expressing the goodness of God. I love you, Lord, for your mercy never fails me. All my days have been held in your hands. From the moment that I wake up, until I lay my head, I will sing the goodness of God. All my life you have been faithful. ♪ And all my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able ♪ ♪ Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ I love your voice ♪ ♪ You have led me through the fire ♪ In darkest nights, you are close like no other. I've known you as a father. I've known you as a friend. I have lived in the goodness of God. And all my life you have been faithful. ♪ And all my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able ♪ ♪ Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ Cause your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me. With my life laid down, I surrender, Lord. I give you everything. Your goodness is running after, it's running after me. And all my life you have been faithful. And all my life you have been so, so good, with every breath that I am able. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. It is so true that you don't always have the words come out the way you want them to. And that is a very serious problem. Sometimes you want to make sure that that I guess that old statement that says, I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. I remember stuff like that. I can't remember your name, but there's something wrong with two cells in my head, get overworked sometimes, but very seriously, I wanted him to be the last one up here. So I didn't wanna, before the service, I always appreciate when they come into town and we sings and boy, isn't it something you can sing about that God's good to us. God's really been good. Maybe the most remarkable time I ever heard that song, God's been good, was when that young man from college came and hadn't introduced himself in that group. And then they finally pointed him out at the piano, and he's like 18 or 19 years old. And he said, I grew up on the wrong side of the railroad tracks. And he says, I got all messed up. And then someone invited me to church. I went to church and I got saved. I got to know Jesus Christ as my savior. But my family was all broken, messed up. And he said, then in the process of time, my parents came to church and they got back together and they both got saved. And he says, now we serve God together. And then he's saying, God is good. And that's an emotional testimony, isn't it? God is good to us. And he's good to us even when, like, David was fleeing Jerusalem when his son was trying to take the throne. God's still good to us, isn't he? And don't ever forget that. If you get your eyes down on the circumstances, you forget how good God is. You got to keep your eyes up there and see all that. Well, I don't usually do this, but if you would, Matthew 21 today, they say this is Palm Sunday. They say Palm Sunday, and I've been thinking about the Jews. I've been thinking about witnessing the Jewish people and writing some verses down. I went over that the other day, and I'm going to write some down and type those out. for those interested, because as you witness to Jewish people, they don't believe the New Testament. They don't believe that Jesus is Christ. They don't believe the things that come to your mind immediately. I saw on Ben Shapiro today, he had some guy that said, he spoke to his rabbi and he said, hey, I don't know what happened, but my son just became a Christian. And the rabbi said to him, well, Well, my son just became a Christian too, and they said, let's pray to the Father. So they said, Father, that'll register eventually. It's not exactly doctrinal, but it's an interesting perspective, isn't it? Jesus didn't become a Christian. He's a reason we're Christians, isn't he? You know this, if you would, Matthew 21, look at verse 2, it says, well verse 1, When they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an astide, and a colt with or loose them. and bring them unto me. And if any man say, Ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them, and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy king cometh unto thee meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of the ass. And the disciples went and did exactly as he said, and everything happened just as he said it would happen. But I like those words, Thy king cometh unto thee. thy king cometh unto me." It is the same as in John chapter 12, in Mark chapter 11, in Luke chapter 19, all different perspectives on the same thing because what Jesus was here for was to come unto the Jewish people and they would happily have accepted Him as a political figure, but He came to take care of what's on the inside first. There'll be some other verses we look at that I think are very profound especially for the needs of our day, and our day is in desperate need, isn't it? Although Matthew is this, it is specifically to the Jews, and its primary emphasis is on the kingdom, because God promised back in Isaiah that He would establish a kingdom, and it would be the son of Abraham that would sit upon the throne of David forever, and Isaiah 9 tells us this, and these are common prophecies from the Old Testament, and we'll look at Zechariah today as well. These are prophecies of the Old Testament, and in every way, Jesus was careful to fulfill every jot and every tittle of the law. A jot is, I mean, these are like dotting the I's and crossing the T's. They are the smallest of notes. Like the Yoda subscript is a little dash underneath a vowel at the end of a word, and