John 12

To those that were there with Mary when she poured the ointment out, why wasn't this taken and sold and given to the poor? And of course we know that this was not because he cared for the poor, but because he had the bag and he was taking money out of the bag. And so the hearts are being exposed and the stage is being set for the end here and the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. But today I want to look at these multitudes.

Multitudes. Many, many people here in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas of Judea, as the Lord Jesus comes for the last time here, this last week into Jerusalem, their hearts are also exposed and we see what the average Jew was thinking, what the average Jew was believing in Jesus' day. And I'll tell you, this is a good message for the end times because it's going to happen the same way.

The average Christian is going to be thinking wrong as we get down here to the end. And so let's look here at this multitude. I want to ask a question, and maybe you've seen these kind of things in cartoons and different magazines, but what's wrong with this picture that we're about to look at? What's wrong with this picture? A couple of things here.

Let's read verse 12 and down through verse 15 and look at the picture and ask what's wrong with it here this morning. On the next day, people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna, blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat there on a colt, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold thy king cometh sitting on an ass's colt.

Now what is wrong with this picture? I think if you were there and you had an expectation of a king, a mighty ruling king, you would have said something is wrong here with this picture. And the real issue here or the real problem, perhaps, with the picture is this. Thy king cometh to be sitting on an ass's colt, sitting on a young donkey.

Most on a regular basis when you think of a king coming or a mighty king coming, you think of a king sitting upon a horse and coming with the armies. In Revelation chapter 19, the Lord Jesus will come as a king in that sense. And I want to read to you what it says here in the prophecies of the book of Revelation, Revelation 19, 11.

It says, And I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse. This is not a donkey. This is not a young donkey.

And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns.

And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. This is a king. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. The king is ruling. The king is at war.

And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Now I do believe, and the Bible teaches this, that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. And that someday he is coming. And he will come to Jerusalem.

He will come to this world sitting upon a horse. And that he will be a king in a very, very real sense. But this picture here does not represent him in that way.

He is represented as, in a sense, a king. But he is sitting on a young, young ass or a young donkey. Now we've talked about this before.

But one of the problems in Judaism and a problem that we face today in Christianity is that the Jews were thinking in a temporal, natural mindset, in a physical way. They were looking for a king, a messiah who would be a political king. They were looking for a David.

They were looking for a Josiah. They were looking for a king that would raise the nation in a political sense and throw off the Roman rule and extract them from the bondage of the Romans, the taxation of the Romans. And their interest in their heart was with this natural temporal world.

And so when this multitude cries out, Hosanna, praise be to God. Blessed is he that's coming in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king here of Israel.

Now, in their hearts, what they are thinking is this, that Jesus, this great miracle worker, is coming for a deliverance from the political enemies that we have. He is going to bring in a national deliverance. He is going to be a political king, a political figure.

And the only problem is he should be on a horse, like we saw in Revelation 19. But actually he is on a young donkey or a young ass. And you see this, and we've talked about it a number of times, especially as we went through the book of Mark, but you see the people missed it.

They missed the messiah, the fact that Jesus would come for us to supper before he reigned. And I want to read you in Luke chapter 24. The Lord is walking with two men on the road to Emmaus.

And they exposed their heart, what they were thinking. Jesus has been crucified. There's a lot of confusion about what is going on.

And in Luke 24, verse 18, it says, And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, he's talking to Jesus now. He doesn't know who Jesus is. Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem? Hast thou not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? He's talking about the crucifixion.

And he said unto them, What things? That's what Jesus says. And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which is a prophet, mighty indeed in word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified. Now notice this.

Here's the heart of these disciples as they talk to Jesus. Verse 21 says, But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. We trusted.

Here we've watched him be crucified. We've watched him be put to death. And in our hearts, we were trusting and believing that this Jesus would come and set Israel free as a nation, that Jesus would come and deliver Israel from the Roman bondage, from the authority of the Romans, and make Israel a great nation again.

And so that was the heart of the people. And so as we look at this story of Jesus coming into Jerusalem, these people who are crying Hosanna to the King of Israel, they are thinking in the terms of Jesus is going to be a deliverer. But it was not only the Jews.

It was also the Romans. Even the Romans thought Jesus was coming to be a king. Pilate says to Jesus later on in the Gospel of John, Are thou a king? Are you a king? And Pilate's concern is that Jesus is going to be a political king and overthrow the Romans.

