The word of God from John chapter 12
beginning at verse 12 and concluding with verse
33.
On the next day many 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 upon it as it is written,
Fear not daughter of Zion behold thy king
cometh sitting on an ass's colt.
These things understood not his disciples at the
first but when Jesus was glorified then remembered
they that these things were written of him
and that they had done these things unto
him.
The people therefore that were with him when
he called Lazarus out of his grave and
raised him from the dead bore witness.
For this cause the people also met him
for they heard that he had done this
miracle.
The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye
how ye prevail nothing?
Behold the world is gone after him.
And there were certain Greeks among them that
came up to worship at the feast.
The same came therefore to Philip who was
of Bethsaida of Galilee and desired him saying,
Sir we would see Jesus.
Philip cometh and telleth Andrew and again Andrew
and Philip tell Jesus.
And Jesus answered them saying, The hour is
come that the son of man should be
glorified.
Verily verily I say unto you except a
grain of wheat fall into the ground and
die it abideth alone but if it die
it bringeth forth much fruit.
He that loveth his life shall lose it
and he that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal.
If any man serve me let him follow
me and where I am there shall also
my servant be.
If any man serve me him will my
father honor.
Now is my soul troubled and what shall
I say?
Father save me from this hour but for
this cause came I unto this hour.
Father glorify thy name.
And then came there a voice from heaven
saying I have both glorified it and will
glorify it again.
The people therefore that stood by and heard
it said that it thundered.
Others said an angel spoke to him.
Jesus answered and said this voice came not
because of me but for your sakes.
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.
This he said signifying what death he should
die.
May God speak to our hearts from this
word.
New York City is famous for its ticker
tape parades and as I understand it there
are three parades that hold the record.
Back in 1927 when Colonel Charles Lindbergh came
to New York City following his epic making
flight the city tossed down from the windows
1,800 tons of paper.
Aren't you glad you weren't working on the
street cleaning department.
That was the record until 1951 when Douglas
MacArthur came home and the city gave to
him 3,249 tons of paper.
That's a good record but then Colonel John
Glenn showed up and he had orbited the
earth three times and nobody had ever done
that before and so he was given 3
,474 tons of ticker tape and confetti in
honor of the occasion.
They didn't have ticker tape back in Jerusalem
in Jesus day obviously they didn't have the
tickers to tape with but they had palm
branches and to a Jew a palm branch
is a symbol of victory.
Victory and triumph after war and they used
to take their outer garments off and lay
them down in the road to let the
king know that they were his.
Gladly would they have placed themselves on that
road but that they couldn't do and so
they placed their garments on the road.
But while all of this was going on
the shouting hosanna which means save now blessed
is the king of Israel that cometh in
the name of the Lord while all of
this was going on our Lord Jesus was
not the least bit impressed.
He wasn't impressed by the size of the
crowd he wasn't impressed by the noise of
the crowd.
The one thing that did impress him was
the praise of the little children even the
children sang out and praised him.
Our Lord was concerned really about one thing
the glory of God not the glory that
came from Jerusalem not the glory that came
from the crowd the glory of God.
In verse 23 the hour is come that
the son of man should be glorified he
prays in verse 28 father glorify thy name
and the father speaks from heaven he had
spoken at the baptism from heaven he had
spoken at the transfiguration from heaven now he
speaks as the Lord is about to go
to Calvary and he says I have both
glorified it and will glorify it again.
Our Lord's great concern was not the praise
of men but the glory of God.
In fact the whole theme of this parade
the whole theme of what we call Palm
Sunday is the glory of God which by
the way is a theme that is greatly
neglected today very little of what is said
and done even in the name of religion
today is concerned with the glory of God.
I wonder how much I did this past
week over which I was able to pray
Lord glorify thy name.
The Lord Jesus Christ is revealing to us
the glory of God and he does it
in a very unique way.
We see the Lord Jesus from three different
views.
We see the glory of the King as
he relates to Israel and then the Greeks
show up and we see the glory of
the Savior as he relates to the whole
world not just Israel.
You say you can't get any bigger than
that oh yes you can.
Then we see the glory of the judge
as he reaches out into that invisible spirit
world and conquers the enemy and brings deliverance
not just to Israel and not just to
the world but to the whole universe.
Let's look together at these three views of
the glory of God and see what they
mean to our lives today.
It may be that the problem you're facing
today can be solved by the glory of
God.
It may be that the burden that you're
carrying can be lightened by the glory of
God.