it makes a diphthong, I think it is, out of that letter. That doesn't make any sense to you probably, but it's about equal to a dot on an I. He fulfilled everything of the law. Why? Because the law condemns us. And he fulfilled the law that we might be appeased, that God might be appeased in our behalf by trusting him. Matthew is specifically to the Jews and it speaks of the kingdom. Israel's king is going to be king over all the earth. And think about that in the light of the news you read today. Israel's king is going to be king over all the earth. That's really something, I guarantee you, that's what's happening. If this is Palm Sunday, and they call it that because Jesus came in on the first day of the week, and they welcomed him as a returning or as a conquering hero, It shows the political reception of Jesus Christ, and shortly after that, it shows the spiritual rejection of Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to think about it. People think about Palm Sunday, and people think about giving something up for Lent. I have no idea what Lent is, and most of the time, I mean, I know what it is according to tradition. But what is important on that day is that Jesus Christ was a sacrifice to appease God, the holiness of God. And folks will say, well, I gave up meat for Lent. Well, you're a vegetarian. What difference does that make? God gave up this or that or the other. I had a Catholic friend who says, well, I just sacrificed. I eat fish on Friday. He said, you love fish. What kind of a sacrifice is that? You'd rather eat fish than meat. What kind of a sacrifice is that? People are glad to do something physically, but what about on the inside? Jesus came to take care of the inside first, and then the outside follows after, doesn't it? Thy King cometh. Let's see what God says today. Let's pray. Lord, would you bless this time together? I sure thank you for the time I had studying. I pray that you'd help me to speak it in words that are plain to understand, and that everyone would see exactly what was going on in this day and what it means for us today. Lord, just bless, and we'll give you the glory in Jesus' name, amen. Well, thy king cometh unto thee. The children of Israel watched for a king all the time. And I just read about Hannah, who gave birth to Samuel back in 1 Samuel, and she wanted so desperately to have a son. Why'd they want a son? Because the Bible says the seed of the woman was going to crush the serpent's head back in Genesis 3. The women of the Old Testament wanted to have a son so that, yes, it was a gift to their husbands and all that. But it was especially this, maybe that would be the Messiah that was promised. Maybe that would be the one that, according to Isaiah, it says, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, the government shall be upon his shoulder. See, all those things are true and they knew those verses. They knew those Old Testament concepts. But you know what? When it speaks of this passage, the first thing you notice is, they are plain words. Very simple words. Thy King cometh. Thy King cometh. They are plain words, but they weren't well received, were they? Now look, it says, so that everything would be fulfilled. Look at Zechariah chapter 9. That's back at the end of the Old Testament. In Zechariah chapter 9, and I preached from here a few weeks ago, but Zechariah chapter 9, look at verse 9. This is exactly what this passage is quoting. In verse 9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! In other words, it's something to rejoice about, to shout about. You shout about something you're happy about, you're excited about, don't you? Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto thee. He is just, and having salvation lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. In other words, it was prophesied that the king would enter Jerusalem on an unbroken beast of burden. Now, we train. I got involved in training a couple of horses, breaking some horses one time. I like horse power and harleys. I don't like horses that much. Okay? But I remember learning how to throw a rope and catch those horses, and I could even heal them. I certainly couldn't do that today. those horses didn't really want to be trained. They were not going to cooperate with us when we did so, and that's exactly what Jesus wrote upon. It was a colt, the foal of an ass. In other words, it was an untamed animal, and he wrote on that animal just like it was the oldest and the best trained animal there was, because the Creator was upon his back. So it's carefully fulfilling this verse. It should have been obvious for all of them. If you're looking for Messiah, wouldn't you wonder if one coming into that city, riding upon this foal, riding upon this animal, and people cutting fronds of palm trees down and laying them in front of them, wouldn't you think that would make you think at least? But he carefully fulfilled that. If you'd look at John chapter 12, notice this. John chapter 12, in verse 14, the Bible says, And Jesus, when he had found a young ass sat thereon, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, thy king cometh, sitting upon an ass as cold. So, it's carefully fulfilling that, and it shows that Jesus was cognizant of that. He understood this was to fulfill all points of the law. Religion still acknowledges coming. You know, salvation is not just turning over a new leaf. Salvation is not joining a church. It's not being baptized. And by the way, being baptized after you believe is a good thing. Joining a church and being