition to fulfilling this particular prophecy, he's definitely showing that. John is helping us to understand the kind of king that Jesus. Jesus is coming to be. So I want you to look on the screen so you can see Zechariah 9 in context with verse 10, both 9 and 10. Take a look at this. 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 foal of a donkey. Now listen to this. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem, and the battlebow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations. His rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.

14:16So what kind of king is the promised Messiah coming to be? What kind of king is Jesus coming to be? One who cuts off the chariot, the war horse, the battlebow. One who comes to speak peace to the nations. In other words, what Zachariah is saying is, your king is going to come to you riding on a donkey, and that's how you're going to know that he's the king. But when he comes, he is not coming to make war on Israel's enemies. He is coming to speak peace to the nations by dealing with the one enemy that all of us have. In common, and that is sin and death. That is the enemy that Jesus is coming to deal with. And that sounds a lot more like what the angels announced at Christmas, doesn't it?

15:14The next thing I want to point out is that if you noticed in Zechariah 9, it does not start with the words, fear not. But John, he says those two words here in his account, fear not. What is he doing? I think he's drawing us and our attention back to Isaiah's prophecies, where again and again, in any time that he's talking about the Messiah, he tells the people, don't be afraid, fear not. The Messiah is coming.

15:45That's very significant because that is a new concept for Israel. They don't have to fear this king that's coming. Well, they've been afraid of kings their entire existence. First, they were afraid of foreign kings who were oppressing them, and then they were afraid of foreign kings who were oppressing them and their own kings who were oppressing them. So the idea that they did not have to be afraid of this coming king is a very new idea for them. Because all of these kings ruled by power and intimidation and violence. There are many stories in Scripture both of non-Israelite and Israelite kings becoming upset and destroying cities and murdering people.

16:29But Jesus is. Is a very different kind of king. They don't need to fear him because he isn't like every other king who gains power by force and keeps power by force. No, Jesus is coming humbly to serve. And friends, this is so important in this cultural moment where many people are highly suspicious of authority. The working assumption in our day seems to be that anyone in authority, anyone in authority, in business, in government, even in the church, anyone in authority is only there for their own benefit, to use people, to hold on to the advantage that they have by being in authority.

17:18And this past week, I was reading in Mark Dever's book on discipling, and obviously it's not a book on leadership, but he has a section on leadership in that book. And I came across this quote, and I want you to take a look at what he says. Authority looks like an advantage only to someone who doesn't have it. When you have the authority, pretty much all the advantages seem to vanish, and you begin to realize how much of it is service, a glorious service, but a service.

17:54And is that not exactly what Jesus taught? In Mark chapter 10, the disciples. Are arguing among each other about who is going to be the greatest in the new kingdom, who's going to have the most prestige, who gets to sit at Jesus' right hand and left. They're arguing about these things. And so, look what Jesus says to correct them in Mark chapter 10. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

18:46Friends, that is why they didn't have to be afraid of this king. That's the kind of king that Jesus came to be, not who came to be served, but one who came to serve by humbling himself, even to the point of death, death on a cross, for sins that he never committed in your place and mine. That's the kind of king that he came to be. As his followers, any authority that we exercise, any power or influence that we have, it all has to be used in this manner to serve others and to ensure that they flourish even at great cost to ourselves.

19:29Listen, you. You do not have to live in fear and suspicion of any leader that has that kind of understanding, that kind of vision of authority that Jesus himself taught and demonstrated in his life, death, and resurrection. A kingdom of humble service where the last is first and the first is last. That's the kind of kingdom that Jesus came to set up. Verse 16. 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.

20:13I so appreciate the honesty and transparency of the gospel writers, don't you? That they loved and valued the truth so much that they were committed to sharing the truth, even when often it made them look obtuse. At the time, I guess they just thought Jesus was tired of walking. And who can blame him? The man has been across the country seemingly three times at this point. So if he wants to ride into Jerusalem on donkeyback, whatever.

20:48They didn't think anything of it. But later on, John notes, as one of the disciples, they remembered after he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, it says they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been. Been done to him. In other words, this very thing was prophesied by Zechariah, and Jesus fulfilled that prophecy. It was so clear to them in hindsight, but they didn't see it at the time. And that's because later on, just like you and me, they had a little help. Look on the screen at John 14.