It might be that someone who's walking a
very difficult uphill path can be encouraged today
if he'll only get a glimpse through Jesus
of the glory of God.
In verses 12 through 19 of John chapter
12, we meet the glory of the King.
Hosanna!
Blessed is the King of Israel.
Fear not, daughter of Zion.
Behold thy King, the glory of the King
as it relates to Israel.
Do you know that this is the only
public demonstration Jesus ever permitted while he was
here on earth?
He was constantly saying to people now keep
it quiet don't go tell everybody.
He healed the leper and said now go
see the priest but don't tell anybody and
the leper told everybody so much so that
Jesus had to retreat out into the wilderness
to have time alone to pray.
Our Lord was constantly fighting the crowd.
One day he saw the crowd and turned
and said you can't come after me unless
you deny yourself and take up your cross
then you can follow me.
Our Lord did everything he could to cut
out the crowd, to thin out the ranks.
He knew there were many like in this
crowd who followed him because of the miracles
that he had done.
The pilgrims that came from Galilee knew our
Lord Jesus because of his ministry there.
The pilgrims who lived around Bethany knew the
Lord Jesus from his raising of Lazarus.
These two crowds came together and then the
other crowds of pilgrims joined them and got
psyched up in the emotion of the hour
but our Lord permitted it.
There are two reasons why he permitted it.
Ordinarily Jesus said no parades, no shouting, no
crowds.
Reason number one he was fulfilling the Old
Testament scripture.
I am not mathematician enough to calculate all
of these things but those who know tell
me that you can calculate from Daniel's prophecy
in Daniel 9 to the very day when
the Lord Jesus entered into Jerusalem.
If you're interested in the statistics get a
hold of an interesting book by Sir Robert
Anderson in which he discusses this very subject.
Sir Robert Anderson sat down with the royal
astronomer in England and they figured out all
the new moons and they figured out the
extra days and lo and behold they came
to the conclusion in his book called the
silence of God that the very day was
that day of prophecy.
Now Jesus was fulfilling in time what Daniel
wrote and in event what Zechariah wrote.
Back in Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9
here's what the prophet said.
He looked down the centuries and he saw
he saw what God was going to do.
Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion.
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.
Jesus was fulfilling this Old Testament prophecy.
It's interesting to see what John leaves out
when he quotes this.
John says fear not daughter of Zion.
Behold thy King cometh sitting on an ass's
colt.
John doesn't say rejoice greatly.
They had nothing to rejoice over.
Their city was going to be destroyed.
They were going to reject their King.
Judgment was going to come.
Jesus didn't rejoice when he came to that
special place in the road.
He looked over Jerusalem and he wept.
Thy King cometh and yet they said we
have no King but Caesar.
He is just but they treated him unjustly.
All of his rights were taken away from
him.
He has salvation but they wouldn't receive that
salvation.
They received instead condemnation.
Lowly, yes he was lowly, but they were
looking for one to come on a white
charger.
Perhaps riding in a golden chariot.
That's why they were crying out Hosanna save
now.
Deliver us from Rome.
Deliver us from slavery.
Reestablish the great kingdom of God in Israel.
Oh how blind they were to their own
scriptures.
Just like people today.
People invite Jesus to do all sorts of
things he's never going to do.
They said you come and be our King.
He said I can't take the crown until
I have the cross.
You come and take the scepter.
No I can't take the scepter until first
I've felt the rod.
Enter into your glory.
No first there has to be the suffering
and then the glory.
Our Lord permitted this demonstration to fulfill prophecy.
But there was a second reason why he
did it and this is most interesting.
You'll remember that the chief priests and the
Pharisees had gotten together and decided to kill
Jesus.
Even the high priest said it's necessary it
is expedient that one man should die for
the nation that the nation perish not.
He didn't even realize what he said.
Being the high priest he spoke a prophecy.
They said we've got to kill this Jesus
of Nazareth but not during the feast lest
there be some kind of a riot.
Ah but he had to die during the
feast.
God's calendar had been set up centuries before.
The Lamb of God had to die on
Passover when they were slaughtering their lambs in
the temple.
The Lamb of God had to be dying
on a cross.
Oh they couldn't wait until after the feast.
The politicians said we're going to schedule it
after the feast.
The providence of God said no it's going
to be during the feast.
And when Jesus rode into Jerusalem you know
what he did?
He forced the Pharisees and the chief priests,
he forced them to change their plans.
They looked out the windows and said look
the whole world is going after him you
better do something.