But Jesus answers, very familiar, most of you probably have this memorized, Jesus answered the Pilate with this, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight? Then he makes an important statement. And one word here is very important.

He says, But now is my kingdom not from here. Now, that word now is an important word. Now is my kingdom not from here.

In other words, Jesus is saying to Pilate, Pilate, you're afraid of me because I might overthrow the Roman Empire. I'm getting the masses to follow me. There might be an uproar.

But Pilate, listen, my kingdom is not now from here. It's not of this world. However, as we read in Revelation 19, there is coming a day when Jesus Christ will come.

And as the seventh trumpet says when it's sounding, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and it is Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And so I don't dismiss this idea that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ. But Jesus, speaking to Pilate, says not now.

It's not now. Because if it were now, my servants would be fighting, and Peter would have done a good thing in taking that sword and cutting off the servant's ear when Judas tried to betray him. And so the kingdom of God is a work.

And many people in the church don't understand this, but the kingdom of God is a work. It is an ongoing work that God is doing. And it starts on the inside and moves to the outside.

It always starts. God's work always starts in the spirit, in the spiritual, and then he moves to the natural or to the physical. And so you take redemption, you take salvation.

Where does God begin the work of salvation? He always begins that work in the spirit. Jesus said in John chapter 3, He cannot even see the kingdom of God. And what Jesus was meaning is this, that God's work always begins in the spirit, that which you cannot see, that which is spiritual.

And so the salvation work of God is that which starts in the spirit of man. And so, as we've said here many times, if you've not been born of spirit, if God has not begun a work in your spirit, in your inner man, then you can never see the kingdom of God, not only in this present world, but also in the future. And so when God does a work, he starts out in the inner man.

He starts out in the spirit. And so you start out salvation with a born-again experience. That's where it all begins.

You believe the gospel. You put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection, and God begins his work in your spirit. He makes you alive in Christ Jesus.

Then that work, and it's working today, I trust, but that work moves to our soul. That's what Romans 12, 1 talks about. As a child of God, you need to transform and renew your mind.

Those old thought patterns need to be cast out and new thought patterns need to be applied. You're going to be putting off Ephesians, says the old man, and putting on the new man. That is a process.

We call it sanctification, and hopefully it's happening in all of you. It is a process of God working out a sanctification and obedience and transforming your mind. And then, when the Lord Jesus returns, the physical, the body, is going to have a work done.

And we've talked about that, how that when Jesus comes, that the body will be changed. Listen, you can't do anything with the body right now. There is no changing of the body for the Christian.

The only thing the Christian is asked to do now is to put it to death, is to mortify it, is to crucify its affections and its lusts. But there is coming a day when the dead in Christ will rise and you and I will have a changing of the body. And the work of salvation will be completed.

And the work of the kingdom will be a completed work, starting off with your spirit in the inner man, moving to your soul, and then, here in the future, the changing of the body. And I love what Paul says to the Philippians. In Philippians chapter 1, verse number 6, he says this, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, that's inside of you, in your spirit, he will complete it up until the day of Jesus Christ.

And so this salvation is a work. It's a progressive work that God is doing. And He always does it from the inside out.

And if you want to get on the same page with the Lord, you'll also be working from the inside out. And that's why Jesus said that the Jews cleanse first that which is within the cup, and the outside will be clean also. And so God is working, and His kingdom is working, His kingdom work is being done, but that kingdom work is done from the inside out.

And so here's our problem. Here's what's going on in Judaism, and it's going on in Christianity today. The Jews did not want a king that was first and foremost a king on the inside.

And that is the problem today in Christianity. That is a struggle in my own heart. Do I want a king on the inside? Do I want a king in my spirit? Do I want a king in my soul? Do I want a king who is willing to control every thought in my heart and mind, to bring every thought into captivity unto the obedience of Christ? Do I want a king that tells my heart what to do, where to go, what to say? Do I want a king who really lives in my temple and is a ruler in my heart? You know, that's the challenge today.

It's not how you look on the outside, because you can make a show of things. The Bible talks about that. But the real question is, do you desire a king on the inside? A king that will rule your life in your secret life.

A king that will control your tongue. A king that will give you right motives and right attitudes. A king that will truly produce the fruits of the spirit in your inward man.

You see, that is why these multitudes were saying, Hosanna to the king. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. Give us a king that will affect our outward circumstances.

