A Day, a Donkey, a Deliverer, and a Decision - Part B

A God that is this accurate.

A God that is this detailed and this caring. Is He trustworthy? Is He? So say He's trustworthy. Okay, He is trustworthy. You can rely upon Him. So whatever you're dealing with and going through in your life, just remember back to this. He can handle it. He sees it all in advance. Welcome to Connect with Skip Weekend Edition. You know, in our day and age, so much information is flowing our way, it's hard to take it all in. It's hard to focus on any one thing for very long. And that's created a culture of information connoisseurs.

People who are constantly reading blogs and websites with funny stories and bits of information. You know, there's a huge difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus. So with your Bibles open to John Chapter 12, let's join Pastor Skip for the conclusion of a day, a donkey, a deliverer, and a decision. The people cried out one word, Hosanna. And also some said, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel. They're quoting Psalm 118, a messianic victory Psalm, straight out of the scriptures. Now the word Hosanna means simply save now or bring salvation now. It was not a praise, it was a prayer, it was a desire. They're saying do for us what our religion has not done for us all these years. Save us, bring salvation, deliverance, and bring it now. That's what they cry out.

That's what they cry out. I still find Jesus Christ the most compelling figure in history. I've been saved since 1973 and I've read through the Bible on several, several occasions. And I still will stop often in my reading in the New Testament because I am just drawn and compelled and amazed at Jesus Christ. He is the most significant person in all of human history and I've discovered I'm not alone in that assessment. I read several different quotes, I'm going to give you just a few. Napoleon Bonaparte said, I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ was no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I myself have founded great empires but Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love and to this day millions would die for him.

That's one ruler looking back at that one leader, Christ. Here's another from H.G. Wells, a historian and an author.

He wrote War of the Worlds and other books. Quote, I am an historian. I am not a believer but I must confess that as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of all history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all of history. Mahatma Gandhi said of Christ, he's a man who's completely innocent and he offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others including his enemies and became the ransom of the world. And finally one of my favorite authors, Fyodor Dostoevsky, a Russian novelist writes, I believe there is no one deeper, lovelier, more sympathetic, and more perfect than Jesus.

Not only is there no one else like him, there never could be anyone else like him. You see this is what angers these Pharisees. When in the last verse of our text they said look the whole world has gone after him because they saw that within the hearts of these people grew this longing that they couldn't fulfill.

They were going after Jesus. So that's the first comparison. Jesus is more appealing than religion. Here's the second comparison.

Jot this down. Scripture is more reliable than opinion. Scripture is more reliable than opinion. Now there's a lot of people around Jesus and there must have been a lot of opinions about who he was just in the Gospel of John, just in John alone. John records the reaction of several people.

And here's just a sampling. In John chapter 7 some said he's a prophet. In John chapter 9 some said this man is not from God. Others in that chapter said this man is a sinner. Also in that same chapter again they said he's a prophet. John chapter 10 some were saying he has a demon and is crazy. Others said this couldn't be the Christ because he's from Galilee.

Three times in John's Gospel is this phrase and the people were divided because of Christ or there was a division among the people because of him. Now question. Were any of those opinions accurate?

Not really. I mean the closest one is when they said he's a prophet. That harkens back to Deuteronomy 18 when Moses said another one will come, a prophet like me, you will listen to him. That's a reference to Christ.

But all of these were opinions. And the point I want to make is that what scripture declares him to be is much more important and reliable than what anyone believes him to be. Twice in our paragraph are quotes from scripture. You'll notice in verse 13 they say Hosanna saved now. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That's a quote right out of Psalm 118. Look at verse 15 or let's go in verse 14. Then Jesus when he had found a young donkey sat on it as it is written fear not daughter of Zion behold your king is coming sitting on a donkey's colt.

He's quoting a scripture that is probably five to six hundred years old that Jesus on this day the 10th of Nisan is fulfilling. Question, why is he sitting on a donkey? Why a donkey? Oh did he just say I'm tired. Well you just got up.

It was the morning. Did he say I've always wanted to be on a donkey. I love donkey rides. No he's doing this, John says, to fulfill what the prophet said that the Messiah will come, the king will come riding on a donkey. Now the full scripture comes to a point where he says the full scripture comes to us in Zechariah 9 verse 9 and it's stated this way fear not oh daughter of Zion rejoice oh daughter of Jerusalem for behold your king is coming to you he is lowly and riding a donkey he is just and having salvation on a colt the full of a donkey. John lifts part of that verse or paraphrases that verse and says that Jesus fulfilled it. Why a donkey?

For this reason. Whenever kings rode in a parade fashion on a donkey it was during times of peace. Whenever it was times of war they would ride a horse. Jesus wasn't coming as their great deliverer victor I'm going to wipe out the Romans. He's coming as the prince of peace offering peace through the salvation by the death that he would die within a week. He came in peace that's his first coming he came as the prince of peace. Now when he comes the second time Revelation 19 says he's going to ride a horse a white horse and that is because it says in Revelation 19 he comes to judge and to make war.

