This morning I'm going to depart from my
messages in the Epistle to Jude next few
Sundays, today on Easter Sunday.
I would like to talk about some of
the things in connection with the season, and
especially today in reference to the triumphal entry
of Christ into Jerusalem.
Now, beloved, we have termed it a triumphal
entry.
Actually, there was no triumph in it.
Within the week, he would die on the
cross, crucified by the same people who shouted
Hosanna.
And it really was a triumph of tears,
because just before he had been coming down
the Mount of Olives, and when he had
seen Jerusalem, he had looked at Jerusalem, and
it said, and he looked upon the city
and he wept, for Christ knew what was
coming.
And so, the triumphal entry of Christ into
Jerusalem was rather a macabre thing, in that
it was just before his death.
He knew his death was coming.
He knew all that was to proceed at
this point.
He had spoken to his disciples about it.
And so this, I call it a triumph
of tragedy, really, because it was a tragic
triumph, something that had to be, because of
prophecy.
It was a necessary thing.
It was a necessary thing that Christ be
recognized as King before he died.
And so, all of the prophetic utterances of
the Old Testament had to be fulfilled before
his time came to pay the penalty for
man's sin.
And so, this morning, I would like to
deal with that side of it somewhat, the
prophetic utterances, in reference to, if you turn
with me to Luke.
As I said before, each gospel records the
entry of Christ into Jerusalem.
This is unusual in itself.
Not all the Gospels record everything, but it
does record the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem
in each of the Gospels.
It is the only time that he ever
rode on anything.
He always walked.
I guess if we were to look at
Christ's ministry, his weariness, the depth of that
weariness at times, his weariness in Gethsemane, when
his disciples slept, and he said, could you
not just watch with me for one hour?
I've often associated that with worship on Sunday,
you know.
Not here, of course.
I realize you never fall asleep, but his
disciples fell asleep, and his question to them
was, could ye not watch with me even
one hour?
How they should prick our hearts, isn't it?
To make sure that as the Word of
God, as we speak from it, as we
delve into it, that our hearts are keen.
You know, some people wonder, these are just
asides, not part of my message, you know.
But some people wonder why I don't go
out on Saturday night, you know.
But the reason I don't go out, unless
it's some very special thing, like I had
to speak the other week at the Belrose
anniversary.
But I never go out on Saturday night
because I feel that the preacher of God's
Word must be fresh on Sunday morning.
I feel he has to be in that
place that God wants him to be, both
mentally and physically, that he may speak for
Jesus Christ.
But to get back, Jesus never rode, and
yet this time it tells us that he
had in the record in each of the
Gospels, he had called upon certain things.
If you'd look in Luke 19, beginning of
the 28th verse, it records here to the
38th verse, the similar portion that we read
in Mark, just slightly different, but I'll read
it to you.
And when he had thus spoken, he went
before, ascending up to Jerusalem.
And it came to pass, when he was
come nigh to Bethpage and Bethany, at the
Mount called the Mount of Olives, he sent
two of his disciples.
Bethpage and Bethany were about a mile from
Jerusalem, to give you some idea of distances.
Saying, Go ye into the village over against
you, in the which at your entering you
shall find a coat tied.
How tremendous to see the foreknowledge of God,
his knowledge of all things.
He knew beforehand.
He knew where the coat would be.
He knows all about you, you know.
He knew the moment you'd come to Christ
as your personal Savior, or whether you would
not.
But this has nothing to do with fatalism.
God being God must know.
He must know the eventual destiny of everybody
in this room.
He knows whether you're lost or saved, and
whether you're going to stay lost or saved.
He must know, that's not fatalism.
Merely God looking upon the heart of man.
He says man looks on the outward things.
Man looks upon the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church,
and sees everybody in the church, and says
everybody's going to heaven.
God says it doesn't work that way.
He looks upon the heart, you see.
He knew.
He told two of his disciples, I want
you to go into the city.
I'll tell you exactly what you'll find.
He's way outside the city.
He says, go into the city, in which
at your entering you shall find a coat
tied.
Imagine, whereon yet never man sat.
And loose him, and bring him hither.
And if any man ask you, why do
you loose him?
Thus shall you say unto him, because the
Lord hath need of him.
And they that were sent went their way,
and found even as he had said unto
them.
And as they were loosing the coat, the
owners thereof said unto them, why loose ye
the coat?
And they said, the Lord hath need of
him.