And about that time Judas came to their
help and their aid and said I'll be
glad to give him to you if you
pay me.
Our Lord Jesus by riding into Jerusalem displays
the glory of the king.
The glory of fulfilling Old Testament scripture.
The glory of accomplishing Old Testament promises.
The glory that can one day belong to
Israel because Jesus is their king.
Now they didn't want him as their king.
I speak to some people right now who
don't want him as their king.
They would say with that mob we have
no king but Caesar.
Whoever feeds us leads us.
Caesar gives us food.
I had a letter this past week from
someone who was very unhappy with the Founders
Week prophetic conference.
And her reason for being unhappy was, quote,
you people take the Bible too literally, unquote.
And she tried to prove in her letter,
and I appreciate her kindness in writing, that
we cannot take this literally.
There is not going to be a literal
kingdom.
But Jesus said there was.
And Paul said there would be.
And so did Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel
and Daniel and all the prophets, Moses, Samuel.
One day our Lord is going to ride
into Jerusalem but not lowly upon an ass.
Read it in Revelation chapter 19 beginning at
verse 11 where heaven opens and there comes
forth a white horse and him who sits
upon it is our Lord Jesus Christ.
And he rides forth conquering and to conquer.
And he will deliver his people Israel.
And he will establish the throne of David
his father.
And he shall reign in righteousness.
The glory of the king.
Now in verses 20 through 26 we see
the second view of his glory.
That's the glory of the Savior.
He's not talking now about Israel.
He's talking about the whole world.
Some Greeks show up.
This is biblical.
To the Jew first and also to the
Greek.
These Greeks were coming to the feast because
they weren't satisfied with their Grecian religion and
philosophy.
You know Greece had a lot to offer.
Beautiful architecture.
Gorgeous artistic achievement.
Philosophy was born in Greece.
Modern scientific thinking was born in Greece.
Here were people who had a tremendous heritage
of philosophy and art and wisdom and culture.
Democracy was born in Greece.
But they weren't satisfied.
And they said you know we think the
Jews have got the answer to this real
problem.
Our culture can't change our hearts.
Our culture can't forgive our sins.
Our philosophy can't give us victory over sin.
We need a Savior.
Let's go to Jerusalem to the feast.
And lo and behold at the feast they
didn't get any satisfaction.
All of the ritual and all of the
tradition and all of the religion didn't meet
their need.
And they finally came to Jesus.
By the way if you're honest wherever you
begin you'll end up with Jesus.
If you begin with philosophy and you're honest
you'll end up with Jesus the wisdom of
God.
You begin with culture if you're honest you'll
end up with Jesus.
You begin with religion if you're honest you'll
end up with Jesus.
That's what happened to these men.
They came and said to Philip and to
Andrew we want to see Jesus.
They repeatedly kept asking we want to see
Jesus.
And Jesus wouldn't see them.
He said it's very strange if the Jews
didn't want him and the Greeks did you'd
think he'd want to see them.
No he wasn't ready for them yet.
That grain of wheat had to fall into
the ground and die.
Our Lord is saying I'm going to be
lifted up on a cross.
By the way that's what it means to
lift up Jesus Christ.
I've heard people pray oh may Jesus be
lifted up that he may draw all men.
You don't want him to be crucified again
do you?
When our Lord is lifted up he's talking
about crucifixion.
When he says all men he doesn't does
not mean all men without exception.
He means all men without distinction.
Jews and Gentiles are going to be saved
because the seed was planted into the ground
and died.
My Lord is comparing his body to a
seed.
He's saying if this body remains as it
is it'll always be alone.
But I was sent to this earth to
bear fruit.
I was sent to bring a harvest.
They have to put me into my grave.
I have to die.
And just as you plant a seed in
the ground and it dies to produce life.
So my Lord was placed into the ground
dead and he came forth in life.
Resurrection glory.
And now he's the Savior of the world.
Not only is he the seed but he's
the sacrifice.
If I am lifted up from the earth
I'll draw all men, Jews and Gentiles, unto
myself.
I feel so sorry today for those people
who don't know what it is to have
a Savior.
They've tried culture and they've tried philosophy and
they've tried religion and they've tried all the
things that Jews and Greeks have to offer
and they have a great deal to offer.
But all of the wisdom of Greece could
only point to the Savior.
All of the religion of Israel could only
point to the Savior.
And there he stands and he says the
hour is come for the Son of Man
to be glorified.
Not crucified, glorified.
Isn't that a marvelous thing when you can
look at the difficulties of life and see
the other side?