faithful is a good thing. But that's not what gives us life. If that were what gives us life, what did Jesus accomplish? I asked some of my religious friends what Jesus did for them. They prayed to his mother. If I'm going to the doctor, do I want to go and see his mother? No, I want to go to the doctor that's trained in that thing. Religion still acknowledges it's coming. But what's important is what's on the inside. What have you done with Jesus? That's one of the questions that are sung to us all the time. What will you do with Jesus? What have you done with Jesus? It's common knowledge that Jesus came, he lived on this earth, and he walked among men, and he was rejected, crucified, and yet all these people witnessed and said he was raised from the dead, and they went out and turned the world on its ear around them. It is common knowledge, isn't it? And people today don't curse Mohammed, they curse Jesus Christ. Why? He is the real thing, folks. He is the real thing. He was careful to fulfill all the Word of God because even though religion still acknowledges His coming, even though that is true, most of them don't have a relationship with Him. Scott sang a few moments ago about how God's been good to us, hasn't he? I don't know the words exactly, but boy, I enjoyed that. And isn't it good to remember daily how good God is to us? I mean, just coming to church today when the weather is just wrong and you don't maybe make it to the top of the hill, but you made it anyway, didn't you? And that's not to say there aren't some issues sometimes, but God's been good to us every day. But if you don't have a relationship with Him, if you haven't trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, the Bible says in John 3 that the wrath of God still abides upon you. Everyone knows John 3.16, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It doesn't say that if you get baptized you will. It doesn't say if you join a church. If you join all the churches, if you're catechized, confirmed, and everything else, it says whosoever believeth in him. Why would you believe on him? Because he's the offering for my sin. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. What was he doing as he came back to Jerusalem? He was fulfilling all these words of prophecy, fulfilling all these scriptures. He was coming back to die for our sins. I think it's Luke that says the death that he was going to accomplish. Imagine that. One verse in one of the four Gospels says he spoke of the death he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. Now when I die, I won't consider it an accomplishment. But his death was. Why? Because he took upon him the sins of the world. He bore our sin burden himself, and though we are condemned to death because of our sin, he paid the price we'd otherwise have to pay. If you were condemned in a court of law, and the judge took off his robes after he sentenced you, and he said, I will, I will serve his term, he can do that. because the crime requires a payment. And Jesus came into that town. He came into that town for the purpose of dying for our sins. And you know, look at Luke 19, verse 42. Luke 19, verse 42. These are verses that are as appropriate for our day as you can get. 19, 42. Verse 41, when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it. Jesus looked from a high place over the city of Jerusalem, and he wept. I suspect you'd weep again, wouldn't you? There's unrest there. Missionary activity is there, but it's pretty much informal. In fact, it's pretty much underground. He wept over the city. But notice the next verse, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou at least, in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. I wonder how many times Jesus says that about each one of us if we haven't been saved. If you just knew what you're missing, if you just knew what's wrong in your life, what's missing in your life, the Bible says we're complete in Him. There's something missing until you make peace with God through Jesus Christ. And He's fulfilling all these things, carefully fulfilling them so that His sacrifice was absolutely perfect, that it would work even for me 2,000 years later. But not only that, notice the fickle nature of the people. In this chapter, they're cutting down these fronds and scattering them in front of him and putting their garments down and hailing him as the returning hero. And then a few days later in Matthew 27, sitting down, they watched him die. as if it's a picnic to be celebrated with your family and watch someone who's innocent die between two thieves. That's not what I'd want to do in my afternoon. Why would they go from hailing him, his entry into Jerusalem, to sitting and watching him as entertainment while he died? Because people are fickle. And you know the sad thing is, people will determine, well I should do that, and then we're so fickle we'll walk away and never do it. They watched but rejected him. They watched but rejected him. They had more political interest than spiritual interest. Do you understand that? They would happily have taken him as a king, thinking that they were fine on the inside. You know, the Jews oftentimes would say, the religious leaders in particular, hey, we're not sinners like the Gentiles. They just considered some people's sin to be worse than theirs, and they just absolved themselves of their own sin. But we're all sinners before God, aren't we? David said, In sin was I conceived, and in sin he was born. We're born with Adam's blood. That's why we're sinners. You're a sinner