Two different comings. But there's something else going on and and to me this is why I say this is this is like one of the most favorite verses of scripture. This doesn't just show us the applicability of Old Testament scripture to the life of Christ but the accuracy and reliability of it. Now I'd like you to turn keep a marker here a finger here turn back one book that's all one book Luke turn to the book of Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. It's the same event with an added detail by Luke about this coming of Jesus into Jerusalem. Luke chapter 19 in verse 41 he's now descending the Mount of Olives he's going down on this donkey he stops and he weeps over the city verse 42 notice Jesus said if you even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace but now it is hidden from your eyes then he predicts the fall of Jerusalem he said you should have known this day this is a day you should have known about and he predicts the fall of Jerusalem because they didn't know the day now look at verse 44 they will not leave in you that is Jerusalem one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation what's he talking about what day is he referring to because he's obviously holding them accountable to know this day and then he mentions the time of your visitation this is what he's this is what he's referring to he's referring to and I'm gonna I'm gonna need your brains on this one you gotta follow me on this one you gotta really think and engage here Jesus is referring back to a promise a prediction made in the book of Daniel chapter 9 that says the exact time the Messiah will come he's holding them accountable for not knowing the date in Daniel 9 the angel Gabriel comes to Daniel the prophet and he says this 77s literally 77s or 490 years are determined for your people that's the Jewish people and for your holy city that's the city of Jerusalem to finish the transgression to make an end of sin to bring reconciliation for iniquity to save the world bring reconciliation for iniquity to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy 70 periods of seven 490 years now watch this I'm going to read it to you this is Daniel 9 and I'm reading in the new century version for ease learn and understand these things the angel says to Daniel a command will come to rebuild Jerusalem the time from this command until the Messiah comes or the anointed leader will be 49 years and 434 years or I did the math a total of 483 years after this the Messiah will be killed okay stop what do we learn so far the angel says Daniel from the time that a commandment comes to rebuild Jerusalem which had fallen to the Babylonians and was destroyed to rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah will be 483 years okay now we have information because we know in history the exact date when the commandment was given to restore and build Jerusalem it was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus on March 14 445 BC it's well attested to in history that means we should be able to count 483 years from March 14 445 BC and come up with the coming of the Messiah now there was a guy named Sir Robert Anderson who wrote a book called the coming prince where he documents all that I'm saying and I'm saying it in brief fashion it's a whole book about it Sir Robert Anderson was knighted for his work and he was the head of Scotland Yard at one time so he took the calendar the Jewish calendar based on the Babylonian calendar of 360 days not 365 days and he discovered that 483 years is 173 880 days precisely he calculated it it's in his book that means that from March 14 445 BC if you were to count 173 880 days you should find something significant well he did he counted 173 880 days from March 14 445 BC and it happened to fall in our calendar on April 6 32 AD you know what date that was this day this day the 10th of Nisan when the lambs were presented to the household when Jesus Christ for the first and only time allowed this kind of public parade of his messiahship into Jerusalem on this exact day Jesus came now here's my question to you how exact is God how precise is God does God keep his appointments is God ever late can you trust this kind of God that's really the bottom line issue now the disciples who were there seeing all this they didn't get this at first until after Jesus ascended into heaven and was glorified look at verse 16 his disciples did not understand these things at first but when Jesus was glorified then they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done these things to him now that's how it works the longer you spend reading this book and going through it I'll tell you what every time I find fulfilled prophecy and there's so much of it here I marvel at the accuracy of it and the reliability of it it's absolutely astonishing to me Hebrew says the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword it's living and powerful so that's the great point here scripture is more reliable than opinion now forgive me but when somebody says well my opinion about God and my opinion about Jesus stop stop stop I don't care about your opinion until your opinion gets as accurate as this book but when it comes to your opinion about God and for that matter my opinion about God it doesn't mean anything scripture that reveals God and reveals Jesus accurately with pinpoint accuracy is more reliable than anyone's opinion including all of theirs on that day here's the question though to walk away with before we get into our next and final point a God that is this accurate a God that is this detailed and this caring is he trustworthy is he so say he's trustworthy okay he is trustworthy you can rely upon him so whatever you're dealing with and going through in your life just remember back to this he can handle it he sees it all in advance here's the third and final comparison following is more important than observation following is more important than observation now I've got to tell you this is more important than observation now I didn't know this until I really studied this paragraph this week but there's four groups that are mentioned four separate groups that were observing this whole event first group is the disciples they're mentioned in verse 16 the disciples are followers of Christ they're learners that's what disciple means they're learning and they're following this Jesus for three three and a half years now that's verse 16 the second group were a group of eyewitnesses who were present a few days before when Lazarus was raised from the dead they saw