Give us a king that will change the political environment. Give us a king that will make Israel a great nation, a wealthy nation, a prosperous nation. We want that kind of a king, and I'll tell you what, every American is crying for that kind of a thing, too.

All around the world. Give us a leader that will take care of our temporal, get rid of our problems, our viruses, and make us a wealthy and a prosperous nation. But very few people there are crying for a king that will rule in your spirit and in your heart and say, give me a king that will take control of my life, every thought, every motive, every deed.

I want a king like that. Well, you know what's going to happen? This multitude, many of them, in five or six days are going to be that multitude that are going to call for his crucifixion. They're very effable people.

You know, where is this great multitude when it's crucifixion time? The Bible says the multitudes are out crying for his crucifixion. Well, you know what happened? Jesus didn't fulfill what they wanted as a king. You know, after Jesus comes into Jerusalem and these people are crying out, blessed is the king that comes in the name of the Lord, Jesus goes on the Mount of Olives and he looks over Jerusalem and he weeps over the city.

He weeps over them because they are not understanding who he is and what his desire is. And so I've said this many times before and I just keep repeating it. He is a Jew, which is one, not outwardly, but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly.

Inwardly. You know, I remember I just did an illustration. I remember a number of years ago I was in Georgia preaching and there was a man there that responded one night at the invitation and it was a salvation message and he responded and I went with him to the prayer room to counsel with him and he opened up his heart and he said, Listen, my wife and my children, I've just been deceiving them for all these years.

I'm not a Christian. I don't have a heart for the Lord Jesus Christ. I've just been playing along.

I've been living a life of deception. And praise God that night that man was converted and he's actually in leadership and things like that and he was not real with who he was on the inside. You see, the kingdom of God, Paul said it this way, is not meat and drink.

Meat and drink are those physical things on the outside. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. And righteousness, right heart attitudes, peace, and joy, these are things that are coming out of the inside, the inner man.

And so that is why if you go through the New Testament, you'll find the emphasis on the heart. God's work is an inward work and I'm totally in agreement that if that inward work is being done, that in time the outward will come into line. But our concern ought to be, as the Lord's concern is, with the inner man.

I'm going to throw something out here and I know we've talked about this some before, but I think in the charity circles there has been some issues and some people are splitting and going in different directions, but I think the root of all of these things comes down to this. You know, maybe some of us are older, myself and some of the peers, those who were in the charity circles back in the 80s and 90s, you know, there was a reviving of our hearts and I think that many people came into those circles because they had a sincere love for the Lord Jesus Christ and a sincere heart to do His will and that it came together. There was revival.

I know many places had revival. Many people were converted. Hearts were changed dramatically.

People came into this movement. Well, you know what's happening. Second generation comes along and those people who had revival, their children rise up and their children don't have that heart.

They don't have that desire like their parents had and I think sometimes the parents get a little frustrated. Why can't the youth? Why can't the youth respond like the parents? We want to see a second generation be like our generation. So what happens oftentimes in the church is we have the, maybe the younger generation is just not, don't have the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ and I think what's happening is this.

We say, hey, if this young generation doesn't have the heart, we'll make them have the heart. And so we begin to put in these rules and regulation. We begin to force because we want people to have the same heart and vision that we as parents had and so we begin to do these things and I think much of what's happening today is just a desire to get people to do what we want them to do instead of crying out to God and saying, hey, listen.

We need a revival from the inside out. We need some true conversions. We need to pray and seek God and sometimes we need to just say, hey, if you don't have a heart, there's the door because the church of the Lord Jesus Christ ought to be for those who love Him in sincerity, not for those who have to be forced to love Him.

And of course, if you're forced to love anything, you don't love it at all. So I see all these churches and I go to many of them and I see the burden. And I've told you this before.

People call and say, hey, would you come preach for us? And I ask, well, what would you like me to preach on? They say, well, our youth, our youth. I don't know how many times. Nine out of 10, our youth need a message.

Our youth need revival. You know the parents, they're concerned about the youth and I know that's a real struggle, real concern. I have that concern even with my own children.

But listen, we need a revival. We need not rules and regulations. We need a changing of the heart.

You know, in the church of Ephesus, when Jesus wrote for the church of Ephesus, He said that you've left your first love. You've left your first love. And so the remedy for leaving your first love was not to make more rules and regulations.

The Bible says the law is for the lawless. But what's necessary, Jesus says to repent and to restore your first love. That's what we need.