21:23Jesus says, These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. The Pharisees would later note in Acts chapter 4 that these were just unschooled, ordinary men. When it came to the apostles, there was nothing remarkable about their upbringing or about their education.

21:55But they had been with Jesus. And now, in addition to being with Jesus, they had his Holy Spirit living inside them who would teach them and bring to mind all that Jesus said. The Holy Spirit connected the dots for them so that they could connect the dots for you and me. Friends, that's a great reminder of what an incredible gift we have in the Bible. The inspired Word of God written by more than 40 different authors on three Different continents over a period of more than 1,500 years with one consistent and clear message pointing to the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. What a gift we have in Scripture. Because the Holy Spirit guided and inspired these men, we have a record of all the promises that God made and a record of all the times that he kept his promises. That means that we can have full confidence that the handful of promises that remain to be fulfilled certainly will be in due time.

23:04Take a look at 2 Peter chapter 3 on the screen. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Friends, Jesus is coming back.

23:47And we know that he's coming back because he promised that he would. And there has never been a single word of the Lord that has fallen to the ground. So, friends, if you're not listening, As though Jesus could and very well may return at any moment. Now is the time to repent. Peter literally says that that is what God is waiting for, for you to repent, because he doesn't desire anyone to perish. He is perfectly patient. But there will come a day when it is too late for you to repent. When Jesus returns and the heavens pass away, and every word that you have spoken, every thought you've ever had, all of your deeds will be laid bare before the Lord for judgment. On that day, it will be too late. And so I urge you this morning, if that's you, repent and believe in Jesus today. Don't put it off any longer.

24:52Verse 17. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went out to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. So in these two verses, Jesus is talking about two different crowds. You've got the crowd who was present when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. And then you've got the crowd that came to Jerusalem for the feast, who went out to meet Jesus. Why?

25:30Because the crowd who saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, look what it says in verse 17, they continued to bear witness. They continued to talk about what they saw, and the result was the crowd in Jerusalem went out to meet Jesus. Friends, isn't that convicting? That those who saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead continued to bear witness. They talked about it so much that other people said, We have to go meet this Jesus. We've got to do it.

26:08In Acts chapter 3 and 4, Peter heals this lame man in Jesus' name. And then he starts preaching the good news to the astonished crowd that's gathered around, who knows this guy has been lame from birth. And it's causing a huge scene outside the temple. So the Sanhedrin, that is the rulers of the Jews, they arrest Peter and John and they bring them before the council. And after examining them, they warn them and tell them, Do not preach or teach any more in the name of Jesus. I want you to look at how the apostles, Peter and John, respond, Acts chapter 4.

26:45But Peter and John answered them: Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. We can't stop talking about it. We won't stop talking about it. The news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is too good to keep to ourselves. I'm writing this book review for Nine Marks on this book that comes out in October. It's called God Shines Forth. The subtitle is How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church. It's been really, really good so far. And Hames and Reeves, what they're trying to address is why it seems to be the case that so many of us who really do love Jesus, why is it that so many of us struggle to share our faith and live on mission?

27:50Here's the thesis of their book. Take a look. Our aim is to set before your eyes God as he truly is. God who is so full of life and goodness that he loves to be known, not as a campaign to impose himself on us or on the world, but to give himself and share his own life with the world. Mission is no clunky add-on to your own delighting in God. Instead, it is the natural outflow and expression of the enjoyment you have of him so that, like him, you gladly go out and fill yourself. The world with his goodness.

28:34What a statement. Telling others about Jesus should not feel like this heavy burden, this unfortunate chore that we have to complete every once in a while because we feel guilty. No, rather, telling others about Jesus should feel like a joyful privilege because that's what it is. We have the greatest news in the world. We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. Last weekend, a few of us attended an evangelism conference that was led by Southwestern Seminary professor Matt Queen. And he was noting that one of the hardest parts about sharing our faith is simply getting the conversation started. Isn't that true? Just getting the conversation going towards spiritual things is often the hardest part about the whole deal. And so he challenged us to consider asking a question, one simple question, and that is this.