Notice no questions were asked.
And they brought him to Jesus.
And they cast their garments upon the coat,
and they set Jesus thereon.
And as he went, they spread their clothes
in the way.
And when he was come nigh, even now
at the descent of the Mount of Olives,
the whole multitude of the disciples began to
rejoice and praise God with a loud voice,
for all the mighty works that they had
seen, saying, Blessed be the King that cometh
in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven, and glory in the heights.
May God bless this portion of his work.
Now, it's recorded in all the four Gospels,
as I said, and it's very unique in
character, because for the first time, Jesus thrusts
himself publicly before all men.
Prior to this, he has not.
Prior to this, Jesus has hidden himself away
from the public.
He has preached, he has healed, but continually
he says, Mine hour is not yet come.
Matthew 16, 20.
Go and tell no man.
Matthew 12, 19.
He did not cry or stress or strive,
nor cause his voice to be heard in
the streets.
John 6, 15.
When Jesus perceived that they, the multitude which
he had just fed, would take him by
force and make him a king, he departed
unto a mount all by himself.
He wanted no public manifestation of who he
was.
And so now, the whole scene changes, and
Christ wants to be known as king.
Before, he didn't want him to know.
If he healed, he would say, Go into
the city and tell no man.
Why?
Why did he do it when he fed
them here?
Because he knew, all you have to do
is to go into the populace.
Mark my words, if a man were to
come now, upon the earth, if Antichrist were
to come and offer mankind all sorts of
great benefits, food for all and bread for
all and no starvation, and you don't have
to work, what a following he'd get.
Why?
They'd all walk with him.
And Jesus has just fed them, taken the
loaves and the fishes and multiplied them.
They saw the miracle.
The crowd, sure, why not follow him?
He can turn anything into bread.
Follow him for the physical blessing.
He'll sustain us.
He'll feed us.
We won't have to worry about starvation.
We won't have to worry about food.
We don't have to work.
I think that really hits man the hardest.
We don't have to work.
I'm not going to be critical of the
social welfare problem, but I have to tell
you that, what are there, 890,000 people
in New York now on relief?
One-tenth of the population?
Unbelievable.
Many?
It's necessary.
But you can rest assured, there are many
who just don't want to work.
Thank God that it helps those who cannot
work.
But, beloved, there'll always be the crowd who
can go along and not work and be
fed.
And Jesus says, now, I don't want you
to say anything.
Don't go in.
I don't want you to take me and
make me a king.
I know why they're following me.
They're following me, not because of who I
am, not because I'm the son of God,
not because I'm the king of kings, not
because I'm the Lord of lords.
They're following me because I will feed them
bread.
And that's all.
Now, if you came to Christ as your
personal Savior, and that's all you were looking
for, you had an idea, when I come
to Christ as personal Savior, everything's going to
clear up.
I'll never have a problem again.
I'll have money.
I'll have everything I need.
It'll be a rosy bed right down to
the grave.
God help you.
You haven't understood the gospel of Jesus.
Because he calls us to tribulation.
He says, in this world, my beloved ones,
you shall have tribulation, but be of good
cheer.
I've overcome the world.
Paul says, if we suffer with Christ, we
shall be glorified with him.
This is not a life of glib joy
down to the grave.
It's a life of inner joy because you
have Christ as your personal Savior.
But it's a life of inner joy and
all the trials and the problems of life.
And if you think that this is some
rosy, huge journey to heaven, then you haven't
understood the call of Christ at all.
Christ calls us to suffering with him.
Paul says that I might fill up behind
what?
The pleasures of Christ.
No, that I might fill up behind the
sufferings of Jesus Christ.
And so, Christ has called us to suffering.
And so, beloved, when we think of these
here, these men going out and the taking
of this, this prophetic utterance of finding just
what God says, we may have an idea
that, you know, we're in the plan of
God.
And therefore, since we're in the plan of
God, everything is going to be just perfect.
Well, I want to tell you, in this
case where they went to pick these two,
to pick the ass here and to bring
this one back to Jesus, it was because
God had planned it perfectly.
Jesus knew beforehand and he sent his disciples
and said, you go get them.
And if someone says to you, why do
you lose him?
Just say the Lord has need of him.
You don't have to worry.
They won't say another thing.
And I want to tell you, when God's
hands upon your life, you don't have to
worry about a thing when you're in the
center of God's will.