not because of what you've done, but because whose blood courses through your veins. Now, you need to think about that just a little bit. There is more political interest than spiritual, and the same thing is true today. They wanted a king that would come and throw off Rome's rule. And a few days later, as Jesus stood in judgment, they said, we'd rather have Caesar to rule over us than this Jesus. Those words make me cringe every time I read them. They chose Rome. They chose Caesar, the one they hated, over Jesus, the one they needed. If he had preached a political message, they would gladly have received him and volunteered to be generals in his army. But that's not what they needed. When I came to Jesus as a 12-year-old boy, what I needed was a savior to take away the burden of my sin. Didn't make me no longer a sinner, just paid the price for my sin in full. And I've never, ever, ever, ever regretted that and never will. made all the difference in my life. That's what pertains to my peace. That's why I can say God's always good. More political interest than spiritual. You know, the Bible says in Philippians 3, watch out for dogs. You know what was wrong with dogs? They were confident in the flesh. Goes on and tells us what the dogs were, the concision. They were the ones that were confident in the flesh. And that's what Jesus came to. They were glad to welcome the conquering hero. They just didn't want to do anything on the inside. Man, all the difference in the world. The reason I talked to this friend of mine, it's his sister married to the guy that's been a missionary in Brazil for 30 years and leaves three sons there as missionaries. He passed away a few weeks ago and they had a memorial service for him there in Alabama. And he was friends with our dear friends, the Logans and all that. Had a picture of him and his wife, I mean, Dave and his sister. And they made a mark in Brazil. And Dave said, my sister no longer speaks English. She'll stumble over English words because her language now is Portuguese. That's someone who's been on the mission field. What are they doing? Telling people about Jesus? Like Christians are supposed to do everywhere. You have no confidence in the flesh. What you want is to tell people about a Savior, the Savior. It'll take away the burden of your sin, guilt, and shame. And Jesus was careful to fulfill every single scripture so that he would, under the strictest of scrutiny, that's 1 Timothy 3.16, be shown to be a perfect sacrifice for sin. Well, the Jewish religion, you want to know what religion is? Look at Galatians 1. I often cite this, but remember this in the context. I said they would happily have welcomed a political leader. In Galatians chapter 1 and verse 14, as Paul gives his testimony, he says, I profited in the Jews' religion above my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. He cared about traditions. He cared about what the elders had said, and he rejected Jesus Christ so much so that he persecuted the ones that trusted Christ until he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. But he said, I profited in the Jews' religion. Hey, religion is big business. Religion is big business, but religion doesn't give you hope for heaven. It doesn't give you peace on the day of your death. It doesn't give you a joy on your deathbed. When Paul was facing death, he says, time my departure is at hand. That's not the same thing as people being dragged kicking and screaming into a Christless eternity. And what does Jesus do? He comes into that town, and he's initially welcomed. But then the Jewish, the religious leaders, turn the crowd against him. They welcomed him, but then they abandoned him. Curiosity about him, but no will to change anything in their lives. No will whatsoever. No spiritual awareness. You know what Jesus said, we just read a few minutes ago? If they could only know the things that pertain to their peace. He looked at Jerusalem and said, if they could only know what's missing, if they could only know what brings peace to them. You know what brings peace? When you're going through the worst kinds of things, you know you can bow your head and heart to Jesus and say, God, give me strength through this. Don't understand it, would you give me strength and give me help and give me comfort through this. You're always good, you always know better than I do. But if you don't know Jesus, how would you do that? How would you do that? Know spiritual awareness and think of the self-serving nature of the religious leaders. They resented Jesus' popularity. In John 12, we looked at in just a moment ago, but just before that, John 11, if you remember, is when Lazarus was raised from the dead. Now, I would probably talk to Lazarus, wouldn't you? What did you see while you were dead? What, did you see a light and all that stuff? The Bible doesn't tell us what he saw. But the religious leaders wanted to put Lazarus to death too. Again, I think that's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. If Jesus raised him from the dead once, and you managed to kill him, what's the likelihood that's going to happen? You know, that's how crazy sin is. The religious leaders hated his popularity, couldn't avoid the fact that Jesus had done great miracles and crowds followed him. They resented that he cleansed the temple. He says, you've made my temple a den of thieves, which is exactly in the same context of these four passages. You've made it a den of thieves. I suspect the religious leaders made money off the sacrifices, the exact of the