We need people who are responding because Jesus is truly the king of their heart and they truly love the Lord Jesus in sincerity. Well, you don't have to get rules and regulations for those kind of people because they govern themselves. I mean, the Spirit of God is governing them.

And so you have a multitude of people here who in their heart don't want Jesus to reign there, but they want Him to get the nation in order and to free the nation from the Roman bondage. But as far as telling me what to do every day and ruling in my life and me loving you that way, I don't think so. And you know, we're the same way.

We're as much human as they were. Most of us really don't desire Jesus to be king in the inner man and to bring every thought and motive under His dominion and authority. And so human nature is still the same way.

It doesn't matter whether you're in Greece. It doesn't matter whether you're in Banda Aci. It doesn't matter whether you're in Ohio.

Humanity is the same. I want a king who'll fix my temporal situations, who'll make life easy for me, but don't give me a king who's going to tell me what to do in the inner man. And yet God's work starts in the inner man.

And so Jesus came to begin His work as king in the hearts of people. And the people rejected Him because of it. Well, let's keep reading here in verse 14.

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 on an ass's colt. And here the Lord is coming.

He's a king, but He's sitting on a donkey. And not only a donkey, but a very young one. A colt, a young colt.

Now, this is not a war animal. This is not an animal that a king would come to conquer on. But here's something interesting.

And they should have seen it if they had spiritual insight. But a donkey is a burden-bearing animal. Let me say that again.

A donkey is a burden-bearing animal. You want to carry things? You want to take your corn, your wheat? You want to take some mulch or some burdens? Put it on the back of the donkey. A donkey is a burden-bearing animal.

Christ came to bear the burden of our sin. Jesus came to Israel, and He was showing them how He wanted to be their king. I'm going to sit on a burden-bearing animal because I'm going to show you, I want to bear the burden of your sin.

And I'm going to die for the sins of the whole world. Isaiah 53, if they had read the prophecies, Isaiah 53 says, Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. And so this donkey, the Lord is trying to teach these people, I am coming to bear your burdens.

I'm not coming to conquer your enemies. I'm coming to bear your burdens. I'm coming on the back of a donkey.

I'm going to bear your sins. And so Christ bore our sins on the tree. And that's what this donkey, in some ways, is representing.

So the kingdom of God, when Jesus is coming king, He first wants the people to know it requires, for me to be your king, it requires, first of all, me to forgive your sins. If I'm going to live and rule in your heart, you need to be cleansed from your sin. And I'm going to come on the back of a donkey because I'm going to bear your burden.

I'm going to carry your sorrow, your sorrow and burden of sin. And I'm going to be your king. And many of you have experienced that.

You know, you came to Jesus very first thing. Lord, I'm a sinner. I have a burden, a big burden.

Will you carry it? I'm going to give it to you. And the Lord started His work of being your king because He bore your burden of sin. And that's where the kingdom of God starts.

It all starts there. If you want Jesus to be your king, you have to meet Him on this level. You be my burden bearer.

You be my king and bear the burden of my sin. And that starts in the inner man. You know, the Lord didn't tell me, if you want me to be your king, then I want you to dress differently.

No, if you want me to be your king, I'm going to come to you on a burden-bearing animal. And if you want me to bear your burdens, I can be your king. The Bible says, cast your burden on the Lord for He careth for you.

So you recognize, God cares for me. He loves me. God so loved the world.

He loves me, and I'm going to throw my sin on Him. And He's going to be my burden bearer. You can come to Him that way.

That's the very beginning. That's where it starts. And you'll enter the kingdom.

And God will start a work in you. If you'll come to Him that way, and that's the king. That's the real king.

Well, something else that I think is important is that this is a young ass. It's a young ass. And of course, Jesus would bear this burden in His youth.

30 years old, roughly. Jesus is going to bear the burdens of the sin of the world as a young man in His prime. As a matter of fact, if you're a rabbi or a teacher, you can't start your ministry until you're 30 years old.

And so here is this young rabbi, Jesus Christ, coming. His ministry is just beginning. And in the very first years of His ministry, He is going to die and suffer.

So this burden-bearing animal is a young colt. Do you remember Joseph and Mary? Joseph and Mary. Well, let me share this with you.

It's something else about this colt. This colt represents, or this donkey represents, humility. Humility.

You know, when a king comes to conquer, there's no humility. There's, just like we read in Revelation, He is going to smite the nations. He's going to bring them underneath His feet.

