Matthew 21:1-11

More Than a Prophet.

March 26, 2017

First Baptist Church

Jackson, Mississippi

USA

What’s the number one thing?

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The Glory of God!

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1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

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First Baptist Church Jackson Mission:

Multiply Disciples to Live Like Jesus.

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March Memory Verse:

Romans 12:2 ESV 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your

mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and

acceptable and perfect.

Sunday, March 26th

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Community Dinners

Thursday, March 30th

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Friday, March 31rd

Saturday, April 01st

Forgiven: A Celebration of the Cross

Sunday, April 09th

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Matthew 21:1-11

More Than a Prophet.

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Matthew 21:1-11 ESV

The Triumphal Entry

1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount

of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in

front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.

Untie them and bring them to Me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say,

‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill

what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,

‘Behold, your king is coming to you,

humble, and mounted on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the

donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and He sat on them.

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8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches

from the trees and spread them on the road.

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entry.jpg?1441363224

9 And the crowds that went before Him and that followed Him were shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest!”

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10 And when He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is

this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of

Galilee.”

Matthew 21:1-11 ESV

Now, let’s go back to 1859 BC (over 3800 years ago) and look at Jacob's

Blessing in Genesis 49:8-11.

Genesis 49:8-11 ESV 8 “Judah (praise), your brothers shall praise you;

your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

your father's sons shall bow down before you. 9 Judah is a lion's cub;

from the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He stooped down; he crouched as a lion

and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,

until tribute comes to him (until Shiloh/peace comes);

and to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples. 11 Binding His foal to the vine

and His donkey's colt to the choice vine,

he has washed His garments in wine

and his vesture in the blood of grapes.

Genesis 49:8-11 ESV

• Jacob's Blessing (1859 BC)

Isaiah 46:8-11b ESV 8 “Remember this and stand firm,

recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old;

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like Me, 10a declaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

11b I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;

I have purposed, and I will do it.

Isaiah 46:8-10a, 11b ESV

Now go to Zechariah’s final prophecies (Zechariah 9-14) – which were made

about 1379 years later (around 480 BC or shortly after that).

Zechariah received a series of visions in which God revealed His plan for the

history and future of the world, showing that He is ultimately in control and He will

fulfill the promises that were made to their fathers and to Abraham.

Other visions Zechariah experienced reveal the coming judgment of God and

His victory over sin; in these visions, everything is about the Messiah and His

coming (both of them).

Zechariah prophesied about the nations that would oppress Israel, about there

being a time of destruction and later that they would come to worship the Lord

in Jerusalem.

The prophet Zechariah spoke more about the Messiah than any of the prophets,

except for Isaiah.

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Zechariah 9:9 ESV 9 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.

The King Rejected:

This promised King came and the religious rulers conspired to kill Him.

He was a threat to their corrupt system then and Jesus is also a threat to every

corrupt system now.

When any man or any system or any government tries to get rid of Jesus Christ

you can be certain they are corrupt.

Their corruption is threatened by Jesus.

Zechariah 14:4, 5c ESV 4 On that day His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before

Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to

west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward,

and the other half southward.

5c Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones (That would be us!) with

Him.

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Mount of Olives

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Ray Stedman 1917-1992

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Matthew 21:1-11 ESV

The Triumphal Entry

1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount

of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,

Bethphage (BETHfahgee)

House of Unripe Figs

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When Jesus came, in fulfillment of the prophecies that He would come as King,

He was not riding on a war horse but on a donkey, a symbol of peace.

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His only scepter was a broken reed, His only crown a crown of thorns, His only

throne a bloody cross.

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Immediately after the “Triumphal Entry”, John goes on to link it with another

event which probably occurred a day or two later in this strategic week -- the

visit of certain Greeks to the Passover Feast found in John 12.

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John 12:20-26 ESV

Some Greeks Seek Jesus

20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him,

“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip

went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the

Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls

into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep

it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am,

there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”

The disciples must have been amazed at this reaction of our Lord.

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These Greeks probably had come into contact with the teaching of the Old

Testament, drawn by its purity, its monotheism, its clear message of the nature

and the greatness of God.