people. Not just the money changers. I suspect there was a kickback. That's probably where it came from, isn't it? They resented that he cleansed the temple. They were content to have the temple where they gained their employment or their paycheck, if you will. They didn't care how filthy it was as long as they kept getting paid. Remember Paul said, I profit above many my equals in my own nation. It was good business for him. It was a good career for him. And he exterminated as best he could those that trusted Christ until he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. They resented the cleansing of the temple and they should have. If Jesus could look at them and say, oh, I wish you could know what pertains to your peace, why wouldn't the religious leaders look at the people and see that there's compromise, there's death and despair and unhappiness? Why wouldn't they want to find a way to give them resolution? They never did care about that. They cared about making their own living and being comfortable. They rejected multiple prophecies and multiple miracles. Look at John 12. John 12 once again. John chapter 12 and verse 37 it says, But though He, Jesus, had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him. People today are looking for sign after sign. They're looking for miracles and they're hoping that someone can give them the key to when they When they, when Jesus is going to come, I think he's coming maybe in my lifetime, but I wouldn't set a date. I'd know it was wrong. But you know what? He came today. I'm ready to go. Are you? I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. Scott's ready to go. He's been practicing rapture back there while we were singing all this time, jumping up and down, you know, rejected multiple prophecies. That was Israel. Even though Jesus spoke plainly to them, they received him as long as he did what they wanted. They thought he would, but they didn't recognize the needs of their heart. Secondly, there was great pain that came from ignorance. Think about what happened. They rejected Jesus Christ. He came unto his own. His own received him not. Just think of the pain that happened. There was persecution wasn't there. In Acts 18, it states plainly that Claudius, I think it was, commanded the Jews to leave Rome. In that same generation, the Jews were expelled from Rome. They were persecuted. Hey, this is roughly 30 A.D. that Jesus' crucifixion happens. Forty years later, in 70 AD, Jerusalem was leveled. Leveled. The light was extinguished. as best they could. And the Jews were dispersed through the land. And most people remember the German Holocaust, the Jewish Holocaust, don't we? We got to go down and hear that lady that lived through the Holocaust, which was very interesting. It's a real thing. It's a real thing. Why? Because, remember, in John 4, Jesus said, salvations of the Jews to the woman at the well. Remember, we get the Bible. It was holy men of God's spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We get the Bible because of the Jewish nation. We have it preserved because of their careful inscribing it one generation after another. We know Jesus because he came through the Jewish genealogy, and it's all recorded for us. And so if the devil is going to set his mark upon his sights on something he's going to hate God's people because he hates God. And they've been persecuted haven't they. And it's not like it just started in 2000 years ago because Jesus looked at Jerusalem and he wept. If only you knew what belongs to your peace if only you knew and you know what belonged to his peace. The one standing before them that they receive first and then rejected. the destruction of Jerusalem. Remember, and look at Luke 19 verse 44, this is interesting too. Luke 19 verse 44, and I won't go into this a lot. It says in verse 42, if thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong in thy peace. It was their day because their Messiah was presented to them. But look at verse 44. Well, I better read verse 43. For the days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, encompass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, shall lay thee even with the ground. In other words, you're going to be annihilated. and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, notice this, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. Think about all these Jews who received him into Jerusalem, but then rejected him and sat and watched him die. Think about that. That was God's appointment for them to meet their Savior. Now, I'm not saying they didn't get saved. Some of them got saved later on, but predominantly the Jews didn't get saved. You didn't know the time of your visitation. You know what happens when you sit in church? I know. Been in church for a long time, all my life. But I didn't get saved till I was about 12. Didn't get saved till then. But I've been in church pretty much without exception every Sunday and every Wednesday for my life. And I know this, sometimes God's spirit applies his word and just squeezes your heart just a little bit. Remember that? Sometimes an invitation is given. My grandfather gave a testimony of the invitation being given. He was a big man and he grabbed the pew in front of him. His hands were sweating. Why is that? Because God's word was affecting his heart. and you want conviction if you've never been saved, and conviction fills your soul, man, today's the day of salvation. But if you're saved already, and God's convicting you about something, it's simple and plain, yield