But here the Lord comes with a very humble animal. And a young one at that. A donkey.

Lowliness and humility. And I thought of Joseph and Mary. You know, Joseph and Mary were a very humble couple.

They were very poor. And when it came time for marriage, you have to be transported there, Joseph sat her on a donkey. Not a horse.

They were poor people. And so Jesus here is showing not only that He is coming to bear their burdens, but He's also coming with a meek and a lowly heart. Lowly.

Not a conquering king, but a lowly one. And these are very familiar verses, but I want to read to you what Paul says here in Philippians chapter 2. He says, Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. That's humility.

And took upon Him the form of a servant. That's humility. And was made in the likeness of men.

And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself. That's humility. And became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.

You talk about a humble death, a humiliating death, the death of the cross. So this donkey represents humility. So your king is coming to you.

He's coming to bear your burdens. He's coming very lowly and humble. He's going to lay His life down.

He's going to be a servant. Even though He's God, He's going to be a man and walk amongst you. He would not fight as a warrior king.

But He would lay His life down as a savior king. Now here's why they missed Him. Here's why they missed Him.

They were looking for a warrior. They were looking for a conqueror. A conqueror over the Romans, not a conqueror over sin.

And you know today, Christians need to be careful not to fall into the same trap. Do we really want a king that will deal with our inward impurity and wickedness and wash us and cleanse us and help us to live holy from the inside out? Or do we want some ruler who will give us what we want in this temporal world? You know, I'll tell you what, you talk about the end times. I'll tell you what, when there are wars going all over the place, when there are earthquakes and famines and people are hungry and there is pestilences and viruses like we're dealing with now and all these things converge in the end times, the natural man, the natural heart is going to cry out for a deliverer.

Someone, Donald Trump, someone anywhere who will give us answers to our problems, who will help our world. You know, we see a lot of this globalism, a lot of all these things about our world, saving our world. Well, the Lord is interested in saving the soul of man.

And there'll be a lot of cries in the end about false Christ who will give you answers for this world. And there are people whose hearts are in this world who are going to run after them. They're going to run after them.

It's going to be the spirit of Antichrist. Remember I talked to you about this last week, 1 John chapter 4, the spirit of Antichrist, they are of this world, they speak of this world because their hearts are in this world. But Jesus came preaching the inward man and getting your heart right and your spirit right.

And they did not receive him. Well, if you jump down to John chapter 12, we'll look at this later on in verse number 31, Jesus is speaking here. He says, Now is the judgment of this world.

Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. He's speaking about laying his life down and how he will destroy the devil who had the power over humanity because of sin and the fear of death and a guilty conscience.

You know the devil holds power over most people because of the fear of death, of a guilty conscience. They fear death and therefore they're in bondage. The book of Hebrews says.

He's holding them. Slaves. And so the Lord is coming to set them free and to judge the prince of this world.

He's going to be lifted up. Verse 33, this he said, signifying what death he should die. Well, let's keep reading here because it goes on to say in verse 15, Fear not.

Fear not. Daughter of Zion, behold thy king cometh sitting on an ass's colt. Fear not.

I don't know what they were thinking in their heart when they heard those words, fear not. But the Lord here is saying, listen, I'm coming to bury your sins. You don't have to fear.

You don't have to get into the bonds of the devil anymore. I'm going to set you free. And if I set you free, you're going to be free indeed.

You know, truthfully, most of our fears come because of unresolved issues in our hearts. Guilt, condemnation in the heart produce fear. And you know, when our sins are resolved in the heart, we can have boldness.

That's why the early church was so bold because their sins, their past was underneath the blood. It was resolved. And therefore they could be bold.

Proverbs 28 one says, the wicked flee when no man pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. In other words, if the heart is guilty, people are very fearful. It's one of the reasons why there's so much fear today in society, because there's a lot of guilty consciences.

And that's why people fear calamity and fear death because of a guilty conscience. But when the guilt is taken care of and the righteous can be as bold as the lion, you know, we ought not to shrink back. We ought to have a boldness.

Is your sin resolved in your heart with God? So many people are fearful. Well, the Lord has come to deliver us from that fear. He says, fear not daughter of Zion.

I'm coming on an ass's cult to deliver you from your sins and the guilt of it. The Bible says here, the wicked flee when no man pursues. Listen to this story.

There is a tradition. There is a tradition to the effect that a man named Noel Coward. What a name, Noel Coward.