Though they had not become Jews they did go up to the Passover Feast to

celebrate along with the Jews.

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You remember that the outer court of the Temple was called "the court of the

Gentiles."

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Many Gentiles would go up at times like this to celebrate, although they could

not go beyond those courts on pain of their life.

These Greeks picked out the two disciples who had Greek names, Philip and

Andrew.

Philip, we are told, was from Bethsaida, on the northern side of the lake of

Galilee, the area where the Gentiles had most fully settled.

These were sincere people, not curious tourists, who said to Philip, "Sir, we wish to

see Jesus."

Preachers often see this phrase written inside pulpits, offered as a message that

hopefully reflects the desires of the congregation.

Ray Stedman says he has seen these words in many pulpits and has been

humbled and challenged by them.

John 12:21

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Here, however, these words awaken an unusual response from Jesus.

He has not been pleased by the triumphal entry, but when He hears that a group

of Gentiles want to see Him, His response is remarkable.

Immediately He declares, "The hour has come for the Son of man to be

glorified!"

Several times in the gospel of John we have heard Jesus say "My hour has not

yet come."

When His mother came to Him at the wedding at Cana and asked Him to help

with a problem He said to her, "Woman, ... My hour has not yet come," (John 2:4

RSV).

He did not mean He would not help her, because He did.

He meant that what He would do would not accomplish what she desired

because His time had not yet come.

On several other occasions, He made the same point.

But the moment He hears of these Gentiles wanting to see Him He responds in

these words, "The hour has come..."

Jesus goes on to utter words that Stedman has described as the formula of

focused attention: "Truly, truly, I say to you."

When you see these words, pay close attention to what follows.

"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone."

What does He mean by that?

He is talking about Himself here and He is also eventually talking about His

followers.

He is the grain of wheat in this story.

Unless He is willing to die, unless He goes to the cross, which He sees looming in

the immediate foreground now, His whole purpose in coming to Earth will have

been wasted, He will remain alone.

"But if it dies, it bears much fruit."

He sees these Greeks as the first fruits, the symbol of the great harvest of Earth for

which He came.

Perhaps He thought something like this: "These Greeks have asked to see Me.

What does it mean to 'see Me'?"

Picture a grain of wheat in your mind: can you see that grain, so tiny?

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Outwardly you can see what it is, but can you really see it, its full potential?

No.

In order to see it you have to plant it in the cold, dark earth.

If you watch it, eventually a green sprout will appear, then the blade, then the

plant, then the stem, and finally a head.

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At last it turns golden; the harvest has come; but have you seen everything in

that grain of wheat?

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No, not yet, you must plant those grains again and again.

At last, when you stand one day beside a shimmering field of wheat, rippling in

the breeze, golden in the sunshine, you can say you have seen a grain of wheat.

Shimmering Field of Wheat

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You have seen all the possibilities of it; all of it has been unfolded and now is

visible to the eye and that is what Jesus meant.

The world would not see the full outcome of His work and His life until He went to

the cross.

If He had not died we probably would not know any more about Him than we

know of any other religious leader, like Buddha, Mohammed, or Confucius.

It was His death that saved us, not His coming.

We may not have even heard of Him at all, so meager were the results of His

teaching that only a relative handful stood with Him to the end.

Because of the cross, He was able to do something He could never have done

otherwise.

In dying, He was able to share His life with millions of people.

How do we explain men like Luther, Knox, Zwingli and others who changed the

entire Western world during their lifetime?

How do we explain the impact of men like the Wesley brothers?

How do we explain the change in the hatchet-man of the Nixon administration,

Charles Colson, who changed the prison system of this country in the name of

Jesus?

How do we explain Solzenityn and millions who daily evidence an altered life, a

changed outlook?

Everything has come about because of the cross of Christ and God is saying to

us in this account that the only way to true glory is to die.

Jesus applies this to us in the next two verses in John 12.

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John 12:25-26 ESV 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep

it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am,

there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

Here is the great Christian paradox, the unmistakable mark of an authentic

gospel: It begins with dying, with a cross.