I believe a man's life is immortal until
his work is done if he's in the
center of God's will.
Now, if you get out of God's will,
I can't say anything.
I don't know what'll happen to you.
God may have to take you home by
death if you're out of his will.
Let me be frank with you, because he
did that and he tells us in the
Lord's Supper, the reason some of you sleep
and some of you are weak and some
of you are sickly is because you've come
to the Lord's table unworthily and it's been
necessary.
It's been necessary that I take you out
of the world and take you to myself,
because your life's not fit to be called
a Christian.
You go to church on Sunday and you
go through all of the observances, but your
life is not fit to be called Christian.
And I'm going to take you home to
myself.
But if you're in the center of God's
will, these men went forth, they were told
what to do, he'd be there.
And so they go and they take him.
Now, may I say this, the whole scene
is changed here by this tremendous fact that
Jesus now presents himself as King.
Why?
Why must he do this?
Because the prophetic scriptures said he had to
do it.
It was an absolute necessity.
Now, if I can take you just quickly
to some of the scriptures that are very,
very important.
If you would turn with me, first of
all, over to Genesis, the 49th chapter.
Genesis 49.
You know, the prophecies of God are tremendous.
Oh, I hope you feed upon the tremendous
thing that God has to say in his
word.
Now, these are the prophecies.
Twice prophecies are used.
Number one, by Jacob as he dies.
Jacob, his name is changed to Israel.
Jacob's name means supplanter.
Jacob was always trying to work things out
his own way, like some Christians.
They pray and then go about doing it
the way they want.
They may come for counseling to the pastor.
The only reason they come is they hope
he may agree.
If the pastor did not agree, they still
have to determine what they're going to do.
Predetermination.
And so it is as we look at
these prophecies of God.
That it is setting before us the very
thing that God wants us to see concerning
his son, Jesus Christ, and everything is placed
in perfect order by these prophecies.
Jacob was a supplanter.
His name was changed to Israel because he
did what he wanted and God changed it
to Israel, which meant a prince with God.
This was the great change.
Change from this man who always was trying
to work things out his own way and
then made Israel.
And he becomes the father of the twelve
tribes of Israel.
Now, he makes certain prophecies concerning Christ and
the types of Christ.
And Moses also makes prophecies later on which
are rather wonderful in the book of Deuteronomy.
But I want you to notice the prophecy
here in the 49th chapter of Genesis, the
10th and 11th verses.
Here's what he says.
The scepter.
Now, the scepter means the tribal rod in
the Hebrew.
The tribal rod shall not depart from Judah,
nor a lawgiver from between his feet until
Shiloh come.
And Shiloh is peacemaker or prince of peace.
It shall not depart until Shiloh come.
Remember now, we're way back in Genesis and
we're already speaking about Christ.
But we spoke about Christ before this in
Genesis.
We spoke about Christ back in Genesis 3
.15, where it tells us that Satan should
bruise his heel.
But Christ would crush the head of Satan
one day.
The seed of the woman should crush the
head of Satan.
So, it's not new.
And so, here he's telling us that he's
the one, the scepter shall not depart from
Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet
until Shiloh come.
And unto him shall the gathering of the
people be.
Who?
What people?
The people of Israel.
This is what we're talking about now.
This is Judah.
Judah, Jews.
This is what it's telling us.
Binding his foal unto the vine, and his
ass's coat unto the choice vine, he washed
his garments in wine, and his clothes in
the blood of grapes.
And you remember in the book of Revelation,
it speaks about the Lamb of God with
his robes, his clothes dipped in blood, speaking
of the glorious blood of Christ that cleanses
us from all sin.
Now, number one, notice this, that it tells
us that the lawgiver shall not depart from
between his feet.
The tribe of Rod shall not depart from
Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet.
This is the law of Moses.
The law of Moses is to remain.
For the law came by Moses, but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Christ is the end of the law.
The law shall not depart from between his
feet until Shiloh, the prince of peace, come.
The law came by Moses, but grace and
truth came by who?
By Jesus Christ.
And so we see this glorious prophecy that
tells us that when Christ comes, the law
shall depart.
But it says more than that.
It says, and unto him shall the gathering
of the people Israel be.
And thus it was.
For the ten tribes were dispersed into Assyrian
captivity, and only two tribes were left for
Babylonian captivity, and these are the two.
Listen, don't let anybody tell you that England
or Britain are the lost ten tribes of
Israel.
