So this morning we take a break from our study of the life of David to consider a text from Palm Sunday. And this morning we're in John 12, verses 12 through 26. John 12, 12 through 26. Hear now the word of God. The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, crying out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel! And Jesus found the young donkey and sat on it, just as it was written. Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's pole." 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. The crowd that had met 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 to meet him was that they had heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone out. Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them. The outpourings come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it. or eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, a father will honor him." Next year in Jerusalem, that was the cry from the traditional Jewish Passover and expressed the fervor which the Jews had from their long ancestral home. Jerusalem was where the true Passover was celebrated at the Holy Temple on Mount Zion with the Levitical priesthood. Three pilgrims Festivals were had in Jerusalem, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Tabernacles was the most joyous. Passover was the most somber. Passover was an exciting time, but also a tense time here. Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead. Caiaphas just put Jesus on the hit list. He was to be arrested and be killed. Now right there, that should stop you for a moment. Here is Jesus. Did all these miracles and even raised a man from the dead who had been in the tomb three days and on the fourth day was brought to life. And everybody was telling everybody else that Jesus did this. So much so that the crowd came to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. You know how big the crowd was? Estimated to be 1.5 billion people. But the people that were the closest to Jesus, the religious people, the Pharisees, the high priests, Sanhedrin. They put Jesus on the hill. We have to arrest him, try him, find him guilty, and have Rome kill him because we can't do that. We don't have the power of capital punishment. Why would they kill Jesus For this parable, what wrong did he do? No. He did everything right and nothing wrong. And yet they decided to kill him. Because behind them was the devil. And over and above life is that when people do great things, do good things, there's always other people who don't like it. It's almost like a union job. Don't work so hard, you're making this all good, You know what I mean by that? A union shop. You know, if you're living right here, if you're working at this level, oh no, no, no, take it down to this level. We'll all be happy. Nobody's showing anybody up. Oh, walking close to the Lord Jesus Christ? We don't like that. It's making the rest of us look bad. We who are not, walking close to the Lord Jesus Christ. So you have the Pharisees with a plan to kill. They wanted to do what they wanted to do because it was a struggle for power. They wanted the power. They wanted to be the leaders. They wanted to be in control. And they didn't want Jesus because he said, look, they said, look, the whole world is going to hell. If the whole world goes after him, what will he have left? We won't have anything left. We have the same. They'll take our church from us. Now look at the crowd. They too were an impoverished tribe. God said, wow, he raised Lazarus. Guess what's gonna happen now? He's gonna do what we warned him to do. He's gonna free the Jews from the oppression of Rome. We're gonna become an independent nation with our own leadership. We're gonna be out of here Romans are going to be pushed out. Jesus is going to do it. King Jesus. That's why they waved palms. The palms were a symbol of Jewish nationalism. It's like waving a flag or something. And Hosanna to them was like hail to the chief. Which takes on a whole new meaning today, doesn't it? Hail to the chief. So do you see what was happening? There was a power struggle within the Jews, and there was a power struggle to get rid of Rome. But Jesus is and was not an earthbound King. His focus was much greater than whether the Jews were under Rome. He never formed a committee to study Roman oppression. He never formed an army to free the Jews from Rome. He had a different agenda. His agenda, quite simply, was to die to free his people from the tyranny of sin, which is still tyrannizing people today. Sin is a tyranny. It rules people. It makes people do crazy things. and his love for his people said, I've got to free them from their sin. The only way I can do this is to die for them and take their sin upon my cross, pay the price that they need to pay, and give them life eternal. Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. They said, your kingdom is gonna be of this world. You're gonna take care of Rome for us. Jesus did that. He showed this in a certain way that's not really evident from the text. We get a little bit of that. He started the walk to Jerusalem on foot. He was walking. And at some point, when he got to a ridge, that's when the colt comes in. A colt of a donkey. And of course he's God, so he's here, a bishop, so he says, this is what's going to happen. You're going to see a colt, one that's never been ridden Why are horses never permitted? Do you know why a donkey is never permitted? Usually they object. Excuse me, we don't do that. But this one didn't. Oh, and he said, this is what the owner's gonna say to you. This is what you should say to the owner. And then this is what the owner will do. So Jesus knew exactly what was happening. He got on the donkey and rode the rest of the way, telling them that He was not coming as a man of war, but He was coming as a man of peace. When on that donkey kings rode in like King David, when they rode into the city, that meant they were coming in peace, not at war. was not an earthbound king, and he didn't have an earthbound kingdom, and he came as a man of peace to the holy city. And they threw their cloaks on the ground, they threw their palms on the ground, and there he was. Now, he died, king of the devil. And in his trial, they said, you can't be God, because God doesn't die. Let me just ask you, are you him? And he said, I am. And they said, well, what other evidence do we need? He just admitted