If the gospel that you hear preached on the radio, the television, or wherever,

does not begin with a cross, does not begin by telling you that something in you

has to die, it is not the true gospel.

This is the identifying mark.

How these words of Jesus cut across the philosophy of life today!

Television programs, magazines and popular songs present the philosophy,

"Your life is your own! Live it the way you please! Watch out for No. 1! Do your

own thing! Live so that you can join with Frank Sinatra singing, 'I Did It My Way'!"

But Jesus declares that if you follow that philosophy you will lose everything.

Life will slip through your fingers no matter what you do.

You can gain all the material abundance you could ever wish for, the plaudits of

the crowd, recognition by the whole world, but if you live that way you will end

up with nothing; your life will be a total waste of time.

"He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for

eternal life."

That doesn't mean you have to hate yourself.

It means you must recognize that living for yourself will never supply what you

really want out of life.

Only as you surrender to the Lordship of Christ can that be brought about.

From

Success

to

Significance

to

Surrender.

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Halftime Institute

1431 Greenway Drive

Suite 230

Irving, TX 75038

Phone: 855-2ND-HALF

(855-263-4253)

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Surrender is a huge part of the true Gospel and it includes a cross, and that’s

why the cross has become the symbol of Christian faith.

If the message you are hearing today does not begin there, then it's a false

gospel, a fake gospel.

If you are being told that the way to gain a deep and wonderful sense of self-

esteem is to simply come to Jesus and let Him build you up and make you feel

good about yourself, you are not hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It does not begin that way, it starts with a cross.

Dr. A. W. Tozer, the great preacher of a few decades ago said: The cross is the

symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of the human being.

The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had

already said goodbye to his friends. He was not coming back!

He was not going out to have his life redirected, he was going out to have it

ended.

The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing. It slew all of

the man completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its

victim. It struck swift and hard and when it finished its work the man was no

more.

That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and

the ways of man is false to the Bible and cruel to the soul of the hearers.

The faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it intersects it.

In coming to Christ, we do not bring our life up on to a higher plane. We leave it

at a cross. (Gal 2:20)

The grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die.

That is the beginning of the Gospel.

Also, it's not the end.

The end is, "If it dies, it bears much fruit."

That is where life begins.

There is a life we are all born with that must end.

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It is a self-centered life, that thinks only of itself, seeks advantage for itself, is

ambitious and proud.

That life has to die.

That is the beginning of the Gospel.

But if it dies, then another life takes its place, a life that is gracious, loving, lovely,

peaceful, filled with joy, gladness and a deep sense of self-esteem, knowing

who it is and what it was made to be.

That is the rest of the Gospel.

You cannot reverse these two, although people try to.

They jump immediately to the end of the gospel -- life in Christ -- without first

going to the cross.

But that cannot be.

Jesus said so:

"If any one serves Me he must follow Me, and where I am there shall My servant

be also."

In terms of daily, practical experience, what does Jesus mean, "He who comes

after Me must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me"? (Luke

9:23).

What does it mean to bear your cross daily?

It means two things:

First, it means a once-for-all decision; and secondly, a continuing series of

choices.

That is what the cross stands for:

First, it is a surrender of the rule of your life to Jesus. It is a recognition that your

life is not your own.

The key words of the Christian faith are, "You are not your own, you are bought

with a price," (1 Corinthians 19b-20a).

Actually, you never were your own.

That is an illusion that the world is perpetrating upon us through the media.

They tell us that we belong to ourselves, that we have a right to ourselves.

That is a lie.

It's not true.

It never was.

"You are not your own; you are bought with a price."

This is the beginning of true life:

To recognize that fact, to surrender your claim to yourself, to give up your right to

run your own affairs, and to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, to do what He

says, and to stop what He says to stop.

That hurts!

It cancels out your own plans.

It confounds your ambitions at times, it feels like death.

It is death; it's a form of dying.

It also means to daily follow up on that decision.

Keep doing what is right.

Stop doing what is wrong, and do it all in the strength of Jesus' love and

companionship!

The result is that you will truly begin to live.

New power will come, to do what is right.

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New joy will be yours, an inner peace that nothing can take away, a new ability

to love even those you could not love before, because a new life is yours.