Sent identical notes to 20 of the most prominent men in London saying, all is discovered. Escape while you can. And all 20 of the men abruptly left town.

You know why? Because that note, all is discovered. Escape while you can. Brought conviction and a guilty conscience.

They found out who I really am. I got to get out of here. You know, the truth of the matter is that all of our past and all of our lives, and none of us would like it all to be found out.

And there's always skeletons in everyone's closets. And if those skeletons in that past is not resolved, there's going to be a lot of fear and anxiety in the heart. But Jesus come, he has come to resolve that fear and to deal with that sin.

And so he's encouraging the people, don't be afraid. I'm going to come and be a burden bearer and carry your guilt and your condemnation. Verse 16, these things understood not his disciples at the first.

In other words, they didn't get it. But when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him. Now I want to share with us as families here some very important things, principles.

It says here when Jesus was glorified, then they understood and remembered. What happened when Jesus was glorified? Well, when he was glorified, he gave the Holy Spirit to his children. And the Holy Spirit is what brought these things to remembrance.

And the Holy Spirit took the word of God. They had been taught and brought it to remembrance and taught them in their situations of life. I'm going to read John 14.

We'll get to this here in probably a few months. But in John 14, verse 26, it says, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost whom the father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance.

Whatsoever I have said unto you. Now, the Lord was teaching the disciples. And when he left, he said, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit and that Holy Spirit is going to take what I taught you and bring it up to your mind.

Bring it up to your remembrance. Sometimes you go through life and you say, what should I do here? Oh, I just cut a thought and it's from the Bible. That's what I ought to do.

I wonder where that thought came from. Well, you have someone, the Holy Spirit of God in you, and he is to bring to remembrance the word of God and to remind you what you ought to do. Now, many years ago, back down in North Carolina, they used to have these revival meetings down there.

Manny Troyer, church in North Carolina. And I would go down there. Sometimes your dad asked me to speak there.

But I remember one time, Denny Kenniston was preaching there and he preached a message. I still have it in my heart, in my memory. And he talked about why should you teach your children the word of God? You know, many times we say, well, why teach our children? I've entertained the thoughts here.

Well, what good is it going to do our children because they're not even converted? They can't even understand what you're teaching them. But Brother Danny brought up something I thought was very interesting. He said, those disciples that Jesus taught them for three years, they didn't understand many things.

Even this example here, they didn't understand what was going on. And many of the things that Jesus tried to communicate to them, they, it was in their hearts and minds, but they didn't understand it. But once they were converted and the spirit of God was given to them in the book of Acts, then all of a sudden the spirit of God took those things they were taught and began to bring them up to their remembrance.

In other words, Jesus gave them a whole toolbox of good things from his word so that they may not have understood them then so that when the Holy Spirit came after his glorification, then the Holy Spirit had a full toolbox, a treasure of the word of God already implanted in their hearts to bring to their remembrance. And so Brother Danny taught parents, teach your children the word of God, encourage them to memorize the word of God. You say, well, they don't understand all of it.

That's okay. Someday when they get converted, the Holy Spirit can use all of those things to blossom them into the kind of a Christian God would want them to have. You remember there in Romans chapter 2 when Paul said about the Jews, what advantage have the Jew? What did he say? Much in every way.

Much in every way. Why is the Jew advantaged much in every way? He says because unto them were committed the oracles of God. They're the ones who were taught the word of God.

And so they have great advantage when they're converted. All the information is already in there. You know, when I was converted at age 19, I had to program all the information in.

I didn't have it in there. I took this Bible at age 19 after my conversion. I said, what's this? And started to read it.

And it was all pretty much new to me. You know, some of you have grown up, grown up in religious backgrounds. You've heard these things most of your life.

And a lot of this stuff is already in your heart. So when you get converted, you're far, far advantaged over where I was. That's why as parents, we ought to teach our children, even if they're not converted, because you put it in the heart and then you wait for that day that the Holy Spirit will convert them and they'll believe the gospel.

Then the Holy Spirit of God has all that truth already implanted. In the heart. So there's advantage to growing up in a Christian home.

There's an advantage in growing up in a home where you're taught the word of God. But always remember this. With advantage comes responsibility.

And so because you have advantage, you're also going to be held accountable for that advantage. So some of you had 19 years of Bible teaching and you got converted. You're going to be held accountable for that 19 years.