it. Let's kill him. And so he died so that we could live forever. And you know that part. You know that part. Well, but here's the part we don't know. Think about this. Before all that happened, the Pharisees, look, you're gaining nothing. The whole world's gonna have to... Some Greeks came. And they said, we wish to see Jesus. And so Philip told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip told Jesus, and Jesus came. And we don't know if the Greeks were there as he said these words, or if he was just a disciple. This is what he said, and this is important, and this is our full business story. The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." You get that? It's time for Jesus to be glorified. And He would be glorified in His death. But He says this, and this means, listen closely, "'Truly, truly, or verily, verily, I say to you, unless I break falls onto the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much." If you had a seed on top of a table, it would not bring you any fruit. It would have to die and be buried in the ground to bring you any fruit. Jesus basically said, unless I'm killed, unless I die and I'm buried, then there's no fruit. But if I die and I'm buried, there will be much fruit. And I believe I'm looking at the fruit this morning. You're here because of Jesus. died for you, you heard the message, you believed Him, and now you're here to worship Him." On Sunday, like he said. But he says, if I don't die, it remains alone. Then he says something that's really crazy. He says, whoever loves his and whatever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." What does that mean? And why is he saying it now? Whoever loves his life in Greek, whoever loves his psyche, Psyche. Psychology. Ego. Self. And whatever hates this life and this world, will keep it for eternal life, so may. Meaning, life that goes on forever. Here's what it means. If you continue to live a self-centered, self-absorbed life where it's really all about you, you will not have that eternal life that you hope for. Now this is not, I'm gonna flip it to make it work for you. It doesn't really need exactly that. I have to flip it. This is what it means. If you're heaven-bound, you will not be earth-bound. What's the word? If you're heaven-bound. One word. Heaven-bound. If you're headed to heaven, you will not be earth-bound. You will not be bound by the things of this world. They won't be your only interest. They won't be your entire interest. You won't be living a self-centered life where Jesus is just your servant. You'll be living a Christ-centered life where everything you do will be for Him and to promote His agenda that he would be glorified and that he would draw people to himself. Amen. Get it? Jesus changes everything. We could never be nothing but self-centered if it wasn't for the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Because all of us are born self-centered. You don't have to teach a little baby, a toddler, how to misbehave. They already know. Right? I have a little grandchild, who will remain unnamed, who has taken swipes at kids in his family. He's pretty good at it. Or, if you could say, he's pretty bad at it. But nobody gave him boxing lessons. If it's not going his way... Now, as cute as a button, I'm not going to abandon myself and say his name. You get what I'm saying. All of us are self-centered. And through our lives, we are in a fight between us on the one hand and us on the other hand. Dave versus Dave. Come on, Dave. One Dave is self-centered. He's the old Dave. The other Dave is Christ-centered. He's the new Dave. And these two Daves It's wrong. And the only way that the new Dave can beat the old Dave is if the old Dave dies. That's right. Die. Self-die. That's what Jesus is saying. If you love your life, self-centered and self-absorbed, if it's all about you, if you don't give a rip about Jesus Christ and his kingdom, guess what? You're gonna get what you want. You're gonna like it. God has a wonderful plan for your life, and you're gonna like it. You'll wake up at a place, hot, though it's not far, you'll be weeping and gnashing your teeth, and you will like it. And so we have this perpetual battle in life. It's a civil war within us. We have to get busy every day praying about it and living a life of holy discipline. And we fail so many times. But every time we fail, we must pick it up, repent, and keep going. It's like losing weight, sort of. Just kind of a symptomatic thing, right? Oh, yeah, losing weight's easy. I've done it millions of times. But I gained it all back. You know, you know what I mean? Tomorrow morning at 9.30, I have an appointment with a nutritionist. I see her on Zoom every six weeks. Great. She tells me great things. I go, you want to know about nutrition? About how to eat properly? Just ask me. I know everything. But guess what? Putting it into practice, that's a whole different thing. Right? It's a whole different gig. You might know, I don't know. Smoker you look the smoker. Yes, Tom. Hey, so you can see yeah You're gonna die You versus you Now listen to me says listen to this especially in light of what he just said. Now, get this. Why did he say it at Palm Sunday? Why is this in here? Because the Pharisees were doing self-thing. They were self-centered. What did they want? They wanted control of the church. They wanted the power. We want Him to do what we want Him to do. He will tell, not us, we will tell Him. Jesus, God, do what we want. It doesn't matter. And the crowd, them too, oh Jesus, it's great. Help me, help me pay my electric bill and get rid of the Romans, would ya? And Jesus said, live the Christ life. And guess what? If you live the Christ life, don't worry. All those other things that you're concerned about, I'll take care of them. Amen, right? Seeking first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you. If you're heaven-bound, He will not be background. That's right. He says this, if anyone serves me, we ask people, hey, do you serve Jesus? Everybody would say, of course I do. Do I serve Jesus? He says, if anyone serves me, he must follow me. That's right. Isn't that simple? It's like, if you're serving Jesus, don't do it out of your own wits, or your own selfish games, or your own selfish goals. Follow Him. He's there, and you're following Him. Amen. Yes, Jesus. We don't have to do this. You're just following Him. You're behind Him. He's leading. He's