29:36Have you heard any good news today? Have you heard any good news today? Most people haven't. Hour after hour, minute after minute, all of the news is bad. On the off chance that somebody has heard some good news, you can just say, great. Would you like to hear some more? I was so Challenged and helped by that because we really do have good news to share. And listen, people may not believe that our news is true, and that's okay.

30:12But if we believe that it's true, and we do with all of our hearts, then it's the greatest news that we could ever share. So think about this. Those who knew that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, they could not stop talking about it to other people. Can those of us who know that Jesus himself has been raised from the dead, can we share the good news as well? We can if we believe that it's truly good news.

30:47Let's wrap up with verse 19. So the Pharisees said to one another, You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him. It is so interesting when you read this story in all four gospel accounts, because what you're going to notice is the story is nearly identical, and that's what you'd expect from people that are reporting a historical event. But what's really interesting is that the ending, how each one of the gospel writers ends the story, is dramatically different.

31:28So we just read John's. Here with the Pharisees saying that they're gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him. I want you to look at the other three endings. Take a look on the screen in Matthew chapter 21. And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, Who is this? And the crowd said, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. Take a look at Mark 11. And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

32:05Now look at Luke 19, and this is following the crowd crying out, Hosanna, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out. So each inspired writer highlights something completely different that happened that day at the end of this story. And I think this is so helpful because it sheds light on all of the different responses to Jesus and his ministry.

32:42We learn from Matthew's account that some people were curious about Jesus and wanted to learn more. They asked, Who is this? They were open to hearing more. Their attention was captured. And friends, if that's you, if you're curious about Jesus, Maybe you've heard some things about him, but you didn't grow up in the church. Maybe you did grow up in the church, but your church didn't really focus on Jesus or the Word of God. If you're curious about Jesus, then I want to encourage you to ask questions about him.

33:15Ask the person you came with. Ask somebody that you've met this morning who's a member here. Come and talk to one of the leaders of the church. Fill out that next step card on the back of the seat that's in front of you and say you want to know more about Jesus. I can promise you, he's greater than anything you could ever imagine. So if you're curious, ask more questions. And friends, if you know someone who's curious about Jesus or who may be curious about Jesus, I want to challenge you to read the Bible with them.

33:48Invite them to read the Bible with you. You say, Pastor Allen, that sounds kind of scary. I don't know if I can do that. Well, listen, what you can do is you can invite them to walk through the Gospel of John. And if you come to a passage that you don't understand, you can hop on our website and listen to that sermon. And one of our pastors will help lead you through that text. That's why we preach the way that we do. We do not preach topical sermons with three creative points because we don't want you walking out of here going, what a smart guy. What interesting points those were. We want to walk through the text of the Bible so when you leave here, you think to yourself, I can do that too. I can walk. Walk through the Bible and understand it for myself. I can help somebody else walk through the Bible and help them understand it. And so we see from Matthew that some people were curious about Jesus.

34:42From Mark, we learned that some people totally ignored Jesus. From Mark's account, we learned that while Jesus is entering into Jerusalem, most of the city is out there wondering who this is. There are people in the temple going about business as usual. And they would be there the next morning when Jesus came to cleanse the temple and throw out the money changers and the people that were selling animals in the court of the Gentiles. They were just carrying on business as usual. They totally ignored Jesus.

35:15And for some of you, you've been ignoring Jesus your whole life. Maybe you're still ignoring Jesus now, even though maybe you've been around the church, you've been around Christians your whole life. Well, friends, I want to challenge you this morning not to ignore Jesus any longer. You do not know how much time you have left on this earth. You don't know if and when Jesus may return, which could be today. He promised that he was coming back, and then it will be too late.

35:47So listen, don't pacify your conscience by ignoring Jesus and telling yourself, I will get around to this one day. Today is the day. You need to decide what you think about Jesus and what that means for your life. So, some people ignored Jesus. From Luke, we see that some people were angry with Jesus. After the crowds cried out, Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Some of the Pharisees were angry. They said, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. This is blasphemy. You can't let them speak to you like that as though you're the Messiah.