I didn't get 19 years of Bible teaching. And although I've been trying to learn as much as I can since then, but I will not be held accountable. I didn't have parents who taught me the word of God.

We never read the Bible together. We never prayed together. I grew up in a pretty much an irreligious setting.

We would go to church every once in a while, very liberal church, but I didn't have anything implanted in my heart of the word of God. So some of you are listening here growing up in Christian homes. What an advantage you have.

And when you fully surrender your heart to the will of God and you believe the gospel and God can take control of your life, you've already got all of this teaching. All of this truth has already been invested in you. So the Holy Spirit is able to use that.

Verse 17, let's just go ahead and keep reading here. The people, therefore, that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave and raised him from the dead, bear record for this cause. The people also met him for they had heard that he had done this miracle.

That was the raising of Lazarus from the dead. And then verse 19, the Pharisees therefore said among themselves, perceive you how you prevail nothing. Behold, the world is gone after him.

What a scary thought. For the Pharisees and probably a scary thought for the Roman leaders. The world is going after him.

More and more people are lining up and getting in this group called the followers of Jesus. They may not understand. They may not think he's the right kind of a king as we talked about, but the world is starting to follow him and that is putting an urgency in the hearts of the Pharisees and the Romans.

We've got to do something about this man. And so they desire and they begin to very seriously plan on his destruction and that's where we get Judas and the leaders concocting 30 pieces of silver to deliver up Jesus and betray him and to put him to death. And so we see here the heart of the multitude last Sunday.

We look at the heart of Judas the betrayer and now we see the heart of the multitude crying out for the king, but it's the wrong kind of a king and listen Christianity is always going to start on the inside true Christianity. The true message of the kingdom is inside out not outside in but it is inside out God which has begun a good work in you will complete it on the outside changing your body in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I just want to ask you a question here.

We've been talking about the last times and for Jerusalem and Judea. This is the last time this is Jesus coming and if they don't do right here they're going to be cut off as a nation their temple is going to be destroyed and it was and here's a people whose hearts were in love with this world. They loved the temporal the natural they wanted prosperity and peace in the land they wanted their nation to be the pride of the earth that's where their hearts were and they missed the Messiah and I'm convinced because human nature is no different I'm convinced that people today are the same way.

They're wanting a leader that will help them in this present world this temporal world listen God is not interested in changing this world he's already doomed it to destruction just like your physical body your body you don't need to try to change it it's a vile body all you're asked to do is crucify and mortify your members put it to death God's going to give you a new one this world we're not going to change it the Bible says that the Lord's going to make a new heaven and a new earth just like your new body you're going to get a new earth and don't get swallowed up with this spirit of this philosophy that we need to change our world what we need to do is the church is to change our world from the inside out and go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature so that people can throw off their guilty conscience and their burden and come and have a heart that loves Jesus Christ in sincerity and looks for a city whose builder and maker is God I got a few people here today can you say amen to that brother Dennis and so that's the heart of God and one of the great deceptions I've told you this before and it's coming upon these last days the same thing the Jews face religious people yes but their hearts were in this natural world the antichrist is going to come he's going to have a pipe he's going to he's going to pipe a sound and that sound is going to be this I'll make a better world I'll take care of your viruses I'll take care of your economic problems I'll take care of all the political problems and the strife in the political world I've got the answers for you and those whose hearts are oh we want this present world are going to follow the pipe but you and I are not looking for this world to make it a better place we're looking as Peter says for a new heaven and a new earth where in dwelleth righteousness this world's done it's it's corrupt it's beyond fixing and only the Lord so one can give us a new heaven and a new earth so don't listen to those voices those voices are kind of strong globalism global warming climate change let's all get together and fix our world's problems yeah I can agree let's all get together and fix our world's problems if we recognize what the world's problem is and the world's problem is we need a king for the inward man that's what we need we need someone to govern us from the inside so that we truly can love the sheep and love our neighbor as was shared here this morning the reason why that that we don't love and there's more hatred in the world today because iniquity abounds people's lives are full of sin because of that they have a guilty conscience and I tell you what we have a guilty conscience you get frustrated with people you can't love people get angry you lose your temper you can't shoot somebody and that's what our world is going to be they need they need first and foremost a new heart and a new spirit will I give you and so that's where we as a church are to part of press in a new heart and a new spirit well let's close today and we'll have just a word of prayer and then brother cleat you can share take over here