telling you what to do. It's great. You're walking with Him. It's wonderful. And He says, And the One that serves me, I will be there with Him. Wherever I am, He'll be. That sounds really simple, right? Wherever I am, He'll be. Well, of course, because I'm following Him. If I was following Him, Jesus is there, and I'm coming to Him. Where He isn't, I'm going to be. But it's even more than that. There's a beauty in this. If you're truly following Jesus, things are gonna happen in your life. Jesus things. Heroes. Things. Coincidences. Providential happenings. Where you're gonna be able, in part of, what Jesus is really doing in your midst. You're God's man, God's woman, right? You're representing him. And when that person comes to you and says, hey, I got this problem, and they lay it on you, you're gonna be right there and say, I got a friend, he's a chaplain. They let him be a chaplain at the YMCA. Because the YMCA was founded by D.L. Moody, and it's supposed to be Young Men's Christian Association. The C is largely missing, but not down south. There's a resurgence of the YMCA. So he said, I'd like to be the chaplain of the YMCA. And they said, sure, we have the sea still. And we don't sing the village people song. So come on in. So he's a chaplain. And what a great job a chaplain is. Because you know what? It's like being a shortstop. You're getting balls hit all day long. You get to feel these balls. People come to you with problems in their life. And you get to apply the ball of Jesus Christ. Amen. Because why? Because you love them. Because you care for them. Because you want to pray for them. Because you know the only answer to their problem is Jesus. Right? And because you're following him and Jesus is there. For goodness sake, he's there. Amen. If you're going to follow your own game, Jesus won't be there, and those moments won't happen. Then he says this, if anyone serves me, he must follow me where I am, there will my servant be also. That's where I want to be, don't you? And I love when that manifests itself. That where he is, when there's a God thing, there's a Christ thing happening there to be his role. And he says this, if anyone serves me, the Father will honor you. The Father will honor you and bless you for your service to Him. He'll give you reward even in this life as you follow Him. Who wouldn't want to do this? Who wouldn't want to serve Him, follow Him, be with Him, and be honored by Him? You'd have to be crazy. But that's where you have to die And we're dead to sin and alive to Christ. We don't have to sin. We do, but we don't have to. We've got to reckon ourselves dead to sin. And that is Christ's life. That's the life to live. That's the life to live. During his last visit to Northern Virginia, the great Christian General, Lord B.E. was approached by a young mother who asked him to bless her baby son. How many know that Robert E. Lee was a Christian? How many know that everybody liked Robert E. Lee better than Ulysses S. Graham? In fact, Lincoln asked Robert E. Lee to lead the Union Army. And Robert E. Lee said, I can't do that to a particular because back then people really saw themselves as citizens of the state more than citizens of the United States. Lee held baby and he gave this blessing. Teach him, he must deny himself. It was applying the same principle to himself in Christian faith At least life made such a difference. Deny yourself. Boy, self is powerful. Because you can live it with all your life. And to deny yourself, you know, is not easy. The more you do, the more you do it. The less you do, the less you get. Build up muscles. Deny muscles. So we need to deny ourselves. Because this is so serious, we must make it a matter of prayer. I think it's funny. We have people praying, and they have everybody on the prayer list I hope you're on your prayer list. I hope that you're on your prayer list first. You're asking for forgiveness, and you're asking for the Lord to work in your life, and you would live out all these things that we're talking about. Amen? Amen. That the Lord would give you grace, and strength, and power, and supernatural might to do these things, because you need them. Amen. Sir, we wish to see Jesus. So simple. So simple. When missionaries Tom and Mabel Willie arrived at the village of Elphal, Panama, they moved into a mud hut with a thatched roof and an earth floor. Tom was often out and about visiting the Indians, but Mabel found herself stuck at home. The center of attention were various villagers who examined her curiously, but couldn't speak to her because she didn't know the language and they didn't know hers. The willing children would come in from a plane covered with little brown insects that she would have to remove with great difficulty and lots of kerosene. Kerosene kills lice. Things like that. Insects. One evening, after the children were in bed, Mabel was overcome with emotion. She ran outside, sat down on an old stump, and complained to the Lord. Lord, Hohenraun was a beautiful public. Is this my beautiful home? This mud hut with a thatched roof and creatures falling from the ceiling? And what about my children? Can I bear this without them? Kneeling by the stone, she continued weeping and praying. Suddenly the Lord seemed to speak to her. He asked, Can you not live in this body, heart, and being? Consider what I have done. She remembered the many blessings and gifts of love that she continually received. Yes, Lord, she prayed, I can live in this moment for you. I give my desire for a beautiful home, my children, my husband, all of it to you. Do with me what you will. That's a beautiful prayer. It's called a prayer of serenity. She later recalled, suddenly peace surrounded me. I rose from my knees and then muttered my compendium, since the Lord placed me there. I looked altogether different in my eyes. I saw what could be done to make it a whole. And I thought of a little poem. Two men looked through prison bars. One saw mud. The other one saw stars. God showed me stars. Remember the famous words of missionary and martyr Jim Elliott, He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep. to gain that which he cannot know. Our Heavenly Father, help us to be those who deny sin and self, and follow you in our service. And know that you are there. And Lord, thank you so much for honoring us. We want to glorify you. In Christ's name we ask for your help. We know we have it.