If I'd been standing there I would have
said Lord why are you saying glorified?
They're going to arrest you.
That's to the glory of God.
They're going to nail you to a cross.
That's to the glory of God because they
will put me in the tomb and I
will be raised from the dead and I
will come forth in glory and I won't
be alone.
I'm going to be the first fruits of
that harvest and you and I can be
a part of that harvest.
Somebody listening to me right now has never
trusted the Savior and you don't have the
glory of salvation.
My Bible says that all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God.
I'm going to be speaking at a banquet
this week, the Lord willing.
It's a Christian high school graduation banquet.
Their theme is something beautiful.
Their verse is Ephesians 2 10.
We are His workmanship.
You know the most beautiful thing in all
the world is the beauty of holiness.
The ugliest thing in the world is sin.
How people can take sin and put it
on a TV screen and entertain people is
more than I can understand.
There's no beauty in sin.
Sin is ugly.
Sin didn't make Samson beautiful, it made him
ugly.
Sin didn't make Judas beautiful, it made him
ugly.
Sin hasn't made this world beautiful, it's made
it ugly.
Jesus says I am the seed and you
put me into the ground and out comes
life and beauty and fruitfulness.
Now my dear friend, if you've never trusted
the Savior, you have lost the glory of
God.
But when you trust Jesus Christ as your
Savior, you're a part of the glory of
God.
When Jesus prayed, He said, Father, I have
glorified thy name.
I have finished the work which thou hast
given me to do.
Now, the glory which thou hast given me,
I have given them.
And Father, I want that one day they
shall behold my glory.
You want to go on in the ugliness
of sin, the wretchedness of sin, or do
you want to go on in the glory
of God?
The glory of the Savior for the whole
world.
But He doesn't stop there.
He's talked about the glory of the King
for Israel.
And they miss that glory by rejecting Him.
The glory of the Savior for the whole
world, Jew and Gentile, whosoever will, let him
come.
But He realizes that behind all of this
is a battle.
Behind all of this is an invisible spirit
world.
He calls it the world.
He calls its ruler the prince of this
world.
He's talking about Satan.
He realizes that behind sin is Satan.
Behind ugliness is Satan.
Behind darkness is the prince of darkness.
And something has to be done about him.
He has invaded God's universe.
And there can never be the glory of
the King for Israel or the glory of
the Savior for the world until there is
the glory of the Judge.
He's going to have to judge the universe.
He talks about that.
Now is the judgment of this world's system.
Now shall the prince of this world's system
be cast out.
How can I, if I be lifted up?
The death of Jesus on the cross not
only purchased a kingdom for Israel and purchased
salvation for all who will believe.
The death of Jesus on the cross was
the great defeat of the forces of evil.
Did you know that there can be no
glory without judgment?
Now you just think about that.
There's no glory without judgment.
Let's take the physical body.
God made our bodies for glory.
But there's a tumor.
There's an infected gallbladder.
There's an abscessed tooth.
And before there can be glory, there has
to be judgment.
The doctor x-rays.
He says, I'm sorry, this has to come
out.
I'm judging that.
I'm declaring it is guilty and it's going
to come out.
And you're never going to have the glory
of health without the judgment of surgery.
This is true of buildings.
We're in the process of renovating areas in
this church building.
You can't have glory without judgment.
The architect, the contractor comes in and he
looks and says, look, this plaster is no
good.
It has to be replaced.
These footings are awfully weak.
Something has to be done there.
First the judgment, then the glory.
That's true spiritually.
You know why some people are not saved
today?
It's not because they haven't heard.
They've heard.
They've heard enough to save the world.
You know why they aren't saved?
They won't stand under judgment.
Oh, they want the glory.
Lord, someday I want to be in heaven.
Then let me judge you right now as
a condemned sinner.
Oh, no, I don't want that.
How foolish the sinner is who rejects judgment.
He's as foolish as the cancer victim who
rejects the x-ray and the surgery.
He's as foolish as the owner of the
house who rejects the architect's estimate of damage
that the termites have done.
The glory of the judge.
Jesus said, when I die on the cross,
here's what's going to happen.
The world is judged.
To think that the religious world hung Him
on a cross.
The Roman world of law hung Him on
the cross.
The Greek world of wisdom hung Him on
a cross.
Religion nailed Him there.
Government nailed Him there.
Culture nailed Him there.
And in so doing, they condemned themselves.
The story has been told of numbers of
artists.
Turner is the one I have read most
with reference to this story, the great landscape
artist.