to God, because yielding to Him is something you never regret. Never regret. So, they knew not the time of visitation. Man typically wants Santa Claus for a God. Something that's clever and cute and you can present to your kids. But my God's a holy God, so holy that the only sacrifice he would accept for my sins is his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. And he was pleased with that sacrifice. I can't even imagine that, but that's how holy our God is and that's how wonderful our Savior is. And the Holy Spirit of God pleads with your heart today. whatever the need is in your heart. And I'll tell you, it's sometimes inconvenient when your heart races and your hands are sweating and conviction's upon you, but that's one of the biggest blessings of this life because God's still working in your heart. God's still working there. It's a warning of judgment. A warning of judgment rarely brings repentance. In Revelation 16, it plainly says that there are all kinds of plagues coming upon the earth and the men cursed God who could take the plagues away. Isn't that crazy? They cursed the God that could remove the plagues. That's because man's heart is so wicked, and desperately so, and doesn't acknowledge the needs that we have from a holy God. The knowledge of personal sin is so important, but it's so neglected. Why did so many of the Jews not come? Remember, when Paul gave his testimony, he said, according to the righteousness which is of the law, blameless. And he was on his way to hell. and he met Jesus. And Jesus saved his soul and made probably the premier Christian of our era, of our age, didn't he? Remarkable thing. And since that time, there have been 2,000 years of persecution, And it's not over yet. Frankly, the worst days are yet to come for Israel. We'll see in just a moment. A great pain from their ignorance. I had a college professor that said, ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is ignorance. And that is a very good statement. Ignorance is ignorance. And the children of Israel could be willingly ignorant of their Messiah. And where did they end up? In a devil's hell. You know, I've preached on hell many times. I don't like the doctrine of hell. If you like the doctrine of hell, certainly you can say, yeah, I'm glad for so-and-so's case and all that, but I don't like the doctrine of hell. I remember we were talking about this the other day in the Vietnam era where these Buddhist monks would pour gas on their heads, sit in the middle of the road and light themselves on fire. Some of you remember that. I remember that. You know, it's horrible to think. Do you think the flames of hell are worse than the flames of gasoline? I suspect so. If you died without Jesus Christ in the midst of a fire, you would find flames that never snuff your life out. You'll live in permanent agony for eternity as long as God lives. I don't really like that doctrine, but it was God who made that doctrine on me. If you want to live without Jesus Christ, if you want to live without God, I don't care how religious you are. You're going to live apart from Him for eternity, and that's not pretty. Not pretty at all. Two thousand years of persecution. Number three, look at the price of submission. Look at the price of submitting to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you would, go back to Zechariah. We were there just a minute ago in Zechariah. And these are verses we've looked at already. Zechariah chapter 13 verse 8. It shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third shall be left therein. This is speaking of Israel, God's chosen people. This is speaking of Israel, the Jews after the flesh, and he says two thirds are going to die. Now, this valley, if it's 120,000 people or thereabouts, that means 80,000. If we were Jews, 80,000 would die before people wake up. Am I reading something into this? Not at all. Two-thirds will die. It says that in Romans 11 as well. In other words, when your heart gets that hard, two-thirds die before one-third wakes up. Boy, that's sad. The Bible says broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many go in there, but it's a narrow way that leads to life, and few find it. And I found it back in 1967. What a joy that was to me. What a joy. Well, two-thirds die. And then if you look at chapter 14, Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of meat. Now remember, back in chapter 9, back in chapter 9, it says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Thy King cometh unto thee. We just looked at that. This is talking about the very last part of the natural creation. And it says, verse 2, For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem. You know where our country is going today? They're starting to condemn Israel for defending themselves. Starting to condemn them. They take out all these innocent civilians. How come they're not still condemning them for lighting bombs, putting bombs and all that stuff, going through and slaughtering people who are guilty of a music festival? I'm not making them out as spiritual giants. They put hospitals over their... In Gaza, they put hospitals over their... their storage for weapons and all of these things, and they hide behind human shields, and they're actually trying to turn all the nations, even America, who's their best ally, against them. All the nations will come against Jerusalem. So you know what's going to happen? America's joining them will be against Jerusalem. You can see it lining up right now. to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Don't even want to talk about that. By the way, the men can do nothing about it. And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Jerusalem is overrun, and horrible things happen to the people there. But I'm so glad the Bible doesn't stop there. What's the next verse say? Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations." Now, this is the same Lord and the same people that rejected Him. And two-thirds are gone, one-third's left. And that's when Jesus comes and intervenes. You know, kids would always say, my dad can beat up your dad. I said it because my dad probably could. Okay. But I'm telling you this. Muhammad's not going to stand in that day. When Jesus goes forth to war, in fact, if you want to know how long war lasts, Revelation 20, it says Satan's loose for a season. He gets an army together and it's not even half a verse where God consumes them with the fire of his mouth, the sword of his mouth. Just like that, that war lasts this long. That long, then shall the Lord go fight. You know what's happening to me right now? My spine's tingling up and down because I'm thinking about Jesus. And you know what happens in that day? You go back just a verse, I think it is, chapter 12. Verse 10, I will pour upon the house of David, that's the royal house, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced. This is written before Jesus came the first time. He's going to be pierced and rejected and then they'll look at the one they pierced and they'll mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. So Zechariah isn't entirely chronological but I can tell you this, Jesus will fight for Israel on that day. And it won't be a long battle. And then the one third of Israel left over will receive him as Messiah. and Savior, and they'll be transformed. They'll go into that millennium. It'll be a wonderful, wonderful day, won't it? Well, Jesus is received. What will that be? It'll be a testimony to the nations. The one hated and despised, the people hated and despised, will be victorious. The ones that were persecuted, God is going to rescue. And It'll be a wonderful day when Jesus comes back. It's the deliverance of Israel. But I say all that to say this today. What about today? My first point was God spoke plainly to them. God spoke plainly, Jesus plainly said, quoted Zechariah, thy king cometh unto thee and was careful to fulfill that. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to compare coming into the city like this and coming into the city in fact the way he did. They're the same. God's speaking plainly today too. Acts 17 says God's appointed a day in which all the world will be judged. Every one of us, every one of us will stand before God, won't we? The Bible says today is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 4, I think it is, or 6. Today's the day of salvation. I'm so glad I got saved back when I did. It says in Matthew 6, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Listen, we get so distracted by all the things that are required of us that sometimes the kingdom of God, which is the inside kingdom, righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. We neglect that. As Jesus sat and looked over that city and wept because they didn't know it was their day, didn't know what belonged to their peace. You should have your heart broken every day for those people out there that don't know the Savior you do. Every day. And you know one day Jesus is going to come and take us as his church home to be with him. That's fairly plain. That's plain, isn't it? We'll all be changed in a moment and a twinkle in an eye, we'll go to heaven to be with him. I hope that's today. If it were today, would you be ready? I'm ready. I'm looking. I'm looking. Well, when will you respond? If God touches your heart today, are you going to put him off? Are you going to put them off? Are you going to say, thank you, Lord, for showing me my need and bow your head and heart and say, God, if you're not saved, God, I'm a sinner. I need a savior. Would you forgive me and save me? If you're a saint, but you wandered far away and maybe your heart's grown cold, God, don't let me be so callous and indifferent to your word as those people were. Lord, forgive me and soften my heart. But when God speaks to your heart, you need to respond. Are you saved today? Today'd be a great day to get saved if you're not. I don't know of anyone in here that's not, but I'll tell you what, if you're not saved today, you'd come amongst friends and people would rejoice with you. But if you're saved today and your heart's just grown cold, boy, Jesus welcomes you back, doesn't he? That's what 1 John's written for. And you know, also 1 John says, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. I'm a son of God. I'm adopted into his family. And everyone that has that hope purifies himself even as he is pure. In other words, he's my father now, my spiritual father, my heavenly father, actually Jesus is my brother. I just want to be conformed to his image, don't you? What's going to happen when he comes? We're going to be changed in a moment. We're going to be transformed into his image. I want to be, submitting more and more to him every day. Do you? If God speaks to your heart about that, you ought to change that as well. Listen, whatever the need of your heart is, Jesus is happy to receive you. And I don't have my piano player right now, but if you need to speak with someone, please give me that chance. Let's pray. Lord, sure, thank you for your goodness. Bless this time together.