I don't know how many of you listen
to Mr. Armstrong, but this is what Mr.
Armstrong believes.
Mr. Armstrong believes that Britain is called British
Israelism.
That Britain is the ten lost tribes of
Israel.
Some people listen to him, you know, and
he's got good messages.
It's like listening to several of the different
sectarian groups you can listen.
There are twenty lessons they send you.
Nineteen are good, and the twentieth, God help
you, they've got you hook, line, and sinker
by the nineteenth, and on the twentieth they
give it to the whole business, because they
know on the first nineteen they got you.
How do I know this?
Listen, I walked into one of your homes
one day, and there was a man in
there, and that woman is here today, and
I just walked in, and there, for a
half hour, he's given a long spiel on
the most beautiful set of books you ever
want to see.
A dozen books, gloriously printed, wonderfully imprinted with
colored pictures of Christ and all the rest,
and all going down, all through it, and
when I came in she was just ready
to sign the contract.
She said, past the most beautiful bunch of
books I've ever seen, look at these glorious
pictures, and I said, could I see it?
I saw him trying to, you know, go
like this in his collar, so I took
one look at it.
Watchtower Society.
Publishers.
Jehovah's Witnesses.
I didn't say anything, I looked at him
and I said, let me ask you a
question, did you tell her that you're Jehovah's
Witnesses?
He said, what difference does it make?
Picked up his book angrily and walked out
the door.
But you see, the deceit, beloved, the deceit.
Oh, beloved, when we think of Christ in
this portion, him, beloved, notice, it speaks of
him here, the Prince of Peace, the gathering
of the people unto Israel.
Here, now, it speaks of a gathering of
people unto Jesus Christ.
But, beloved, they were not true followers of
Jesus.
This is speaking of that day when Israel
should be gathered to him, on that day
when he would walk triumphantly into Jerusalem as
the King.
The Lord giver will not depart from between
Judah's feet, and then unto him the gathering
of the people will be.
Prophecy must be fulfilled.
There will be a final great culmination, but
this is not here.
This is that of which he speaks when
he says that the Lord giver shall not
depart.
The law came by Moses, but grace and
truth by Jesus Christ.
And the Lord giver would depart, and then
the people, beloved, would gather unto this Christ.
And they would shout, Hosanna in the highest.
Do you know what the word Hosanna means?
Save now!
It's the meaning of the word Hosanna.
Save now!
These very people who are singing Hosanna to
the Lord, Hosanna to the King, are the
people who within one week will crucify the
Savior.
Do you know the prophecies?
Only two tribes were left out, and that
was Judah and Benjamin.
That's the only two tribes.
All the other tribes went into captivity, Assyrian
captivity.
But Judah and Benjamin were left out.
Now here it speaks of Judah.
What an amazing thing.
I want you to notice what it has
to say about Benjamin.
Would you turn over just one page there,
maybe in your own Bible, over to Benjamin.
27th verse.
Benjamin shall raven as a wolf, in the
morning he shall devour the prey, and at
night he shall divide the spoil.
In the morning he shall devour the prey,
in the night he shall divide the spoil.
Beloved, may I remind you that when Paul
comes into his claiming his distinction as a
Jew, he has one thing to say.
I am of the tribe of Benjamin.
Why?
Let me show you.
Because he went and he sought a prey
of Christians, he slew them.
But at the night, oh beloved, notice what
it says.
At the night, it says that he, I'm
just looking for the verse here, oh I
turned my page back, I'm sorry.
In the morning he shall devour the prey,
and at night he shall divide the spoil.
In other words, during that time, that great
light struck him down on Damascus road, and
then he began to divide amongst all the
people that which God gave him.
He killed in the morning, but then when
he found Christ, he began to divide out
all that which came into his hands, the
spoil.
He gave out and came to God for
forgiveness for all those sins which he had
committed when he was a Jew and slew
the Christians.
How do I know that?
Turn over to Deuteronomy 33 with me.
Deuteronomy 33, and here you see the glorious
prophecy of Moses as he speaks about this
same tribe.
Marvelously so, 33.
Notice the twelfth verse, here's Moses speaking, and
of Benjamin he said, the beloved of the
Lord shall dwell in safety by him.
Think of Paul.
How do you think the beloved of the
Lord is dwelling safely in Jesus Christ?
The words of Paul the Apostle.