You have found a new Lordship and a new life.

Our Lord uses this symbol of a grain of wheat not only of Himself but of everyone

who follows Him.

Have you ever heard a grain of wheat talking to itself?

Stretch your imagination a little and imagine a grain of wheat looking at itself,

admiring itself.

So round, so brown, so fully packed, and saying to itself, "This philosophy I hear

asks me to fall into that dark, cold ground and lose myself. I don't want to do

that. I like myself. I want to stay what I am. I want to hang on to myself, I want to

be myself."

Does that sound familiar?

If the grain of wheat wants to remain the same, it has that right.

But, according to the word of Jesus, it will never change.

4500-year-old grains of wheat discovered in the tombs of the Pharaohs were

found to be absolutely the same as any grain of wheat today.

But when they were planted, these old grains began to grow!

They had been totally unchanged for 4,500 years but now they began to

change - radically!

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But suppose the grain of wheat said, "Well, I'm told there is more to come, a lot

more than I'm experiencing, and the only way I can have it is to fall into that

dark ground and die. So, I'll do it."

And it does so.

It falls into the ground and is covered up and dies.

It's dark and unpleasant there.

The grain of wheat begins to think, "What a fool I was! Why did I ever listen to that

idea? Look what's happened to me! I don't like this at all."

But then it begins to feel a tickle on its back.

It turns around and sees a white sprout coming out.

It says, "What is this that's happening? I didn't anticipate this at all. I've got to

hold a committee meeting with myself and decide what to do about this. I'm

used to being in charge. I've got to determine whether that thing is going to go

sideways, up or down, or whatever."

While it's trying to determine that, it discovers there is a lordship which began to

take over the moment it fell into the ground.

This lordship directs the process quite apart from what the grain of wheat may

feel, directing that a certain part goes down, while another part goes up and

soon breaks through into the sunlight.

Then the grain begins to say, "Oh, this is much better. I'm beginning to enjoy this.

It's not as bad as I thought."

The sprout comes, then the blade, then the stalk, and finally the head.

The grain of wheat says, "I feel fulfilled. I’m bearing fruit!"

Then those grains in the head fall into the ground and they go through the

process again and again until at last a great, shimmering field of wheat is

growing, beautiful, rippling and golden in the sun.

The grain of wheat says, "Ah, this is life as it was intended to be."

Fruitful -- that is what the end of the Gospel is.

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If you belong to Jesus, every day will have its cross, every day will have

something you ought to do but you don't feel like doing.

That is your cross. "He who follows Me must take up his cross daily and follow

Me," Luke 9:23.

Every day has its bit of death in order that it might bring forth life.

The end result is a life so glorious, so complete, so obviously what we were

made for that it is hard find the words to describe it.

The testimony of millions is that it's all true.

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life.jpg?resize=900%2C300

You will find this thought everywhere in Scripture.

It doesn't make any difference whether it's the Old Testament or the New

Testament.

But you will find this only in the Bible!

No other book on Earth will tell you that this is the way to life; only the Bible, only

the words of Jesus.

But His word is true, as He has demonstrated, and as the testimony of over 2,000

years bear witness, He brings life through death.

This is the choice that lies before us.

If we choose to die with Him, then we shall live.

"Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it

remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

Sunday

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Matthew 21:33-45

If I Reject Jesus?

April 2, 2017

First Baptist Church

Jackson, Mississippi

USA

The Plan of Hope & Salvation

John 3:16 ESV 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes

in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 14:6 ESV 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to

the Father except through me.”

Romans 3:23 ESV 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23a ESV 23a For the wages of sin is death,

• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.

• Even Jesus, the one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to pay the

penalty for our sins.

• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in

Revelation 21:8.

Revelation 21:8 ESV 8 “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the

sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the

lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Romans 6:23b ESV 23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8 ESV 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for

us.

Revelation 21:7 ESV 7 "The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will

be my son.”

• Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be conquerors.

Romans 10:9-10 ESV 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your

heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart

one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Romans 10:13 ESV 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

If you have questions or would like to know more, please, contact First Baptist

Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/