A lady came to him one day and
said, Mr. Turner, I don't see landscapes the
way you do.
And Turner quietly said, don't you wish you
did.
You see, in condemning him, she was saying
nothing about him, but she was saying a
great deal about herself.
When they condemned Jesus Christ, they were saying
nothing about Him.
They were saying a great deal about themselves.
They were saying religion bankrupt, culture bankrupt, government
bankrupt.
They even had the audacity to write above
the cross in three different languages.
The Latin language, the language of government.
The Greek language, the language of culture.
The Hebrew language, the language of religion.
And he just put it right up there
and said all of us were condemned.
When Jesus died on the cross, He condemned
this world system.
And when He died on the cross, He
condemned Satan and all of his system.
My heart leaps up when I read Colossians
chapter 2, verse 15.
I tell you, where it tells me that
Jesus Christ stripped all of the armor off
of Satan and his hosts, having spoiled principalities
and powers.
That word spoiled means He left them naked,
He took their armor.
Having spoiled principalities and powers.
Having conquered Satan and his hosts, triumphing over
them in the cross.
From the human point of view, Calvary was
the greatest defeat anybody ever could experience.
From the divine point of view, Calvary was
the greatest victory that God ever won.
For on the cross, Satan was defeated.
Satan's pride was defeated by our Lord's humility.
He humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
Satan's lies were defeated for he was on
the cross as God's truth.
And he said, when you have lifted up
the Son of Man, then you'll know the
truth.
Satan's power was broken.
Satan's darkness was defeated.
The power of death which had been in
the hands of Satan was now wrested from
him.
And Satan today is a defeated foe.
And so it will be that one day
God will be able to make a new
heavens and a new earth and a clean
universe.
And there will be nowhere in this universe
anything that lies.
There will be no darkness.
There will be no serpent to deceive.
No lion to devour.
There will be no masquerading.
There will be no satanic force at work.
All of God's great universe will be purged
and cleansed and made anew.
And do you know what?
Those of us who are saved are going
to enjoy this whole great universe forever.
I enjoy reading C.S. Lewis.
I just finished a new biography of C
.S. Lewis because C.S. Lewis believes something
that I believe.
And I like to read somebody who believes
what I believe.
Mr. Lewis says many Christians have such a
limited view of what heaven is going to
be like, such a limited view of eternity.
He said, if I understand what the Bible
teaches and the kind of God we have
throughout all eternity, we're going to have limitless
space for our enjoyment and our employment.
And we won't be limited by time or
place.
Jesus Christ is going to give to us
a universe, galaxies upon galaxies and universes upon
universes.
And we're going to have all eternity to
explore their depths and enjoy their fullness to
His glory because He died on the cross.
And so you and I can share in
God's glory how interesting that He went to
the smallest little country He could go to,
Palestine, to the most subjugated people, the Jews,
to a relatively little place called Calvary that
never would have been written down in history
had He not been there.
He went to that little pinpoint geographically and
yet what He did there reaches out for
all eternity to all the universe.
That's God.
And He wants you to be a part
of it.
The tragedy of hell is the tragedy of
the absence of the presence and the glory
of God.
Yes, the Bible talks about torment.
Yes, the Bible talks about darkness.
But that torment and that darkness are the
byproduct of the absence of God, the absence
of the glory of God.
You say, I want to be a part
of that glory of God.
Then you come to Him first as the
judge.
That's where it starts.
First the judge.
You say, Lord Jesus, I confess.
You're right.
What you say is true.
I'm a sinner.
I'm undone.
I'm lost.
I have no glory.
Then you come to Him as the Savior
and He saves you.
And then you come to Him as the
King and you give your life to Him.
And you say, King of my life, I
crown thee now.
Thine shall the glory be.
That's what it's all about.
The glory of God as the King, the
Savior, the Judge.
Gracious Father, who are we that we should
ever share in the glory of God?
What is there about us that we should
ever see your glory, yea, share your glory,
radiate your glory?
But you have done this for us through
Christ.
Thank you, Lord Jesus.
You are the King and one day the
glory will dwell with Israel.
Thank you that you are the Savior and
the glory can dwell in our hearts right
now.
Thank you that you are the Judge and
one day the whole of the universe will
radiate with the glory of God.
Oh, I pray that helpless sinners will come
and trust you today.
Those who are possessed by the darkness and
ugliness of sin will come and begin to
taste of the glory of God.
And so help that people shall respond to
your call today.
I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.