36:30They were mad. And, friends, some of you may be angry with Jesus. And if you're angry with Jesus, I would just encourage you to ask yourself the question: why? Why am I mad at Jesus? Listen, Christians will let you down. The church will let you down. Maybe Christians and the church have let you down in your life. I know that I, as a Christian and a pastor, I know that our church has let many people down over the years. That happens.

37:10I don't like that. I don't ever want to disappoint anybody. I don't want to do anything hypocritical. I don't ever want to say one thing and do another. I don't ever want to not meet somebody's expectations, but that happens. But Jesus will never let you down. Jesus will. Never fail to deliver on a promise. Jesus will never fail to be there for you. Jesus will never fail you. And so if you are angry with Jesus this morning, ask yourself why. Am I really mad at Jesus or am I mad at his people?

37:50And if you're mad at his people, I just want to encourage you to take a look at Jesus and remember that he himself said he didn't come for good people, he came for people who know they needed a Savior. So when we let you down, hear it from me first. We're sorry. I'm sorry. It should not be that way. But we are sinners who are in need of a Savior too. And then from John, the gospel that we're reading, we see that some people were resigned about Jesus. They were resigned. They said, you see, you're gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him. They had tried to curb his influence, but it was no use. More people were believing in him every day.

38:43And if you know somebody that's resigned about Jesus, if they're just kind of like, man, I don't know why people follow Jesus. I wish people weren't becoming Christians. I would encourage you to ask them, what is it that keeps you from following Jesus? What keeps you? From following Jesus, you seem frustrated that other people are following him. Why are you frustrated? What keeps you from following Jesus? Because there are so many misconceptions out there about who he is, what he said, and what he did. And maybe God would use you to break down those barriers so that you can show them who Jesus really is and what Jesus really said and what Jesus really did. So then they can at least make a decision on the real Jesus, not the ones that they've the one that they've heard about.

39:33And I think it's remarkable that in all four gospels, many people rejoiced in Jesus. Many were excited. The large number of people that either saw Jesus raise Lazarus or who came to Jerusalem for the feast, many rejoiced. Here's the question, though: Did they rejoice because they thought they were following an earthly king to a throne? Friends, that's the question before us today as well. The question before us today is: do we rejoice in Jesus because we believe that he's going to lead us to the earthly life of our dreams? Or are we following Jesus because we know that he will lead us to eternal life through suffering?

40:20There are so many who functionally believe that faith in Christ is the way to get a great life on this earth. That if we pray enough and if we Try hard enough to be good people, that God will bless us and give us what we want. But that is not the message of the gospel. Look what Jesus Himself said in Matthew chapter 16. Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

41:07You see, real life, abundant life, eternal life, is found by picking up the cross and following Jesus. The way to life is the path of suffering, the exact same path that led Jesus to Jerusalem and then to the cross and then to the grave. But the grave could not hold him. And on the third day, he rose and walked out of the tomb, securing forgiveness and eternal life by defeating both sin and its consequence, death. That's the good news of the gospel. The news that we are no longer slaves to sin and death through faith in the one who conquered death and never sinned.

42:00He did not promise us the earthly life of our dreams, but he does promise eternal life that will always satisfy us and never disappoint us. Friends, following Jesus is worth it, but it is hard. And that's because we're following a heavenly king to a cross, not an earthly king to a throne. Let's pray. Father, as we think about the kind of king that Jesus came to be and the kind of kingdom that he came to inaugurate, we're convicted this morning because we believe the truth. Many of us believe the truth about Jesus.

43:13And yet we still live many days of our lives as though we were following an earthly king to a throne. We expected, not because you said that we should expect this, but just Because we do, we expected a life of ease and comfort. We expected the people that we agree with to be in power and to make decisions that we like. We expected to be at least left alone, if not congratulated, for being religious people. We expected so many things, and our expectations reveal that we functionally have not believed the truth that we're following a heavenly king to a cross.

44:03And so, Father, we pray this morning that you would recalibrate our expectations, that you would remind us that we, who are Christians, have picked up the cross and are following Jesus, that we are dying every day and are called to die every day because we can only gain life, eternal life, by losing it. God, we give you thanks that Jesus came and did all that was necessary to secure this eternal life for us. Help us to follow Him to eternal life through the path of suffering.

44:44In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlife.com. CS dot net