Paul wrote half the New Testament.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh but after the Spirit.
Paul, the beloved of the Lord shall watch.
Notice it, read it.
The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in
safety by him, and the Lord shall cover
his beloved all the day long, and he
shall dwell between his shoulders.
Why do you think when Paul speaks to
himself, he says, I am of the tribe
of Benjamin?
The prophecies of Moses and the prophecies of
Jacob are fulfilled in me.
Because the beloved of the Lord are dwelling
in safety only by the epistle of Paul
to the Romans and Galatians, I would remind
you, that's your whole life.
And without it, you would hardly know the
safety, since Paul's epistles are just as much
God's words as the words that Jesus Christ
spoke himself.
So the prophecies are clear.
There's so much else here I could speak
about.
Damn that they think he may be the
one that will be the Antichrist.
But so much for these prophecies that concern
the passing of the Lord.
The Lord shall be between Judah's feet.
And then he would gather himself unto his
people.
They must recognize him as king.
If Moses is passed away, then Christ must
be established.
Listen to Hebrews.
There is barely a disannulling of the commandments
whence went before, because of the unprofitableness thereof.
For the law could make no one perfect,
but the coming in of a better hope
did.
Listen to Colossians.
He hath blotted out the writing of handwriting
of ordinances which was against us.
Notice that.
Which was against us.
He hath blotted them out completely, because he
hath cleansed us in the precious blood of
Jesus Christ.
So if the law is to be done
away with, it must be replaced by something
else.
And the law is between Judah's feet until
Shiloh shall come, and then the gathering of
the people shall be unto him.
So it's changed.
Now may I say this.
Daniel 9 gives further prophetic utterance concerning the
same thing.
Daniel 9 tells us that 70 weeks shall
be determined upon Israel.
70 weeks, 7 years of peace, 490 years.
7 weeks shall be spent, Daniel says, in
rebuilding Jerusalem.
60 and 2 weeks there shall be until
Messiah is cut off.
Daniel 9, 25-27.
69 weeks total.
7 weeks, 60 and 2 weeks.
69 weeks and 70 weeks are determined upon
the whole history of Israel.
The 70th week has not occurred yet.
69 weeks, Messiah is cut off.
Crucified.
Now better men than I, if I can
say this, so I don't have to go
through the mathematical computation.
But Sir Robert Anderson, the greatest expositor of
the Prince which is to come, has written
a book, if you want to read it,
which shows that on Palm Sunday, when Jesus
entered Jerusalem, was the absolute day and time
when he must enter as King.
Because he figured the days right up to
his being cut off and the week previous
was the day upon which Christ must enter
into Jerusalem and be cut off one week
later.
The book may be in our library.
Tremendous book.
Recognized by all the theologians as the greatest
treatise on the Prince of Peace.
Sir Robert Anderson.
But mathematically he pulls it right down to
show that Palm Sunday is the precise day
when he must gather himself to his people,
when he must enter Jerusalem, for one week
later Messiah shall be cut off.
And the 70th week of Daniel is yet
to come in the great tribulation of Israel
which we see so close at this moment
as we see all of the East shuddering,
wondering what's going to happen next, not recognizing
the battle, somehow determining politically whether it's Nixon
or Russia or France or England that we're
going to set up the plan.
Four great nations will set it up and
say, Israel, here's what you've got to do.
Pull all your lines back.
Give back everything you've taken.
And this will settle the problems.
Beloved, I would remind you that the scripture
is most clear.
That what you're seeing in Israel today is
the beginning of sorrows.
It's not the end of it.
It's the beginning of sorrows.
When you see these things beginning to come
to pass, Jesus says, look up for your
redemption draws nigh.
Israel is in that position today where all
the politicians in the world will never settle
their problems because it's a family problem that
has to do with Abraham and his children
and whether the children of Abraham through Sarah
or the children of Abraham through Hagar shall
possess the land.
Both saying, Abraham is our father, therefore we
own it.
And where there's a family fight, I want
to tell you something, politicians don't settle it.
Secondly, Daniel makes known the very day and
the year when Messiah would present himself as
their king right to the day.
You know, prophecy is tremendous.
Then Zechariah sets before us the manner of
his entrance into Jerusalem, which we just read
about.
Zechariah 9, 9.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold, thy king cometh unto thee.
Notice, he is just the Holy One of
Israel.
And having salvation, behold the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sin of the world.