it they were with Martha and Mary standing in front of the tomb when Jesus said Lazarus come forth and they saw that dead guy walk and they told other people about it that's verse 17 therefore the people who were with him when he called Lazarus out of the and raised him from the dead bore witness they told other people the third group is in verse 18 they're the people who heard what the second group told wow I just heard that this Lazarus guy's alive that this Jesus guy raised him from the dead they were there that's verse 18 for this reason the people also met him because they heard that he had done this sign now there's a fourth group and that's verse 19 and those are the Pharisees the religious elite we've studied them before the Pharisees therefore said among themselves I mean they're looking at these three groups of people gathered around Jesus and the Pharisees said you see you are accomplishing nothing look the world has gone after him I chuckle at this because if you recall back when they had that little council meeting of the Sanhedrin this was their biggest fear they said chapter 11 verse 48 if we let him alone like this everyone will believe in him now they're kind of going okay we blew it we lost it's over everybody believes in him look everybody's following him now that wasn't true everybody was observing him everybody was excited in the moment everybody was very emotional but of all of those four groups that were watching this there was only one group that believed in the scripture and placed their trust in Jesus and that was those disciples that was the only group here's my point it's great to make observations it's great to study the life of Christ and observe certain facts about him but observations should lead us to conclusions which should lead us to actions what are you going to do about it what are you going to do with Jesus Christ there's a lot of people who study and underline and take notes and are a part of sort of the function of the event of Christianity all short of applying truth to their lives and living it out in obedience to him that's following Christ that's being a disciple so today is the day of your visitation for some of you just as God engineered that donkey and that exact date I believe God has engineered it for you to be here this morning it's no coincidence oh no no I was invited by a friend yeah that's what it seems like you were put here by God oh well I really didn't want to come with my idea but I got stuck in traffic so I decided I'd stay okay cool you got an appointment with God it's the day of your visitation this is the time perhaps that God has for you what will you do about it you know what's interesting about the story and I close with this of all of the personalities in the story the donkey is the most compliant one isn't that interesting because typically we associate donkeys being really stubborn donkeys just like he'll come along from that town to this town Jesus will sit on him he'll go down he's the most compliant one in the story what a lucky donkey G.K. Chesterton a great author I commend his writings to you G.K. Chesterton wrote a little poem imagining what it was like to be this donkey and if you don't mind I'll close with it when fishes flew and forests walked and figs grew upon a thorn some moment when the moon was blood then surely I was born with monstrous head and sickening cry and ears like errant wings the devil's walking parody of all four-footed things the tattered outlaw of the earth with ancient crooked will starved scourge deride me I am dumb but I keep my secret still fools for I also had my hour one far fierce hour and sweet there were shouts about my ears and palms beneath my feet that donkey on that day carried the deliverer while people were making their decision what's your decision what's your decision concerning Christ you know Skip heitzig reminded us it's no accident that you heard this message this is your time your opportunity to make a decision about Christ will you do that today and if you need someone to talk to about this or pray with why not call us 1-800-922-1888 we'd be so glad to talk more about our relationship with Jesus and the message you just heard was called a day a donkey a deliverer and a decision it's part of our current series believe 879 and you can get a personal cd at the end of the day series believe 879 and you can get a personal cd copy of today's message for your audio library you can find it at connectwithskip.com or you can call us and order one at 1-800-922-1888 each copy is just four dollars plus shipping that's just about all the time we have for today but before we go let's find out more about this month's connect with Skip resource offer how have conflicts and wars in the middle east set the stage for a future apocalypse that's the question ron roads takes head on in his new book listen to this what do you see coming in the next five or six years that might do injury to the church and without hesitation i said i really feel like we're going to see an explosion of subjectivism experientialism and mysticism along with occultism and some paganism how conflicts and wars in the middle east have set the stage for the end times this new book by ron roads addresses issues such as understanding islam rebuilding the temple and the annihilation campaign from the anti-christ here's ron roads commenting on middle east events did you know that in revelation two and three we read about the church 19 times and then in the discussion on the tribulation in chapters four through 18 you don't see the church a single time it is gone in first thessalonians 1 verse 10 we are told that the church is to be delivered from the raft to come that word delivered literally means snatched snatched away from we are to be snatched away from the wrath to come which is a reference to the tribulation period with your gift of 50 or more to connect with Skip heitzig you'll receive a copy of this new book from ron roads your gift will support the production and expansion of the connect with Skip broadcast call 1-800-922-1888 or go online to connectwithskip.com with your donation and we'll thank you with a copy of ron road's new book how conflicts and wars in the middle east have set the stage for the end times that's 1-800-922-1888 or connectwithskip.com what kind of life does god want us to live the answer may surprise you join us next time right here in connect with Skip weekend edition a presentation of connection communications connecting you to god's never changing truth in ever-changing times