Without the shedding of blood there is no
remission of sin.
He has salvation in his hands, lowly and
riding upon an ass, hundreds of years before,
and upon a coat, the full of an
ass.
Number one, he prophesied that the law would
pass from Judah, remember, only when Shiloh came.
Praise the Lord.
The law is not the means of our
salvation.
For by grace he is saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is a
gift of God not of works, lest any
man should boast.
Paul says the law was a ministry of
condemnation and death.
Romans 8, 3 and 4 says, for what
the law could not do, in that it
was weak through your flesh.
God sending his own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh and forced him, condemned sin
in the flesh, that the righteousness which is
of the law might be fulfilled in us
who walk not after the flesh but after
the Spirit of God.
Now Matthew records this too.
Matthew records the whole thing and says, he
came in lowly and riding upon an ass,
and also upon a coat, the full of
an ass.
Now may I say this, and I say
this carefully, most theologians believe that it was
possible that in the prophecies that Jesus coming
down the steep incline of the Mount of
Olives was on the ass.
This was the older one.
This was the old beast of burden, if
I might say.
May I say this, Israel never rode horses.
They were denied to ride horses.
I don't know if you realize that.
It was a sin to take horses.
Israel could never use horses.
Israel could only use oxen as beasts of
burden, that's all.
Any king must ride on an ass.
This was the height of royalty, to ride
in on an ass.
You'll notice here that it says, the coat,
the full.
And the theologians believe that he undoubtedly came
down the Mount with the old one, the
solid one, the sturdy one, taking him down
the Mount, and then before he entered Jerusalem,
he got upon the coat which had never
been sat upon by any other man.
There was a reason for this.
It was going to carry God's great sacrifice
for sin.
And so like Jesus in so many other
places, it says he was placed into a
tomb where never man was laid.
He was always individual.
And in the sacrificial system, the beast that
was slain must be perfect and never a
beast of burden, and no one must ever
have sat upon him.
And so the perfect sacrifice of God, the
Lamb of God that takes away the sin
of the world, says, I fall a coat
upon whom no man sat, and he came
in.
And so the glorious prophecy hundreds of years
before is speaking in its completeness that the
law must go from Judah, that he would
gather himself to his people, that they would
declare him as king.
Therefore Jesus thrust himself out.
He says, I must be recognized as a
king.
And so it's all prepared beforehand.
The ass will be there.
The foal, the colt will be there.
You don't have to be concerned.
Just go and tell them the Lord hath
need.
There'll be no question.
You'll bring it to me.
And so here we see gloriously set before
us these wonderful prophecies upon which no man
sat.
Having salvation, lowly, he humbled himself and was
obedient even unto death, the death of the
cross, the humble Savior.
Do you know him?
You know, I have a lot more I'd
like to say to you about some practical
things.
Well, let me just say this.
If we were to take, let's say here
we take Christ.
He sends two of his disciples.
We go two by two and we go
on visitation.
He sends two of his disciples out.
Here it tells us there was an ass
and the colt of an ass.
And if I might use this sort of
as characteristic typology of mankind.
Here are the witnesses.
We go in, we meet two types of
people.
We go and we meet the old.
You know the stolid ones, the sluggish ones,
the hard of heart, the staid ones were
such creatures of prejudice and tradition and habit,
dullness and yet beloved, well satisfied with our
present condition.
Mark the visitation, you go into this type,
they're hard and they're stolid like that old
ass by himself, the stolid one.
Take him first, he's the hard one, the
rough one.
To deal with, you know, you go in,
well, I don't know.
I've been going to church for 40 years
now.
Don't intend to change.
I'm perfectly content with what I have.
You can't fudge me.
You know how they put the little fire
under, you know, when you see those pictures
putting fires under donkeys, you know, to get
them to move.
You can't fudge me.
Christ sent out two of his disciples.
What does he say?
He says, tell them, untie them and loose
them and bring them to me.
And that's exactly what we do when we
go out to see people.
We untie them, loose them from their sins
and bring them to Jesus.
On the other hand, take the coat.
Ah, what is the coat picture?
He pictures, you know, the unbroken and undisciplined
one, the one that's rebellious, nature unbridled, lustful,
full of desires, youth on fire.
I don't see where any change is made
in the way you approach him.
It's still the same.
You untie them, loose them from their sins
and what?
Jesus says, bring them to me.
So if there's any typology that shows what
visitation work faces when it goes out, it's
to see the ass and the coat and
to realize one is the solid, staid, hard
one that says, I live a good life.
I've lived it for 25 years.
I've been doing my best.
I don't intend to change.
If you want to talk to me, you
can talk to me.
I don't mind, but you won't change my
mind.
Don't even worry about it.
You can't convert me.
I belong to so-and-so.
And we got the inner road.
On the other hand, you go in sometimes
and it's the other thing.
Listen, you've got to live.
Why, this kind of a thing you give
us, it's going to hold us down.
We're part of a rebellious group.
We're broken loose from the establishment.
We're on a journey.
Nothing you can say to us.
What does Jesus say?
Listen, untie him and loose him and bring
him to me.
Because I want to tell you that anybody
that's brought to Jesus, whether they be the
hard and the rough and the rebellious and
those who claim self-righteousness and all of
their ideas of stolidness and they've been moral
and they've been good, can't possibly understand the
grace of God.
For it's not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us.
And then to the rebellious, to those who
are filled with lusts and desires and passions
which we so often associate with you, but
which can be part of older age also.
All these who want to have a good
time, who want to rebel against the established
way that God has set in his plans,
they come to the same end.
They must be loose, untied and brought to
Jesus.
Now lest you think that that typology is
not the kind of typology that God uses,
may I tell you the greatest theologians in
the world claim that typology is perfect for
man's rebellious nature.
And book after book brings it to light.
Glorious what Christ can do for the human
heart.
Oh yes, it was the entrance into Jerusalem.
It looked like such a great triumph, didn't
it?
They were moved by God, it says, to
surround Jesus.
God, what did Jesus say?
The Pharisees and the scribes said, stop these
people from coming to you and call you
a king.
Do you know what his answer was?
If I should stop them, the stone would
cry out, I am king.
So beloved God moved
upon the people and those who were going
to crucify him came and cast palms in
front of his pathway.
One week later, watched him and sneered at
him and spat upon him when God's restraining
hand was removed from them and they fulfilled
the most heinous moment in all history.
Yet, to their salvation.
For it was no accident, but God's consummate
plan, as Peter says, ye have taken and
by wicked hands have slain him whom God
from the foundations of the world hath determined
should be your savior.
I have often thought if the Jews hadn't
slain him, the Romans would have, because he
called himself a king and Pontius Pilate got
it off his dirty hands by throwing it
at the Jews.
But the fulfillment of prophecy was that the
Jews should fulfill that which they did.
O beloved, may we recognize the great prophecies
of God, right to the moment on the
great day when he should enter Jerusalem.
But oh, then may we see ourselves typed
so gloriously by God when he says, untie
them and loose them and bring them to
me.
And what does he say?
For the Lord hath what?
Needs of them.
The Lord has need of you.
You don't think so?
Let me tell you, his whole plan involves
you and you and you and you.
He has need of you.
If this nation is to be swept of
this neighborhood, if there is to be a
change in this great nation we love, he
needs you, young people.
He needs you, older folks.
He needs you dedicated to Christ.
He needs you on fire for himself.
He needs you conscious of the prophetic word.
He needs you conscious of the divine word.
He needs you conscious of the consecrating and
dedicating word.
He needs you to live out Christ's life
upon this earth.
For it says, I am crucified with Christ
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
lives in me.
To do what?
To will and to do of his good
pleasure.
Is that so with you?
Let us pray.
Now Father, we thank thee for thy blessed
word, Lord.
How blessed are thy prophecies, that thou didst
pinpoint the day, so that none could ever
say, the prophecy is too general.
Anybody could have said that.
We say that about some of the present
day prophets.
They have a 50% chance of being
right.
We see that about the woman by the
name of Dixon.
But Father, we're so thankful your prophecies are
not like that.
Hundreds and hundreds of years before, you've told
us exactly what would happen.
Why?
So that there'd never be any doubt in
our hearts about who Jesus was.
That he was the one who came.
That he was the one of whom Isaiah
spoke.
Unto us a child is born.
Unto us a son is given.
And the government shall be upon his shoulder.
And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
Almighty God, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting
Father.
Now Father, we thank thee.
We pray this morning that our hearts will
rejoice in the Christ, who came triumphantly into
Jerusalem.
But more than that, he paid the penalty
for our sins on Calvary.
And we thank thee for it, in Christ's
name.
Amen.